Benedict Cumberbatch to read original D-day news bulletins on Radio 4 

Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off

Benedict Cumberbatch to read original D-day news bulletins on Radio 4

BBC\'s 70th anniversary coverage of Normandy invasion includes new recordings by Sherlock star, Patrick Stewart and Toby Jones

Benedict Cumberbatch will read original BBC news reports to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

The BBC\'s 70th anniversary coverage of the second world war Normandy invasion will include Radio 4 broadcasts of the corporation\'s original 1944 news reports, read by Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch and Patrick Stewart.

The new recordings of the original BBC radio bulletin scripts from June 1944, which for most British listeners provided the first news that the long-awaited Allied offensive against Nazi-occupied mainland Europe had begun in earnest.

The D-day news reports will be broadcast at the same time of day as their original transmission time 70 years ago, beginning with Cumberbatch\'s reading of the 8am bulletin during Radio 4\'s Today programme on Friday and continuing until 9pm on Sunday.

Others will be broadcast during later Radio 4 programmes including The World At One, PM, The World Tonight, Broadcasting House and The World This Weekend.

The new recordings will also be available online on the Radio 4 website, along with more than 200 pages of archive radio bulletin scripts from BBC Home Service D-day broadcasts being published for the first time. Many of the scripts are annotated with subbing marks by the writers and newsreaders of the day.

Gwyneth Williams, Radio 4 controller, described D-day as a "day of deep significance; a day that carries, in memory, unimaginable burdens for a nation".

Williams added: "Radio 4, in digital times, can open its treasure trove of a website and bring original radio scripts to life, recreating that day in greater intensity and immediacy for a new generation."

The first British and American airborne troops began landing in France shortly after midnight on D-day, with the main assault on the Normandy beaches beginning at 6.30am.

Such was the slower pace of the media in those days, and the need for journalists to abide by strict wartime censorship to avoid giving vital information about military operations to the enemy, that it was several hours before the BBC first reported that the D-day invasion had begun.

Official confirmation that the Normandy invasion was underway came just after 9.30am on 6 June 1944 in a statement issued by general Eisenhower, supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe.

The news was first relayed to the British public by the BBC in a special midday bulletin, read by John Snagge: "\'D\' Day has come. Early this morning the Allies began the assault on the north-western face of Hitler\'s European Fortress."

Earlier that day, the BBC\'s 8am bulletin led with a warning to civilians living near the coast in Nazi-occupied countries that "a new phase in the Allied Air Offensive" had begun and quoted German reports that "Allied airborne troops have been landed" and naval forces were "engaged with Allied landing-craft".

The BBC broadcast its first "eye-witness report from above the battlefield of France" during its 1pm radio news, a recording sent back by an air-commodore Helmore from a plane that had returned from its mission that morning to bomb a railway bridge. Helmore reported during the flight across the English Channel that it was busier "up here than Piccadilly Circus" with the air "full of aircraft of all kinds going and coming", while down below "I\'ve just seen a great flock of our invasion fleet".

The 1pm bulletin also carried reports from BBC correspondents including Frank Gillard, "with troops in the South of England", Robert Dunnett on an American ship, and Richard Dimbleby – father of Question Time presenter David – reporting the night before from an English airfield as aircraft carrying paratroops took off for France.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on

Our editors\' picks for the day\'s top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.

Benedict Cumberbatch to read original D-Day news bulletins on Radio 4

. A version appeared on p8 of the Main section section of the Guardian on

Robert Peston: BBC follows the Daily Mail\'s lead too much

Corporation\'s editors have a \'safety-first\' attitude and are completely obsessed with newspapers\' agendas, says economics editor. By Maggie Brown and Jason Deans

Robert Peston\'s speech warns of threat to journalism from native ads – full text

BBC sending more staff to Glastonbury than World Cup

Lord Coe confirms he is considering applying to be chairman of BBC Trust

Guardian launches SecureDrop system for whistleblowers to share files

The Big Issue is used by migrants to claim benefits, says Iain Duncan Smith

Bear Grylls\' The Island: 40,000 apply for series two despite fakery row

Quirke \'mumbling\' row: writer admits watching with subtitles

Rihanna Rogue perfume ad restricted due to \'sexually suggestive\' image

We can\'t load the discussion on theguardian.com because you don\'t have JavaScript enabled.

1.  Chris Kenny: ‘I’ll be remembered as the journalist called a dog f**ker who stood up for his rights’

2. I still get abuse from Twitter trolls, says Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington

3. It\'s official: Nike rhymes with spiky - and you\'re saying all these wrong too

4. Robert Peston: BBC follows the Daily Mail’s lead too much

5. Mind your manners: a timely guide to social media

1.  Mind your manners: a timely guide to social media

2. Sheffield Doc/Fest 2014: Love and Radio - audio

3. Chris Kenny: ‘I’ll be remembered as the journalist called a dog f**ker who stood up for his rights’

4. Magazine publisher ShortList Media reports losses of almost £1m

5. I still get abuse from Twitter trolls, says Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington

One of the best World Cup goals ever, Diego Maradona\'s second goal against England in 1986, is lovingly recreated brick-by-brick

Jock Hutton, 89, drops into field he landed in 70 years ago

Our critics review this week\'s big cinema releases, including 22 Jump Street

Internet users cannot be sued for browsing the web, ECJ rules

CIA sends out first tweet – and shows it has a sense of humour

New Zealand 20-15 England: first Test – as it happened

From teledildonics to interactive porn: the future of sex in a digital age

India state minister on rape: \'Sometimes it\'s right, sometimes it\'s wrong\'

Bradley Wiggins capped his remarkable sporting year by taking home the big prize at the ceremony in London

Dinner, dusk and dancing Russians: my best winter shot

A glass of wine with a rough sleeper, Santa in trunks, a thousand partying Muscovites … in a My Best Shot special, top photographers pick the image that sums up winter for them

Kimon, an eight-year-old pet female long-tailed monkey, treats a kitten as her baby in Bintan Island, Indonesia

© 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.