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"You gotta help me here, guys. Do I give the order to sail or not?"

We often talk about the weight of history being on someone’s shoulders; this was literally the case in June 1944 when an unprecedented, allied military force lay at anchor off the south coast of England waiting for the order to launch the invasion to liberate occupied Europe – D-Day.

They were waiting for one thing; something so mundane, so quintessentially English it seems almost laughable – what would the weather be like? But it was not a small issue. The allied force had one shot at this, and adverse weather might have spelt disaster for the mission and for millions waiting for liberation from the Nazis.

In David Haig’s wonderfully tense real-life drama, two men, one American and one Scottish, scrutinise their charts and instruments, while the Supreme Allied Commander, General Eisenhower, waits for their OK to give the order to sail – but they can’t agree. The pressure on Eisenhower for his invasion to succeed is intense – which makes the pressure on Col Irving Krick and Group Captain James Stagg unbearable.

Who has got it right - and who will carry the consequences if they are wrong?