Synopsis

It's summer 2006, and what began as a pleasant sunny spell has developed into a meteorological nightmare. For two weeks, Britain has been in the grip of record high temperatures - transport is in chaos, tinder-dry conditions have sparked fierce countryside fires and thousands are dying in the blistering heat. This dramatised documentary tells the sobering story of a natural disaster that has its precedent in Europe's deadly heatwave of 2003, as witnessed by ordinary people and public servants battling to contain a crisis. Bernard Hill narrates.