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

centenary A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century. Notable events Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include: * Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

across the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. 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

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and th ...

'' 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

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, the site of

assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was one of the key events that led to World War I. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassin ...

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

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...

on 1 July 2016, the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland () was a naval battle between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, durin ...

on 31 May 2016, and the

Battle of Passchendaele The Third Battle of Ypres (; ; ), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele ( ), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies of World War I, Allies against the German Empire. The battle took place on the Western Front (World Wa ...

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

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

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BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

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BBC World News BBC News is an international English-language pay television channel owned by BBC Global News Ltd. – a subsidiary of BBC Studios – and operated by the BBC News division of the BBC. The network carries news bulletins, documentaries, an ...

BBC Alba BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day. The name ' is the Scottish Gae ...

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BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, 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 (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

programmes were broadcast: ''

The Crimson Field ''The Crimson Field'' is a British period drama television series that was broadcast beginning on BBC One on 6 April 2014. The series shows the lives of medics and the patients at a fictional field hospital in France during the First World War. ...

'', '' The Passing-Bells'', ''War Poems'', '' Great War Diaries'', '' 37 Days'', '' Our World War'', ''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 civilian populace of the nation at war as an active support system for their military. Civilians are traditionally uninvolved in com ...

'' 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 2018 British television series endings World War I television series BBC history projects British English-language television shows First World War centenary