Remembrance Week 2014 on the BBC
To mark Remembrance Week 2014 the BBC is broadcasting a raft of programmes across BBC TV, radio and online that will help the nation pause to remember the fallen.
Published: 27 October 2014
It is incredibly important that every year the BBC marks Remembrance Week with a range of programming on TV, radio and online that brings the nation together and helps us pause to remember and commemorate those that made the ultimate sacrifice.
Tony Hall, Director-General of the BBC, says: “It is incredibly important that every year the BBC marks Remembrance Week with a range of programming on TV, radio and online that brings the nation together and helps us pause to remember and commemorate those that made the ultimate sacrifice. This year has the added poignancy of the centenary of the start of the First World War and, as part of our programming, we will continue to tell the stories from that conflict to new generations.”
The People Remember, Monday November 3 to Friday November 7 BBC One, 9.15am
Sophie Raworth and former Army Officer Andy Torbet honour heroes of war both on the battlefield and on the home front in The People Remember. The programmes, based at the Imperial War Museum in London, feature surprise reunions, inspiring stories of bravery. Special guests include Chris Tarrant, Kate Adie, Simon Weston, Sergeant Johnson Beharry VC and Michael Morpurgo. Plus, performances from the Military Wives Choir, Soprano Laura Wright, D-Day veteran and folk singer Jim Radford and The Poppy Girls.
The Royal British Legion's annual Festival of Remembrance, BBC One and Radio 2
On BBC One on Saturday 8 November, at 9.15pm-10.50pm, in the presence of HM The Queen, senior members of the Royal Family, political and military leaders, Huw Edwards presents The Royal British Legion's annual Festival of Remembrance which pays tribute to all victims of war and conflict.
This year’s Festival will welcome 100 Normandy veterans as we pay tribute to the 70th anniversary of D-Day. The Festival commemorates the First World War Centenary with the cast of War Horse, and Joss Stone performs the official Poppy appeal single – 'No Man’s Land'. The Band of HM Royal Marines will give a unique performance to mark their 350th Anniversary, there will be a display from the Queen’s Colour Squadron and all perform alongside The Massed Bands of the Household Division and The Countess of Wessex’s String Orchestra. The Festival includes the traditional two-minute silence as poppy petals fall from the roof of the Royal Albert Hall, each representing a life lost in war.
Over on BBC Radio 2 from 8-9pm, Chris Stuart presents highlights from the festival.
Live Coverage from The Cenotaph, Whitehall, Sunday 9 November, 10.25am-12.25pm, BBC One
Her Majesty The Queen leads the nation’s Remembrance Sunday commemorations. The Prime Minister, leading politicians, representatives of many of the world’s religions, dignitaries from around the Commonwealth and military leaders join thousands of veterans from countless conflicts for the two-minute silence at 11 am, the service and march past. All gather to remember those men and women who have died serving their country.
Presented by David Dimbleby, with Sophie Raworth in Whitehall. Joining Sophie Raworth will be Dave Henson, captain of the British team at the Invictus Games.
The film War Horse will premiere for BBC One on Remembrance Sunday. Stephen Spielberg directs this epic adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s best-selling book/play with a cast that includes Peter Mullan, Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Emily Watson, David Thewlis and Tom Hiddleston.
Over on BBC Radio 4, Nicholas Witchell broadcasts live from The Cenotaph in London's Whitehall from 10.30am.
Radio 4 will also broadcast a special edition of Sunday Worship entitled Coming Home, recorded at Camp Bastion and on the battlefields of northern France, on Sunday 9 November, 8.10-8.50am. BBC Radio 4’s Prayer for the Day, from 10-14 November, will be presented by the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, National Chaplain to the Royal British Legion. And Thought For The Day marks Remembrance Week with Bishop James Jones on 10 November and Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James’s Piccadilly, on 11 November at the usual time of 7.48am.
In an extended 40-minute programme, Songs Of Praise (BBC One) is broadcasting live on Remembrance Sunday from Aldershot in Hampshire, the home of the British Army. Four hundred serving members of the Armed Forces and World War Two veterans will be among the 1,100 strong congregation at the Royal Garrison Church of All Saints.
While, on Radio 2 Diane Louise Jordan reflects on Remembrance Sunday with hymns and sacred songs, plus dedications and prayers on The Sunday Hour, 9 November, 6.00-7.00am.
