Einstein and the Bomb

It’s 1933 and Albert Einstein the most famous scientist in the world is on the run. In fear of his life, he has no choice but to abandon his German homeland, as Hitler seizes power and begins the systematic persecution of the Jewish population.

Einstein must find somewhere to hide from the very real threat of Nazi assassins. But where does a global celebrity disappear from view? The answer leads to a wooden hut in a field in Norfolk and the little known story of Einstein’s English hideaway. A time and place that will be a turning point in his life, between Europe and the US, between pacifism and aggression and a moment that will ultimately define his relationship with the most powerful of all inventions – the atom bomb.

Using Einstein’s words only – his speeches, letters and interviews – to script his dialogue, this innovative docu-drama from BBC Studios (The Anthrax Attacks, the Emmy winning The Surgeon’s Cut) fuses dramatic sequences with archive footage of Einstein’s life as it unfolds across both world wars, the rise and fall of fascism, the advent of the atomic age. The result is a uniquely insightful and moving portrait of one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th Century and beyond.