Ho ho ho! It's Christmas, and what is more festive and merry than The Great Escape? A perennial Boxing Day favourite (except for Rob, who was forced on family walks), John Sturges' 1963 prisoner of war caper featured one of the great ensemble casts in cinema history: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasance and many more. They were all trying to break out of Stalag Luft III – but can the film break out of the doldrums of mediocre moviemaking? Why is there an unhelpful American stuck in the cooler? How miserable was the ending in reality? And – repeat after me – is this the mission that changed the course of the war?

Presented by Robert Hutton and Duncan Weldon.

Executive produced by Nick Hilton for Podot.

Edited by Ewan Cameron.

This is a Podot podcast.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.