Thursday 18th May 2017
A Tale of Two Sisters is a brand new series focusing on the lives of famous sisters, launching tonight (Thursday 18th May) on UKTV's Yesterday channel, with the story of the famous aviator Amelia Earhart and her younger sister Muriel. This documentary has exclusive access to Muriel's daughter and Amelia's niece, Amy Kleppner, who has taken on her mother's mantle of keeping Amelia's memory alive. Amy gives rare insight into Amelia and Muriel's relationship.
Amy gives a glimpse into the sister's' childhood and how
they didn't do a lot of the usual little girl activities. They were both tomboys and liked sports, they played baseball, and at one point asked for a football for Christmas.
She reveals they were very active and went against the norm of the time of what girls should be doing.
The film also follows the struggles of their adolescent years, and how they coped with uncertainty. Moving from Kanas to California ignited Amelia'__s love for flying, which her sister __Muriel would be crucial to after lending Amelia money to buy her first plane. Amy describes how difficult it was for Amelia as a woman to get into aviation,
the training allowed men to get the job as commercial pilots, and women were not able to do that.
Despite this, Amelia managed to become one of the most famous pilots, by being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
Amelia - A Tale of Two Sisters documents the build-up to Amelia's flight and the theories about her disappearance. Amy describes the main theories about what people think happened to Amelia. The first is "that they just missed their objective and had to be somewhat off course, they ran out of fuel and crashed and sank."
Then the second is "that she had been forced down somewhere and captured by the Japanese" although Amy does state that "there was never any really solid evidence for this". A further third theory is "that they flew on to Nikumaroro, which was at the time called Gardner Island, that they might have survived a few days".
Amelia died a month in to her journey in 1937 on a transatlantic flight. They lost contact with the ship that was to meet her to refuel and no trace of her was found. Muriel handled the death by writing about her sister - Amy Kleppner describes the sisters' relationship, that even after Amelia's death, Muriel "continued to feel love and admiration for A.E. as long as she lived".
Muriel died in 1998. Of the two sisters' lives, Amy says
one relatively ordinary and one was quite spectacular.
Preview for the episode is available here
For any more information please contact Annabel Rudden on annabel@plankpr.com or 020 8995 3936
About Yesterday
Sky 537, Virgin 206, Freeview 19, BT and TalkTalk 019 and on demand via UKTV Play Showcasing UK premieres series such asImpossible Engineering, Forbidden History, andPrivate Lives of the Tudors, Yesterday provides fascinating factual stories. The channel also features dynamic nature and science programming including David Attenborough's Natural Curiositiesand Wonders of the Universe, as well as classic shows from the past such as Blackadder and Porridge. Ancient history is also featured in series including Medieval Dead, plus seminal war documentaries such as World at War. yesterday.uktv.co.uk | @yesterdaytweets