My Grandparents’ War

PBS: Starts Tuesday 14 January at 7.20pm

The Second World War touched the lives of millions of people around the world. In this fascinating series, prominent celebrities tell their own families’ stories of how the conflict impacted their story.

Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall, Dunkirk, Bridge of Spies) looks back at the life of his grandfather Osmond Skinner, who worked as a banker in Hong Kong when war broke out and joined the volunteer defense force. He survived being shot in battle on Christmas Day and then spent 4 years in a Japanese Prisoner Of War Camp, an experience that scarred him for the rest of his life.

Also featured are Kristin Scott Thomas, whose grandfather fought at Dunkirk, Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter, whose maternal grandfather helped Jews escape the Holocaust.