HMS Belfast to Open New D-Day Display in Collaboration with Film ‘PRESSURE’

The display will delve deeper into the true events behind Pressure, the new blockbuster film starring Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon and Damian Lewis.

Directed by Anthony Maras and released in cinemas across the UK & Ireland on 9 September, Pressure tells the story of the tense 72-hours before D-Day, exploring the crucial decision facing General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Fraser) on when to launch the largest and most dangerous seaborne invasion in history. It reveals the critical role of the Met Office’s Chief Meteorological Officer, Group Captain James Stagg (Scott), and his unenviable task of delivering the weather forecast that would determine whether it was a success or disaster.

The first trailer for ‘Pressure’ is here, the film which tells the story of the most important weather forecast; the D-Day forecast.

Andrew Scott stars as Group Captain James Stagg – the Met Office meteorologist tasked with delivering the weather forecast and helping shape… pic.twitter.com/mQ9LLIK462

— Met Office (@metoffice) March 25, 2026

Pressure: The D-Day Decision, will open to visitors on HMS Belfast from 21 August 2026 – 11 April 2027. Through fascinating objects and documents from the IWM and Met Office archives, the display will explore how a range of disparate conditions – from the moon and tides to the wind direction and cloud cover – had to be in almost perfect alignment to ensure the long-awaited invasion of western Europe was successful.

On display for the first time will be a helmet worn by Sergeant Floyd Jakob ‘Bud’ Corrington, a member of the American 101^st Airborne Division (made famous by ‘Band of Brothers’), who was tragically killed on D-Day. Other objects include a pocket watch used to time the naval artillery barrage from a ship off the Normandy coast – a bombardment that HMS Belfast itself took part in as the flagship of the bombardment supporting British and Canadian troops at Gold and Juno beaches on 6 June, and one of the first ships to open fire.

Historic documents, on loan from the Met Office National Meteorological Library and Archive, will appear alongside IWM items including Group Captain James Stagg’s personal diary covering the critical 72-hour period conveyed in Pressure. After advising Eisenhower to call off the invasion originally planned for 5 June, Stagg confides on these pages he is “getting rather stunned – it is all a nightmare”.

The display will also showcase the original so-called ‘Gods of War memo’ on which Eisenhower scrawled a note to Stagg on the weather report he produced for 19 June (one of the only possible alternative dates for D-Day) thanking “the Gods of war that we went when we did”.  This later date would see a once-in-a-generation storm hit the Normandy coastline.

IWM’s Head of Public History, Dr James Bulgin, commented: “It’s always fascinated me that even in a period of history as familiar as D-Day, there are pivotal details that remain little known. Stagg, and the forecasters he worked alongside, had a seismic impact on the way that the invasion – and ultimately the overall course of the war – unfolded, and yet they have been largely forgotten. Pressure does a fantastic job of bringing these individuals, and the compelling story that they were at the centre of, from the shadows and into the spotlight.

“Through this new display on HMS Belfast, we hope to deepen peoples understanding of how critical the unpredictable and uncontrollable forces of nature were in relation to the outcome of D Day by showcasing incredible objects and documents from within IWM’s vast collection which haven’t been publicly displayed before.”

Anthony Maras, Director of Pressure, commented: “Pressure may be set over 80 years ago, but its themes are just as relevant today. It is a story that explores what leadership looks like, at its very best. It is a story of speaking truth to power, of the necessity of rational thought, and of having the courage to stand one’s ground against unimaginable pressure.

“At its heart, our film seeks to bring to life an enormously consequential sliver in history: a 72-hour period that defined the world as we now know it. We worked closely with The Imperial War Museum and the Met Office to conceive, research, and craft this story, and having the opportunity to bring it to audiences together is a dream come true.”

Met Office Library and Archive Manager, Catherine Ross, said: “Bringing the true story of the Met Office’s most important forecast to the big screen provides the opportunity to shine a light on the dedicated professionalism of meteorologists and their teams during the Second World War and the vital role they played during D-Day. We hope that by bringing these treasures from our archive to HMS Belfast we can help visitors understand the enormity of the challenge facing the forecasters and the huge stakes involved in their decision making.”

Pressure: The D-Day Decision will also feature audiovisual content with oral testimonies from Kay Summersby (Eisenhower’s personal secretary, played by Kerry Condon in Pressure), meteorologist George Lawrence Hogben and Group Captain James Stagg, as well as moving extracts from personal letters discovered within IWM’s collection that offer a glimpse into the hopes, fears and emotions of those on the D-Day frontlines.

Alongside the new display, visitors to HMS Belfast can explore more of the ship’s D-Day history, with an immersive look at the experiences of the 28 men who operated the ship’s guns in Y Turret, and see a copy of the ship’s logbook and official record of its actions on 6 June. In the Shell Room, visitors can follow the path of the ammunition that powered HMS Belfast’s bombardment and see where wounded troops were treated onboard in the Sick Bay. Expert led tours of the ship, focusing on its role in D Day, will run throughout the display period.

At IWM London, an IWM In Conversation event on Wednesday 2 September will see Pressure’s director, Anthony Maras, join David Haig, who adapted his own original theatre production for the big screen, and IWM’s Head of Public History, Dr James Bulgin for a panel discussion on taking Pressure from stage to screen to ship. Tickets are on sale now via the website.