The Real Heroes of Telemark: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

In the bleak Norwegian midwinter of 1943, a group of resistance fighters manages to destroy machinery used by the Germans to make "heavy water", a key ingredient in building atomic bombs. The exercise, labeled Operation Grouse, was one of the most audacious raids of World War II, carried out by four handpicked commandos parachuted into German-occupied Norway. It was the plot of a Hollywood movie called The Heroes of Telemark, starring Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris, but in fact, British television presenter and survival expert Ray Mears claims the film was a pale imitation of the true story. Mears and a team of serving Royal Marines and Norwegian troops follow the grueling campaign the men underwent 60 year later. He demonstrates their courage as they struggled with freezing conditions and minimal rations, to survive four months on the brutal Hardanger Plateau, site of the Nors...

Series details

• Title: The Real Heroes of Telemark
• Format: Documentary
• Language: English
• Genres: War, History
• Premiere date: 2003-09-21
• Final broadcast date listed: 2003-10-05
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: BBC Two
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 50 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 18698
• IMDb ID: tt0499247
• TVDB ID: 81301

Cast and credited roles

• Ray Mears — Ray Mears

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2003-09-21; final listed air date 2003-10-05; episode order: 3.

Source and licence

Adapted from The Real Heroes of Telemark on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.