Spielberg epic gets French première

Spielberg with his wife Kate Capshaw

Steven Spielberg's World War II TV epic Band of Brothers will be unveiled in Normandy, France on 6 June - the 57th anniversary of the 1944 landings by allied forces.

The 10-hour D-Day mini-series epic is not due to be shown in the US and Europe until the autumn.

But its release is eagerly awaited because Spielberg's co-producer is Tom Hanks - the star of his hit war movie Saving Private Ryan.

The première will take place in a 1,000 seater auditorium beside Normandy's Utah Beach, the scene of some of the fiercest D-Day fighting.

Boasting a huge cast - most of which are virtual unknowns - Band of Brothers cost around £65m and is thought to be one of the most expensive TV programmes to date.

Saving Private Ryan won Spielberg an Oscar

It is based on a true story adapted from the best-selling book by Stephen Ambrose.

It traces the dramatic exploits of a US army unit as it fights its way across Europe.

The series was co-funded by US cable channel HBO, who will put it out in September. The BBC has the UK rights to the series.

HBO's executive vice-president Richard Pepler said Band of Brothers demanded an unusual first showing.

"We decided that an extraordinary story and project like this deserved an extraordinary première," he said.

Band of Brothers was filmed in the UK last year over eight intensive months.

It has a speaking cast of 50 and around 1000 extras.

Spielberg's production company DreamWorks used Hatfield Studios in southern England as a base.

The 800-acre former British Aerospace compound was also used by the director when making Saving Private Ryan.

For Band of Brothers, Spielberg recreated scenes in Belgium, Holland and France and a training camp in Georgia, USA.

Locations used outside of Hatfield included various villages and estates around Hertfordshire and a week in Switzerland.

The series is scheduled to be shown in the US from 9 September ahead of its European TV release in the following weeks.