Secrets of the Imperial War Museum - Season 1

The series begins aboard the 83-year-old warship, HMS Belfast as an expert team races to get her ready for reopening.

At IWM's flagship site in Lambeth Road, London, a team is racing to complete an ambitious set of new galleries dedicated to telling the story of the Second World War and the Holocaust in a new way. Cameras also focus on IWM Duxford, where the museum's rare Mark 1 Spitfire is being serviced. It's undergoing a rigorous test flight to check it's ready to take to the skies for the first airshow of the season.

At IWM Duxford, a Husky armoured vehicle that was blown up by an IED attack in Afghanistan in 2012 is carefully lifted into place under an aircraft in the AirSpace hangar. Incredibly, the soldier sitting in the front seat of the vehicle when it was hit survived without injury, and he's brought his nine-year-old daughter to the museum to see the vehicle that saved her dad's life.

In Sheffield, cameras follow Dean who discovered a chest full of lost First World War letters and artifacts under a bed when he was clearing out his stepfather's house. For head of First World War Alan Wakefield, it's just the collection he's been looking for, and he helps Dean understand more about the history of the objects he's discovered.

A team of experts is racing to complete Second World War and The Holocaust galleries.