Bomb disposal play delayed by real unexploded bomb

A film about bomb disposal crews working in Coventry during the 1940 blitz on the city was delayed after the discovery of a real bomb, dropped on the city during that World War Two raid.

It Takes A City had been due to be screened on Tuesday night by the theatre group Talking Birds at their base, part of the Daimler Powerhouse arts complex.

However, when workmen found an unexploded bomb on part of the site, the screening had to be postponed.

Derek Nisbet, co-director of Talking Birds, said "It was something that could happen, because the development that's happening is where the Daimler factory was, which was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War."

The bomb, likely to be one of the thousands dropped by the Luftwaffe on Coventry in November 1940, was discovered during work to develop the six acre (2.4 hectares) site into a mixed housing and retail development called Daimler Wharf.

Its discovery came on the day Talking Birds was due to screen a film of the play they staged in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral in 2025.

It Takes a City tells the story of two bomb disposal crews, one that dealt with a device in Chapel Street in 1940 and the second, called when a similar bomb was found during work near the Belgrade Theatre in the city centre in 2008.

"There were two crews working day and night in Coventry in 1940 and moving the bombs to Whitley Common where they could be safely detonated," said Nisbet.

"Sadly, one such bomb was taken from Chapel Street but, as they were unloading it, all seven were killed [when it went off]."

The play also shows how the 2008 bomb was dealt with, after it was found during work around the Belgrade Theatre.

Instead of being taken to Whitley Common, it was carried by a bomb disposal officer 40m (44yds) from the site, to a hole where it was reburied and detonated.

Nisbet was involved in the creation of the group's play and said, to understand what the crews went through and think about when they were called to deal with an unexploded device, they spoke to a former bomb disposal officer.

"His parting comment was, 'I've never met a selfish bomb disposal officer' - and that really stuck with me and is one of the final lines of the play, " the co-director added.

"It commemorates the sad loss of the seven men on Whitley common in 1940 but also marks the work that still continues, as these bombs are found and uncovered."

He said, while the screening of the filmed version of the play was postponed, Talking Birds intended to restage the showing at The Nest, their base at the Daimler Powerhouse, in a couple of weeks time.

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