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HISTORY This Week

Operation Mincemeat Revisited | Episode + Bonus Interview with Natasha Hodgson

HISTORY This Week

The HISTORY® Channel

History, Education, Society & Culture

4.63.9K Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When we first aired "Operation Mincemeat" back in 2020, it was a daring WWII thriller that felt almost too wild to be true. Now, it’s not just history — it’s a hit Broadway musical. This week, we're revisiting our original episode about the ingenious Allied ruse that helped turn the tide of the war. And we’re adding a twist: an interview with Natasha Hodgson, co-creator and star of Operation Mincemeat, the musical. She joins us to talk spies, songs, and how one of the strangest wartime plots ever ended up on stage. Original episode description -- July 10, 1943. 150,000 British and American soldiers storm the beaches of Sicily in the first Allied invasion of Nazi-controlled Europe. But the Nazis…aren’t really there to put up a fight. Hitler thought the invasion was coming for Greece. The Nazis have been tricked by two British Intelligence officers and a covert deception plan. How did their operation— which involved a corpse, a false identity and a single eyelash—change the course of WWII?   Special thanks to Nicholas Reed, author of The Spy Runner. ** This episode originally aired June 7, 2020. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

The History Channel, original podcast.

0:03.3

Hey, History This Week, listeners, Sally here.

0:05.9

Today, we are bringing back an episode we covered in 2020, but with something new.

0:11.2

We are not the only ones who loved this story, and in spring of this year, Operation Minceme

0:15.9

hit the Broadway stage.

0:17.8

It brings to life the strange but true story of a World War II spy mission that

0:22.2

helped the Allied forces gain a crucial foothold in Nazi-occupied Europe. I am actually joined

0:28.3

in the studio today by the show's co-creator and star Natasha Hodgson. Natasha, welcome to history

0:35.0

this week. Oh my gosh, I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

0:38.3

We're so happy to have you.

0:39.5

I hear that you actually got the idea for this musical from a podcast.

0:44.7

Is that right?

0:45.6

That's true.

0:46.1

Podcast rule.

0:47.1

You know, that's the source of all information.

0:49.3

A podcast, yes.

0:50.4

I was in Norway on a holiday with my family.

0:53.2

We had this really long train journey from Bergen to Oslo.

0:56.2

It's this beautiful train journey.

0:57.6

And I needed something to listen to as I was watching the mountains go by.

1:01.4

And my brother suggested I listened to a Stuff You Should Know podcast about Operation Mincemeat.

1:06.9

It wasn't ours.

...

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