Greece: The Hidden War

Greece: The Hidden War is a 1986 television documentary series about the background to the Greek Civil War. The series, which explores the contribution of British policy and actions to the civil war, gave rise to the biggest uproar in the history of British television: the series was banned, all but one copy destroyed, and letters were written to major newspapers in defence of Britain for months afterwards.[1]

The documentary was produced by and scripted by Jane Gabriel and directed by Anthony Howard. It was originally shown in three parts on 6, 13 and 30 January 1986 on Britain’s Channel 4.[2] People interviewed include:

• Major Greek players, such as Markos Vafeiadis (resistance and civil war leader), 'Father Germanos' Dimakis (priest and EAM-ELAS fighter), Giorgos Chouliaris (Pericles), Alekos Rosios (Ypsilantis), Spyros Kotsakis, Spyros Meletzis (ELAS photographer).
• Other Greek participants in the resistance, talking of their role in the resistance, their experience of the campaign of terror by the far-right which followed the dissolution of the resistance army, and of the subsequent civil war.
• British players and commentators, such as Chris "Monty" Woodhouse, Eddie Myers, Richard Acland, Sir Geoffrey Chandler, Edward Warner, Nigel Clive, David Balfour, and British soldiers of various ranks.

References

1. Heinz Richter, Η Εθνική Αντίσταση και οι συνέπειές της [= The Greek Resistance and its Consequences] (Athens: Mesogeios, 2009), p. 504-5.
2. British Film Institute database, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/8343 Archived 2008-04-10 at the Wayback Machine