TRAILER PARK: The Pacific

The Pacific is Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' follow-up to their award-winning mini-series Band Of Brothers. It promises to be another stunning piece of television, with a reported budget of $200 million (that's approximately £20m per episode!), and you can get a taste of what's to come from the embedded trailer above. To be honest, I'm not as interested in the Pacific side of WWII history, preferring instead the European struggle against the Nazi's, but I'm sure that won't matter a jot.

The Pacific is based on two memoirs written by US Marines: "With The Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge and "Helmet For My Pillow" by Robert Leckie. The series will tell the stories of these two authors and Marine John Basilone, as the war against the Empire of Japan rages. Famous battles reenacted in the series will include Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, Okinawa, and the Battle of Iwo Jima.

The 10-part series stars Jon Seda, Joseph Mazzello, James Badge Dale, William Sadler, Isabel Lucas, Brendan Fletcher, Penny McNamee and Jacob Pitts, amongst many others. Currently, HBO are planning to show the series in March 2010. Australia's Channel 7 will show it shortly afterwards, as will the UK's Sky Movies.