Product Description

Bomber is the story of the final mission of RAF Lancaster bomber WF183 - call sign O - Orange, which took place one night in 1943. It is also the story of the many men and women - British and German - whose lives were irrevocably changed by that night's bombing raid. Starring Tom Baker, Frank Windsor, Samuel West, Emma Chambers and Jack Shepherd, Bomber is a brilliant production and a consistent bestseller for the BBC Radio Collection.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25828 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-19
• Released on: 2004-04-19
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 2
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

Shocking & Awful
Originally transmitted on BBC Radio 4 within a real-time framework one weekend in 1995, this dramatisation of Len Deighton's novel still stands among the very best drama productions in the audio medium I've heard, almost ten years later.

Though on the surface this play appears to deal with many elements familiar to those Britons who grew up watching films about our brave boys in the RAF, it is no Battle Of Britain-style flagwaver and quickly descends into the hellish futility and atrocity of the actions those courageous young men were called upon to perpetrate - and the appalling carnage frequently visited upon them in the act of doing so.

Fortunately, this is an intensely humane story, a tragedy which displays compassion towards all parties. A lack of human drama would render the story somewhat souless but production is equally matched with excellent performances, surmounted by the Tom Baker's grave tones as a narrator who effortlessly makes the listener feel like a spectator. The interviews with real veterans interspersed through the drama only adds to its power.

I'd recommend this drama on many levels, but I personally think its worth hearing just to demonstrate the dynamic potential of well-produced radio. The harrowing four minute autopsy of a seven-second blast of cannon fire is, in my mind at least, far more violent and affecting than anything achieved by cinema, and an extraordinary set-piece that shows just what radio can do in the theatre of the mind's eye.

Crudely put, this play is a human drama which is at times like a cross between Saving Private Ryan and Memphis Belle. Being an airman has never seemed such an appalling prospect, and while I shall never comfortably look on a Halifax or Lancaster Bomber ever again, nor - I hope - will I forget what flying those machines often demanded of the young men appointed to visit the whirlwind upon German towns and cities.

Impressive
I cannot compliment this drama/ documentary audio enough. You are immersed in the lives of the people impacted by this day and night very effectively and you cannot but feel how terribly tragic circumstances really were for all sides involved. I was greatly moved throughout, especially as many of the more appalling events are underwritten by veterans and civilian testimony.
Excellent

Read the book!
Len Deighton is probably one of the most underrated British writers. This may have to do with so called intelectuals' problems in accepting writers who also write entertainment. What makes Deighton great is both the very beautiful prose he writes, his characters and his minute knowledge of the war. Bomber is one of his most impressive offering being a testament to suffering and courage on both sides. I could go on for ages now what a great book Bomber is. However, I won't because this BBC production, impressive as it is, does not do justice to Deighton's great book. First of all, it is way too short. This leads to a loss of all those tales of everyday life and of individual fate that make the tragic events even more shocking. This contrast is one of the great strengths of the book. However, I found the exceperts from interviews with aircrews and victims downright annoying because they distracted from the actual story and broke the illusion of being part of a story. The fake German accents inthese parts didn't help either.