Hull's bombed National Picture Theatre to reopen as memorial tomorrow
Hull's National Picture Theatre, bombed during a 1941 screening, opens to the public as a heritage attraction and memorial after a two-year restoration.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
The National Picture Theatre in Hull, which was bombed during a screening in 1941, will open to the public tomorrow as a memorial and community space after a two-year restoration project.
The cinema was showing Charlie Chaplin's satire on Hitler, The Great Dictator, on 17 March 1941 when German bombs fell on the city. About 150 people were watching the film when they were warned to take cover. They moved from the auditorium to the foyer under the balcony, and moments later a bomb hit the auditorium directly. Remarkably, no one was killed.
Hull was England's second most bombed city during the Second World War, with more than 1,200 people killed and 91,000 homes damaged. The National Picture Theatre's ruins were later reclaimed by nature, but campaigners fought to preserve the building as a memorial to civilians who suffered on the home front.
Funding from the National Lottery helped save the building from collapse. The facade has been painstakingly restored, and the interior now shows the original layout, with marked areas showing where the seats and aisles would have been. The site will operate as a heritage attraction.
Speaking about the close call, one person involved in the project said: "The most shocking thing is that people are going through it right at this minute while we're talking about it." The story is seen as a warning against repeating history.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | ITV |
|---|---|
| A cinema was bombed on 17 March 1941 while showing 'The Great Dictator'. | |
| All 150 people inside the cinema survived the bombing. | |
| Hull was England's second most bombed city during World War II. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
This channel focused on the dramatic irony of the bombing occurring during a screening of Chaplin's anti-Hitler film, and on the human story of survival. It also highlighted the long campaign to restore the building and the emotional resonance of the memorial, with vivid descriptions of the interior layout for visitors.
- “Ironically, as the Nazi bombs fell, the film on the screen was the great dictator, Charlie Chaplin's satire on Hitler.”
- “Miraculously, everyone survived.”
- “We've a lot to thank those beams for and that's why we've taken care to preserve them.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.