The BBC World War I centenary season was the marking of the centenary of the First World War across the BBC. Programming started in 2014 and lasted until 2018, corresponding to 100 years after the war.[1] The BBC season included 130 newly-commissioned radio and television programmes which lasted over 2500 hours, including more than 600 hours of new content.[2][3][4] The programmes were broadcast on over twenty BBC television and radio stations.
Overview
The First World War centenary season was announced on 16 October 2013 by the BBC.[2] Adrian Van Klaveren, the BBC World War I centenary controller called the project the "biggest and most ambitious pan-BBC project ever commissioned".[5] The series featured a wide variety of programming that according to its producers were intended to present a more neutral and accurate picture of the war than the view commonly held by the public. In support of this goal, several programmes explored lesser-known topics such as the experiences of troops from New Zealand and Australia in the Gallipoli Campaign and several others focused on presenting the impact that the war had had on the world today.[6] Other programmes attempted to show the effect that the war had on the individuals involved in it and one documentary showed numerous veteran interviews that were filmed for the BBC documentary The Great War on the conflict's fiftieth anniversary in 1964 but were omitted from that programme.[3]
The series also featured a number of live broadcasts on the 100th anniversaries of significant events during the war, beginning with a broadcast from Sarajevo, the site of assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, on 28 June 2014. Other event anniversaries had dedicated live broadcasts include the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 2016, the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 2016, and the Battle of Passchendaele on 31 July 2017, plus the annual Remembrance Sunday event at the Cenotaph.[6]
Britain's Great War was co-produced with the Open University and presented by Jeremy Paxman. The series explores how Britain and its people were affected by the war.[7]
A series of short films offering a fresh perspective on some of the most fascinating aspects of WWI, shining a light on the real experience and answering key questions.
Royal Cousins at War
N/A
BBC Two
Royal Cousins At War consists of two parts, each lasting 60 minutes. The first part looks at the tensions between Queen Victoria's family members. The second part looks at how the European royal families contributed to the war. It will air on BBC Two and was produced by Blakeway Productions.[7]
Pipers of the Trenches
N/A
BBC Two
Pipers Of The Trenches is a 60-minute documentary.[7]
This 60 minute documentary is based on interviews conducted 50 years ago for The Great War.[7]
Gallipoli
N/A
BBC Two
Gallipoli will focus on the Gallipoli Campaign which took place in the Ottoman Empire. The production company for this 60 minute documentary is Blakeway Productions.[7]
The World's War
David Olusoga
BBC Two
David Olusoga, a historian and film-maker, provides the perspective of Indian, African and Asian troops. The two-part series will broadcast on BBC Two.[7]
Testimony Films made this hour-long documentary for BBC Four. Photographs which were taken by British and German soldiers will have their stories revealed.[7]
Margaret MacMillan will present daily from June to August 2014. Created by Somethin' Else, it is split into 42 parts with each one lasting four minutes for BBC Radio 4.[7]
Voices Of The First World War will be co-produced by Imperial War Museums and made for BBC Radio 4. The series describes what happened according to those who were fighting.[7]
Amanda Vickery presents the series which sees BBC World Service, BBC Radio 3 and the British Council partner to show the impact of the war on the different countries that took part.[7]
In Cradle of JazzAlyn Shipton tells us about the birth of jazz as a result of African-American troops being sent to America and Europe with their music.
The Battle for the Meaning of World War One questions which version of the war we commemorate.[8]
Arts and music
The following Arts & Music programmes were shown: Artists of War, Writers of the Somme, The Great War – An Elegy: A Culture Show Special, The Poet who Loved the War: Ivor Gurney, 1914–1918 – The Cultural Front, Music on the Brink, The Ballads of the Great War, Live in Concert – The Vienna Philharmonic in Sarajevo, A Soldier and a Maker – Ivor Gurney on Radio 3, Music in the Great War and Soldier Songs.[9]
The following programmes were broadcast across the UK: Ireland's Great War, My Great-Granddad's Great War, With Love from the Front, The Man who Shot the Great War, Our Place in the War, And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda, Ballad of the Unknown Soldier, The Photograph/An Dealbh, Diary of World War One, Eòrpa – HMS Timbertown, The Handsome Lads/Na Gillean Grinn, The Battlefield/Sìnt' Sa Bhlàr, The School That Went to War, Shinty Heroes/Curaidhean Na Camanachd, Weekly War Briefing/Seachdain Sa Chogadh, Small Hands in a Big War, The Writers' Propaganda Bureau, Welsh Towns at War, Cymry 24, The Welsh and World War One/Cymry’r Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf, The Greatest Welshman Never Heard Of, The Great War Live, Wales and the Great War Today, The Man they Couldn't Kill – Frank Richards and the Great War and Stiwdio.[11]
Two episodes of Songs of Praise filmed in Belgium and France marked the centenary on BBC One. The first one, The Shadow of War, was broadcast in August 2014 and was presented by Bill Turnbull. The second episode, War and Peace, was about the carols which were popular during the war.[13]
Michael Portillo uncovers World War One's railway story, 100 years on. Each episode uncovered how the entire conflict, from start to finish, was a railway war: from the very earliest military planning prior to the declaration of war until the signing of the armistice in a railway carriage in Compiègne.[15]
Rita is promoted to Senior Staff Nurse. Mac attends a war memorial service. A football fan riot starts and a young boy is caught up in the fight. A flare is set off in the ED and smoke alarms wail. Matthew protects everyone from the blast and Lofty saves the young boy's life by dragging him out of cubicles. Dylan appears back in ED and treats the boy, who later dies. Big Mac as he is having trouble dealing with Jeff's death and a transfer back to ED is suggested.