Radio 5 Live will broadcast the 11am silence and there will be relevant features in Breakfast and other programmes on Remembrance Sunday and 11 November.
BBC Radio Scotland’s Remembrance Service, Sunday 9 November at 10.5am, comes from St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church in Edinburgh and is a combined service for Remembrance with the city’s German-speaking congregation will see personal reflections on Remembrance from both British and German perspectives.
CBBC and CBeebies will simulcast a dialogue-free two-minute animated film, Poppies, on Remembrance Sunday and on Tuesday 11 November at 11am. An atmospheric piece, Poppies, depicts the war as experienced by the animal inhabitants of a WW1 battlefield and is set to a score composed by Oscar-winning Steve Price (Gravity) and recorded by the BBC Philharmonic.
A behind-the-scenes film explaining the context of Poppies for parents and caregivers has been commissioned as a companion piece and will be available on CBeebies Grown-Ups and CBeebies YouTube.
Also on the 9 November CBeebies Radio presents Poppy’s Day. Poppy finds out about why we wear poppies and watches a remembrance parade, read by Falklands War veteran, Simon Weston. And on Tuesday 11 November, Simon returns in My CBeebies Special Day – Remembering the War.
BBC Radio 4 Extra will mark Remembrance with a focus on The Long, Long Trail, Charles Chilton's forgotten radio masterpiece telling the story of the First World War through the songs sung by soldiers. The original 1961 programme can be heard again on 9 November at 11am, while Chilton’s close friend Roy Hudd reveals why it was revolutionary in Archive On 4 on 8 November at 8am.
OTHER PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS ACROSS THE BBC
Continuing on from the success of BBC Local Radio’s World War One At Home series of live events across the UK, on Friday 7 November the BBC will unveil an iconic digital photo mosaic, which has been created in Partnership with IWM (Imperial War Museums). The mosaic is made up of a combination of 20,000 audience faces, captured in our recruiting office during the BBC WW1 At Home events throughout the summer along with original First World War imagery sourced from IWM’s archive, and additional original images submitted by members of the public.
Artist Helen Marshall was commissioned to produce the ambitious project, which will form the image of WW1 soldier, Private James Ernest Beaney, as a way of commemorating the First World War in a digital age.
The image of Private Beaney who died serving with 6th Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, will be turned into a short film and released ahead of Remembrance weekend.
Explore the story of how the UK came together to create this piece of commemorative art in the special iWonder guide at bbc.co.uk/ww1 available from Friday 7 Nov
BBC ONE
The Passing Bells, a powerful five-part drama, which sees the conflict of the First World War unfold through the eyes of two very ordinary young men. Written by Tony Jordan (Hustle, Life on Mars).
A Countryfile special explores Word War One’s lasting legacy on landscape of the Western Front and the part played by those on the home front in winning the war, and in an Antiques Roadshow WW1 Special Fiona Bruce and a small group of experts meet families bringing poignant stories of courage and humanity in wartime.
BBC TWO
Fergal Keane unearths the most powerful stories of Britain’s boy soldiers in Teenage Tommies, a moving tribute to the teenage heroes of the Great War.
In The Great War - An Elegy: A Culture Show Special, Simon Armitage explores how the catastrophe and conflict of World War One was given its greatest voice through poetry.
War of Words - Soldier Poets Of The Somme, tells the story of the battle through the experiences and words of the poets and writers who took part including Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, David Jones and JRR Tolkien.
BBC FOUR
BBC Four will show in its entirety the landmark 1964 series The Great War and Hidden Histories: WW1's Forgotten Photographs.
BBC RADIO 2
In a special edition of Good Morning Sunday, 7am-9am, Clare Balding will be joined by close harmony girl group, Celeste for live music from World War One. Her faith guest, the Right Revd Stephen Oliver, will talk about the work of one of the best known military chaplains of the war; Anglican priest “Woodbine Willie”.
Forgotten Heroes: The Indian Army In The Great War, Saturday 8 November, 9pm-10pm BBC Radio 2. Sarfraz Manzoor tells the extraordinary story of the Asian contribution to World War One, which has been almost completely overlooked in the history books, despite the fact that 1.27 million volunteer soldiers from the Indian Army fought valiantly alongside British troops in every major battle from Ypres to Gallipoli.
The Ballads Of The Great War, Tuesday 11 November, 10pm-11pm. A series of five programmes, broadcast over five years of hard-hitting, but lyrical accounts of life and death on the Western Front in words and music. Featuring eye-witness accounts from veterans and 50 specially commissioned new songs by the cream of British folk songwriters including John Tams, Julie Matthews and Jez Lowe among others.
