The BBC World War I centenary season was the marking of the

centenary {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

across the BBC. Programming started in 2014 and lasted until 2018, corresponding to 100 years after the war. The BBC season included 130 newly-commissioned radio and television programmes which lasted over 2500 hours, including more than 600 hours of new content. The programmes were broadcast on over twenty BBC television and radio stations.

Overview

The

centenary season was announced on 16 October 2013 by the BBC. Adrian Van Klaveren, the BBC World War I centenary controller called the project the "biggest and most ambitious pan-BBC project ever commissioned". 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

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and

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in the Gallipoli Campaign and several others focused on presenting the impact that the war had had on the world today. 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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

'' on the conflict's fiftieth anniversary in 1964 but were omitted from that programme. The series also featured a number of live broadcasts on the 100th anniversaries of significant events during the war, beginning with a broadcast from

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, the site of

assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated on 28 June 1914 by Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip. They were shot at close range wh ...

, on 28 June 2014. Other event anniversaries had dedicated live broadcasts include the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place be ...

on 1 July 2016, the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland (german: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice ...

on 31 May 2016, and the

Battle of Passchendaele The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...

on 31 July 2017, plus the annual Remembrance Sunday event at the Cenotaph. The programmes were be broadcast on over twenty different BBC television and radio stations including

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and

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Programmes

Documentaries

Historical debate

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''.

Drama

The following

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

programmes were broadcast: '' The Crimson Field'', '' The Passing-Bells'', ''War Poems'', '' Great War Diaries'', '' 37 Days'', ''

Our World War The BBC World War I centenary season was the marking of the First World War centenary, centenary of the World War I, First World War across the BBC. Programming started in 2014 and lasted until 2018, corresponding to 100 years after the war. The ...

'', ''Oh, What a Lovely War'', ''All is Calm – The Christmas Truce'', ''War Horse'', ''

Home Front Home front is an English language term with analogues in other languages. It is commonly used to describe the full participation of the British public in World War I who suffered Zeppelin raids and endured food rations as part of what came t ...

'' and '' Tommies''.

Across the UK

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''.

Children

Special editions

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Marking the centenary of World War One across the BBC
2014 British television series debuts World War I television series BBC history projects English-language television shows Centenary of the outbreak of World War I