Britain’s Secret War Babies

Channel 4, 9pm

It might sound like a familiar story: the children who were fathered by GIs arriving from the US and stationed in the UK during the Second World War. But among them there were around 2,000 babies born to African-American men and British mothers each year between 1942 and 1946 – at a time when the nation was far less racially diverse than it is today.

They include Mary (right with her mother) and John, who in this revealing documentary, look back on the challenges and prejudice they faced growing up as mixed-race children.

Meeting presenter Sean Fletcher – who grew up in Essex as the son of a Zimbabwean mother and an English father – they also attempt to solve some of the mysteries of their families’ past by making use of both DNA technology and historical and genealogical archives. ★★★★★