Episode 2

For 30 years, former mountaineer Joe Simpson has dreamed of re-tracing the World War II footsteps of his father, who served in the Chindit special forces in Burma behind Japanese lines in 1944.

Halfway through the jungle trek, the first free elections since 1990 trigger unrest and force Joe to divert to Bhamo, a small town in the north east of what is now called Myanmar. Joe can see the hills and ridges where his father trekked, but is not allowed to go there. Three days later, Joe and Ed Stafford, his jungle guide, are allowed to restart their journey, walking up a river crossed by the Chindits and travelling to villages and battlefields where the Allied special forces engaged the Japanese in fierce fighting. He meets villagers who still remember the Chindits, sees the spot where his father's commanding officer was beheaded in a battle and emerges with a deeper respect for what Lt Ian Simpson experienced.