Love Letters From The Front, a new 30-minute documentary and major 137-part series on BBC Radio Ulster and Foyle
Love Letters From The Front, a new 30-minute documentary and major 137-part series on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle, tells the compelling real-life story of Eric Appleby, an English soldier, and his Irish sweetheart, Phyllis Kelly – in his and, ultimately, her own words.
Published: 8 April 2016
I was amazed to discover this collection of letters on the highest shelf in the Linen Hall Library. I was gripped from the first letters to the last. The twists and turns of this love story – with the horrors of war as the backdrop – make for gripping real-life drama.
The letters were originally collected in a book of the same name, by Jean Kelly, wife of Phyllis’s nephew, Tom. They have now been dramatised for radio and online by two young actors playing the roles of Eric and Phyllis, weaving together the voices of both the writer and the reader into self-contained short episodes which will be broadcast from Thursday 21 April at 11.55am and again at 11.50pm up until the end of October of this year.
In the 30-minute series launch documentary, Introducing Love Letters From The Front, on Sunday 17 April at 12.30pm, Maggie Cronin transports listeners to the world of Eric and Phyllis, as the programme brings together the cast and specialist experts to discuss the characters, their letters and the remarkable context in which they were written, as the First World War raged and the Easter Rising and Battle of the Somme lay ahead. The programme includes contributions from Tom and Patrick Kelly, who were nephews of Phyllis.
Eric was from Liverpool. An engineering student at the start of the war, he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery in 1914 and was sent to Athlone for training. At a dance there he met Phyllis Kelly, who was brought up in the town, where her father was a solicitor.
The landmark radio series, Love Letters From The Front, beginning on Thursday 21 April at 11.55am and again at 11.50pm, covers some 200 letters, field service postcards and telegrams – Eric’s experiences from the time he left Athlone in March 1915 until October 1916 and what was to be the tail-end of the Somme offensive.
The letters reveal a unique, touching and often bitter-sweet story of courtship and love set against the unimaginable physical and emotional conditions of the Western Front.
Belfast-born actor Roisin Gallagher plays the part of Phyllis Kelly, and fellow actor Ruairi Tohill from Lisburn is Eric Appleby.
On playing the part of Phyllis in the series, Roisin Gallagher said: “Phyllis was a fantastic character to portray. She was stern, flirty, loving, manipulative, child-like in her demands and ‘diva-esque’ ways, but ultimately totally devoted to the love of her life and trying hard to cope with the awful circumstances she found herself in. I tried to honour the fact that these letters were real insights into real people - it was like being given someone’s diary, their most intimate thoughts. I felt a responsibility to take care of that and be truthful to Phyllis Kelly and her memory. I felt like I knew her inside out by the last letter.”
For Ruairi Tohill, it was a challenge to record the entire series without ever meeting Roisin and not being aware of her interpretation of Eric’s letters to Phyllis.
Ruairi said: “If you try and draw a parallel to today’s world when you get a text message or an email, you can never really pick up on a tone, from what somebody says – so I can imagine how difficult and misleading a letter back in 1915 could be. It could have left you completely at a loss as to where you stand [with one another].”
The series has been produced for BBC Radio Ulster by Ian Dougan. He said: “I was amazed to discover this collection of letters on the highest shelf in the Linen Hall Library. I was gripped from the first letters to the last. The twists and turns of this love story – with the horrors of war as the backdrop – make for gripping real-life drama.”
If you miss any of the programmes, catch them again via BBC iPlayer Radio at bbc.co.uk/radio, and follow the links to BBC Radio Ulster, or on the Voices 16 site: bbc.co.uk/voices16
This documentary and series are part of BBC Northern Ireland’s plans to mark a pivotal year in our history with a series of special programmes surrounding 1916. Through specially commissioned documentaries, dramas and live programming across television, radio, online and digital, BBC Northern Ireland will reflect the life and times of 1916, giving audiences an opportunity to learn more about the centenary anniversaries of The Easter Rising, The Battle of Jutland and The Battle of the Somme. The output will feature archive material as well as never-before-published historical documents, witness testimony and artefacts, to tell the stories of major points in history which still resonate on the island of Ireland today.
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