BBC RADIO 4
Radio 4 continues to mark the centenary of World War One with its two continuing dramas. Home Front, an epic drama set in Great War Britain, returns to Folkestone for Season Two from 1 December. As recruitment figures start to dip, the local community are under pressure to do more for the war effort. Every episode of Home Front is set a hundred years to the day of broadcast. All of season one is available to download or to catch up with online, and will be repeated from 18 November on Radio 4 Extra. Meanwhile, the next instalment of Tommies, which follows the fortunes of Mickey Bliss and his fellow signallers from the Lahore Division of the Indian Army, will be broadcast next year
BBC RADIO 3
In God And The Great War on the 9 November 6.45-7.30pm, Frank Cottrell Boyce explores the impact of World War One on religious belief and practice on the military front and at home. Further related programming will be broadcast on Breakfast, The Choir and CD Review
BBC SCOTLAND
Sunday Morning With Ricky Ross, Sunday 9 November, 7:06am. Bob Dickson, explores the tragedy which befell many thousands of families in WW1, as he visits Haddington to explore the story of four brothers from the Cranston family who signed up to fight.
The Sycamore Sings: The Wilfred Owen Violin, Sunday 9 Nov 2014, 10:31am. During the First World War officers were treated at Craiglockhart in Edinburgh, a military psychiatric hospital, alongside war poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. Instrument-maker Steve Burnett uses a branch of a tree from its grounds to create The Wilfred Owen Violin to honour those who were damaged by the war, and give hope towards a peaceful future.
Murdo Maclennan returns to Scarp in Remembering the Men of Scarp, 11 November, 10:50am to tend the graves of two men from his family who lost their lives during WWI.
BBC RADIO WALES
Angela Graham explores the story behind the language, symbols and creation of First World War memorials in Wales, in Of Mourning and Memory, Sunday, November 9, 10.30am.
In Captain Jack’s War, Monday, November 10, 6.30pm, a granddaughter embarks on a journey to discover what happened to her grandfather who came close to death during WW1.
BBC NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle will run two special World War One at Home programmes on Remembrance Sunday, at 10.15-10.30am and 11.45-12.00pm, to bookend the Radio 4 Service from the Cenotaph.
A fifth series of World War One At Home will run from Mon 10th to Fri 14 November at 1155, 1825, 2350. Thought for the Day will also include a special series of reflections on war themes during that week. Plus BBC NEWS NI will report on the Remembrance Day commemorations at City Hall.
BBC ENGLISH NATIONS AND REGIONS
BBC English Regions and Nations World War One At Home launches its fourth collection of stories about people and places across the UK between 7-11 Nov. Over 200 stories on BBC local radio, television, online and social media explore how the war affected local communities from Birmingham’s first woman police officer, to the WW1 Barrow built submarines.
BBC Radio Nottingham’s ‘Big Poppy Knit’ aimed to get listeners knitting 11,000 poppies, to commemorate each of the 11,000 Nottinghamshire men who lost their lives in WW1. To date, the number of poppies contributed so far is 90,000, with Sir Paul Smith also creating a specially-designed knitted poppy. The knitted poppies are being donated to the Royal British Legion who are distributing them across the county as part of the Poppy Appeal with a suggested minimum donation of £2 each.
BBC WORLD SERVICE
The Ghostly Voices Of World War One, 8 November 20.00-21.00 GMT, Priyath Liyanage visits the backrooms of Humbolt University and the Ethnological Museum in Berlin where he investigates some remarkable recordings of captured soldiers from the furthest reaches of the British Empire who were being held at prisoner of war camps all over Germany. Among them were a group of Hindus, Sikhs and Indian soldiers imprisoned at camps on the outskirts of Berlin. Priyath Liyanage travels from Germany to some of the villages in Northern India where those men were from on a quest to see what happened to them.
The War That Changed The World: World War One And Imperialism, 8 November 19.00-20.00 GMT BBC World Service and the British Council host a special debate in Delhi. The BBC's Razia Iqbal will be joined by historians Prof Mridula Muckherjee and Dr Srinath Raghavan and a public audience to explore the impact of the First World War on Imperialism. Shashi Tharoor will discuss Imperialism and independence at the event at the India International Centre, in partnership with the British Council.
Lauren Gildersleve
