Secrets of the Imperial War Museum Season 1: Episode Guide & Ratings

The series begins aboard the 83-year-old warship, HMS Belfast as an expert team races to get her ready for reopening

At IWM's flagship site a team are racing to complete a set of new galleries dedicated to telling the story of World War 2 and the Holocaust.

At IWM Duxford, a Husky armoured vehicle that was blown up by an IED attack in Afghanistan in 2012 is carefully lifted into place under an aircraft in the AirSpace hangar. Incredibly, the soldier sitting in the front seat of the vehicle when it was hit survived without injury, and he's brought his nine-year-old daughter to the museum to see the vehicle that saved her dad's life.

In Sheffield, cameras follow Dean who discovered a chest full of lost First World War letters and artifacts under a bed when he was clearing out his stepfather's house. For head of First World War Alan Wakefield, it's just the collection he's been looking for, and he helps Dean understand more about the history of the objects he's discovered.

Experts work on a new gallery; curator James Bulgin meets the granddaughter of a man who was murdered at Auschwitz to understand more about his life.

The final touches are being made ahead of the opening of the new galleries.