Welcome to Dan Snow's History Hit. I'm Matt Lewis, filling in for Dan while he's on holiday.

Here to tell you all about a fantastic new film in cinemas right now. Operation Mints meet is

directed by John Madden, the man behind such wonderful films as Shakespeare in Love,

and it stars an incredible cast headed by Colin Firth, Matthew McFadden and Kelly McDonald.

It's based on the book of the same name by celebrated historian Ben McIntyre. It's 1943,

the Allies are determined to break Hitler's grip on occupied Europe and plan an all-out assault

on Sicily, but they face an impossible challenge, how to protect a massive invasion force from

potential massacre. It falls to two remarkable intelligence officers, you and Montague,

played by Colin Firth, and Charles Chumley, Matthew McFadden, to dream the most inspired and

improbable disinformation strategy of the whole war. In a small subterranean office at the

Admiralty known as Room 13, with the help of a small group of intelligence operatives,

the pair put into motion a plan to plan to dead body dressed as a pilot carrying false

information of an Allied attack on Greece. The intention was for German intelligence to find it,

believe the information in the letters, and redirect access defenses to Greece, leaving

Sicily open to an Allied invasion. With surprising difficulty, they do manage to source a dead body,

that of a homeless man named Glyndewer Michael, whom they re-christen Major William Martin.

They build an elaborate and complicated life for this body, a fake family, a job history,

and a lover called Pam, whose photograph would be found in the breast pocket of his jacket.

They used a photograph of M.I.5 Secretary Jean Leslie, played by Kelly McDonald, who helps Montague

and Chumley flesh out their story of a fake soldier. Chemistry develops as Montague and Leslie

delve further into building the fake relationship of Officer Martin and his beloved Pam,

and the lines of their characters' stories and their real emotions begin to blur.

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