Allied forces under attack from the Germans near Arta...

The Germans have just taken the island of Crete and, what is left of the battered and bruised Allied forces, are left with little choice but to evacuate the island - the commanding officers are not best pleased with the early morning orders, which are interrupted by incoming fire from German aircraft, which are dropping their bombs dangerously close to the Allied forces headquarters. Half a century on, this is not Crete but Majorca, the location for half of the production of the two-part, four-hour television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel Sword of Honour for Channel Four, in collaboration with Palma Pictures. The production is one of the biggest to have been carried out in the Balearics and the logistics involved with the past week's filming have required nothing less than a small army of extras, technicians, pyrotechnic experts, catering and crew.