The BBC is dramatising three key moments for British troops fighting on the Western Front in a drama series starting in August 2014 as the UK marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. Peter Alhadeff reports.
Centenary News has attended a preview of Our World War, described by the Corporation as ‘offering viewers first-hand experience of the extraordinary bravery of young British soldiers fighting 100 years ago.’
The opening episode, called The First Day, focuses on the Battle of Mons, the initial encounter between the British and German Armies on 23rd August 1914 that usually escapes notice because of the much bigger and bloodier confrontations which followed.
Helmet camera footage, surveillance images and night vision are all used to convey the tension as the two sides edge towards each other, the professional soldiers of the BEF unaware that they’re outgunned and outnumbered by those scorned as the Kaiser’s conscripts.
It won’t necessarily appeal to viewers keen to see the recreation of every exact detail. This is a factual drama, not a documentary. For starters, the landscape is a little wintry for a battle fought in high summer.
But as a compelling re-enactment of the clash which resulted in the first Victoria Crosses of the Great War, it succeeds, not least because it relies heavily on original sources.
Series producer Sue Horth speaks of ’80 per cent authenticity’ in everything you see in the three programmes: “As much as possible is based somewhere on real experience. The First Day is perhaps the most corroborated of all the films because it comprises several overlapping accounts.
“There were a number of accounts from the Royal Fusiliers (portrayed in the film) and there were also broader war diaries and strategic accounts.”
The final episode of Our World War, ‘War Machine,’ following the experiences of a British Niveleur tank crew in the breakthrough of 1918, is based on a family memoir never published before (Photo: ©BBC/Robert Viglasky)
Adrian Van Klaveren, the BBC’s First World War Centenary Controller, describes Our World War as ‘one of the most ambitious and boldest programmes that we’re doing.’
The aim, he says, is to reach audiences beyond those fascinated by the First World War: “it shows war in a raw, authentic way, in a way which is in no way sanitised but actually conveys many of the human emotions, good and bad, which are part of war; and tries to help people understand much more what it would have felt like to be part of that 100 years ago.”
The filming techniques were honed in a recent documentary series tracking the experiences of today’s British troops fighting on the frontline in Afghanistan.
Our World World War is very different from The Crimson Field, the BBC’s First World War nursing drama derided by some critics for its starched cleanliness.
There’s blood, sweat and grittiness towards the end of the Battle of Mons, yet the story also avoids becoming sensational. As Executive Producer Colin Barr put it: “Even the swearing has been quadruple corroborated.”
Episode 1 of Our World War, ‘The First Day’, will be broadcast on BBC Three at 9pm on August 7th 2014. Episode 2, ‘Pals’, focusses on the fate of the volunteer battalions who fought at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The final episode, ‘War Machine’, examines how the tank helped to break the stalemate in 1918.
Source: BBC
Images courtesy of the BBC
Posted by: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News