I couldn't watch this program all the way through. It's an important subject, the performances are decent, the reenactments convincing, the interior monologues touching, and the budget was adequate.But it's ruined by the directorial style. The camera seems to be held by a drunk. It wobbles all over the place. There are zip pans from one face to another, and multiple closeups of faces. One pivotal figure, Tennant of the RN, muses over the task he's faced with. And what does the screen show us? A safety razor placidly plowing through a cream-coated face, leaving some ugly black stubble in its wake.I think this fad -- the cinema of hypermania -- may have begun with MTV because, after all, you can't expect an audience of fourteen year olds to sit quietly and watch a static shot of Elton John playing the piano. You must keep their attention prisoner by cutting rapidly from his face to his fingers to his feet to his shades and when you run out of that, you introduce a display of fireworks.Maybe it's my fault because I'm too tired or too old. I was very disappointed.

Having recently watched this again, for a third time, I must strongly disagree with a previous reviewer who described this as meretricious rubbish.It's true, some of the camera work was a little intrusive, and sometimes the music also got in the way, but these are minor irritations. On the whole, I thought the filmmakers told the story very well. Bearing in mind that at the time the incidents displayed were over over sixty years old, it must have been very difficult to tell the stories of so many men - from the government down to a private on the ground - with complete balance and historical accuracy, but overall I found everything very believable. The acting was top notch, with some well known faces, and Timothy Dalton's narration was also top drawer.I would recommend this series wholeheartedly.

The drama-documentary Dunkirk (2004) was, in my opinion, the finest example of the genre produced by the BBC and was well reviewed by John Keegan of The Telegraph, whose article of 19/02/04 may still be found on the web, although I could not agree with his suggestion that our men were pasty-faced, underfed soldiers not well represented by modern fresh-faced actors, for most of those I saw as a boy during the war, before and after Dunkirk, were neither pale nor hungry; but those of the BEF who formed an army in retreat and rout and who suffered strafing, hunger and fatigue on the beeches as they awaited embarkation, death or surrender, were no doubt not in the best of physical form.The quality of this production, its direction and the performance of the cast were beyond reproach and should not have been the target of petty criticism. There were so many really excellent, convincing representations of personnel ranging from soldiers to generals and cabinet ministers that one is reluctant to select any of them for special mention, but among the actors whose roles were portrayed with startling realism were Benedict Cumberbatch as Lt Jimmy Langley, James Loye as Lt David Mellis RN (bearing a strong resemblance to the man whose part he played and, in one scene, carrying a photograph of the real Mrs Mellis, as she was in 1940), Adrian Rawlins as Capt Bill Tennant RN, Beechmaster, Simon Russell Beale as Winston Churchill, all outstanding performances.The interpolation of archive film was very well done and enhanced the general picture of violent action at sea, the plight of the army, and the huge scale of the operations managed and co-ordinated by the Royal Navy, including those of inshore fishing vessels and other small craft. The disembarkations at Dover (including, I think, those of troops rescued by HMS Malcolm and piped ashore by Lt Mellis) and their entrainment for London could not have been more appropriate or more relevant to the drama, which seemed to fill in the gaps between main events and to inform us of the experiences of individuals and the roles of senior officers and politicians who played a part in the evacuation.My only complaint is that this great work is not available on DVD.

This was absolutely awesome.I loved the special effects, and the historical accuracy. some parts are quite gruesome, and there is peril throughout, but the scene with the stick grenades is very moving, in the sense that Toomes was saved by two other men who died on top of him.I actually watched this when I was back at school, in Year 9. It still has a great effect on me, and I believe that this series is great in its ability to move people and engrossing people with its well-timed music.A Must-See, this was maybe the best war film i'd seen when I was at school.