Evacuation | Preview (Channel 4)

This three-part documentary military thriller tells the inside story of the perilous British campaign to evacuate Kabul, with top-to-bottom access to the Ministry of Defence.

It's an unflinching, emotive series that reveals - for the first time - the truth about the unfolding minute-by-minute drama of Britain's biggest airlift since World War II. Never-seen-before MoD footage shot by combat camera teams and personal footage reveal the incredibly complex nature of the operation.

Going beyond the headlines and parliamentary debates of the time, Evacuation focuses on the personal stories of the British servicemen and women who dealt with a humanitarian crisis on a scale they'd never experienced before.

At the same time, Evacuation explores how the military's work affected people on the ground - unpacking the personal stories of British nationals and Afghan citizens caught up in the chaos and terror while desperately trying to flee their homeland, as the Taliban took over.

Some 15,000 British nationals and eligible Afghans were flown out of Afghanistan in a matter of days, but the human dilemmas on the ground play out like drama in this gripping and dramatic series. In the first episode, as allied forces begin to return home from Afghanistan, the Taliban start taking back parts of the country.

A small British military team is sent out to prepare for a possible evacuation, and a group of elite soldiers are put on standby to deploy, but nobody knows quite what to expect. Suddenly, the Taliban shock the world by taking Kabul, unleashing chaos on the airport runway and in the airspace too.

The military scramble to clear the airfield of thousands of panicked civilians who've broken through. Can they regain control and start the evacuation?

Evacuation begins Sunday 2nd July at 9pm on Channel 4.