Niven stars as a British Air Force pilot on his way home from a bombing mission when his aircraft is badly damaged. Before bailing out, he radios Kim Hunter’s Allied operator to share his final moments. Yet after surviving, he finds her back home, and they fall in love. That is before Marius Goring’s divine messenger arrives to take the pilot to heaven, as it turns out he shouldn’t have survived the plane crash after all.

A Matter of Life and Death is on BBC Two this Saturday at 12:35pm and will be streaming on BBC iPlayer for a limited period afterwards.