The First World War: The People’s Story Season 1

For King and Country tells the story of the first years of war in 1914 and 1915, culminating in the Battle of Loos when the Pals Battalions who had enthusiastically volunteered to serve had their first taste of the horror of mass industrialised warfare. We see how the men survived and kept their spirits up in the trenches with death all around them. And we see how families at home faced up to the tragic loss of husbands, fathers sweethearts and sons. Yet despite this shock they still had to work incredibly long hours in the munitions factories and ‘keep the home fires burning.’ War wasn’t the glorious adventure that so many had imagined.

The Battle of the Somme tells the story of one of the most iconic and tragic battles in history through its last survivors and through families at home. When the troops went over the top in June 1916 they imagined this was the attack that would end the war. Instead it turned into the most infamous and costly battle of the entire war with enormous casualties on both sides. We tell the stories of the officers and the men, the casualties who sustained life changing injuries and the nurses who treated them. With the help of the tank the Battle of the Somme ended in November 1916. The British and German Empire casualties totalled 400,000 men. They’d advanced just six miles but they had dealt a devastating blow to the German army.

The Fight to The End tells the story of the terrible battles of 1917 and 1918 and how Britain and her Allies turned a looming defeat into victory. As recruitment levels fell conscription was introduced- one of them was Harry Patch who went onto live to the age of 111 and was the last British survivor of WW1. These were years when German U-Boats attempted to starve Britain into surrender and there were serious food shortages on the home front. We hear dramatic stories of the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 - a battle fought in a quagmire of mud. In the Spring Offensive of 1918 the German army made huge advances and almost won the war. Some of our survivors were taken prisoner and worked as ‘slave labour’ in Germany. But, with the help of the United States, there was a final push to victory. The sacrifice involved in this total war changed the world forever.