Killing Hitler

In an innovative mix of fact and dramatic reconstruction, Killing Hitler unearths the story of Operation Foxley, the top secret plan hatched by the British in June 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Operation Foxley outlined various options for Hitler's execution at his Berghof estate near the town of Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps.

Episode One - It is June 1944, and British intelligence suggests that without Hitler, the German war effort would falter. ‘LBX', a staff officer with the Special Operations Executive, is asked to come up with a plan for Hitler's assassination. LBX must find out when Hitler is at his most vulnerable, how a British intelligence operative might get close to him, and what method should be used to kill him.
LBX runs through the options. Since Wehrmacht Colonel von Stauffenberg (working with the German resistance) tried to assassinate him, Hitler has been wary of public appearances and increased security ten-fold. Getting a sniper close enough to Hitler at a public appearance now would prove very difficult. They could sabotage the Fuhrerzug, the train Hitler used to travel Germany? Or poison the train's water supply? Both options are considered too risky.
Then, a breakthrough. LBX is sent details of three marksmen - one of them, a Polish prisoner of war, has military training. If they could only get him close enough to Hitler, the war could be ended and thousands of lives saved...

Episode Two - Where could a sniper take a shot at Hitler? LBX decides that the sniper should strike when Hitler feels most relaxed: in his home in the Berghof. In the Bavarian Alps adjacent to the former Austrian frontier, the Berghof is in a hilly and densely wooded area - perfect cover for a sniper.
The SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) track down a Prisoner of War who was once part of the Wachkompanie - Hitler's personal guard. LBX meets him to try to trick him into revealing details of security at the Berghof. He discovers that Hitler actually follows a routine: he rises between 9am and 10am, visits his barber, then goes for a 15-20-minute walk. And whenever he is at the Berghof, he flies a swastika flag - it's possible to tell when Hitler is at home from a cafe in the nearest village.
But although Operation Foxley (the assassination operation) has been approved by Churchill, it meets opposition from a number of sources. Would killing Hitler really end the war, or just make him a martyr? How was LBX planning to get his operatives in - and out - of the Berghof? In the end, the SOE and the SIS cannot agree, and Operation Foxley is abandoned. If it had gone ahead, and been successful, an estimated 10 million lives would have been saved.

Written by Jeremy Lovering
Directed by Jeremy Lovering
Produced by Gordon Baskerville, Jo Ralling
Executive Produced by Roy Ackerman, Adam Kemp, Susan Werbe
Original Music by Piers Faccini
Cinematography by Katie Swain
Film Editing Luke Dunkley
Costume Design by Lucia Santa Maria

‘Multilayered and visually distinctive, Killing Hitler is an unusually sophisticated second world war offering as well as one with a rare degree of contemporary resonance.' - Sunday Times

‘A dizzying melange of genres is used to recreate the tensions within Churchill's Special Operations Executive (SOE).This is part Enigma -style Britflick, part historical memoir, taking in special ops operatives and Hitler's bodyguards, and part 'What If?' talking heads seminar, as historians debate whether the plan could have changed the course of history.
Keith Allen plays a young operative charged with somehow finding a credible way - whether with poison, bombs or bullets - to kill the Fuhrer. As drama, this would seem to have its work cut out. It isn't giving too much away to point out that the Brits aren't going to kill Hitler in the end - yet real edge-of-the-seat tension is created.' - Observer

‘"The time has definitely come to give the liquidation of Hitler some priority." In 1944 Operation Foxley, led by Churchill's Special Operations Executive, aimed to assassinate the Fuhrer; so secret a plot, it would only come to light in 1998. Methods discussed included poisoning his water and taking him out sniper-style - all executions fiercely debated by Whitehall, who argued whether it was actually cricket to kill an opposing head of state in cold claret. Keith Allen, Kenneth Cranham and Kate Ashfield feature in a convincing blend of drama, archive footage and veteran testimonials.' - Guardian