The Brits Who Fought For Hitler: Revealed five, 9.00pm What Not to Wear BBC2, 8.30pm
IN THE Second World War, there were spies, and traitors in the trenches. You hear much about the first and little about the second. The makers of The Brits Who Fought For Hitler: Revealed would have you believe they were imparting a tale of a betrayal by men covered in mud and shame who were suppressed till their cameras clicked on. Not quite. Sometimes a story is untold because there isn't one.
The renegades were prisoners of war who joined the British Free Corps, a unit of the Waffen SS. The Germans tried to recruit them through war-time marketing techniques. First they sought to lure the PoWs by showing them the delights disloyalty might bring - a billet in a camp where beer and ladies in lederhosen were within reach. Little, though, did the Nazis allow for the British obsession with the neighbours. Camp-lite's neighbour was a barbaric repository for Russians. After peering next door, most of the British PoWs opted not to trust the Nazis and declined to join Free Corps.
Of the few who did, treachery seems to have been the last thing on their minds. They passed a peaceful war, quietly colluding with the German head of their unit who was just as intent on avoiding a skirmish. The corps commander, Hans Werner Roepke, was filmed covertly. ''We were trying to kill time,'' he admitted.
Artefacts, including a SS paybook which had belonged to a British-born corporal, were more fascinating. Inside there was a portrait of Hitler, alongside the corporal's details, which included his gasmask size. A uniform was also produced, showing a British flag alongside a swastika.
The unit was finally sent to the Eastern front, closer to the fray. The documentary reminded us that soldiers are people, and men who change sides do not change character. Idleness, not ideology, seemed to be their motivation for joining the unit.
A shortfall of adventure left the programme makers to boost their documentary into something more revelatory than it was. They tried more ''secret filming'', this time of the last surviving member of the Free Corps, who now lives in Australia. Secret cameras are generally concealed within bags, and, so, an interviewee is shot from hip height. Robert Chipchase, the survivor, issued denials of his participation from his navel. Visually and narratively, no clear picture emerged of these traitors.
Unusually, Trinny and Susannah were advising a man What Not to Wear last night in a show which actually revealed that concerns about chubby rears are not gender specific. Poor Matthew, a
man with a Jennifer Lopez bottom, sought tips on trousers which might be slimming. His transformation concluded this compellingly shallow series, where looks are all that matter.
Trinny and Susannah would have vetoed the wearing of
the Free Corps uniform,
based on its appearance rather than allegiance.
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