PQ17: An Arctic Convoy Disaster

The story of PQ17, a convoy supplying Russia via the Arctic Ocean during WW2. On 27 June 1942 it set sail from Iceland with 35 merchant ships and a large escorting force. Due to indecisiveness and ineptness at the highest level, 24 of those merchant ships were sunk, a maritime disaster of monumental proportions.

Narrated by Jeremy Clarkson, this is a very well researched and presented telling of a naval disaster and its causes. Includes interviews with survivors of the merchant ships plus crew on the escorting ships and historians.

Clarkson does a good job at telling the story, though sometimes his way of telling it seems a bit populist, rather than factual. A minor issue though.

Good use of locations to aid the audience's understanding and engagement, eg Clarkson travels on a ship in the Arctic to show how cold, dangerous and bleak it is.