I did tell you months ago that the Beeb planned to run the WW1 coverage for longer than the actual war lasted !!!!!

We had WW1 Antiques Roadshow yesterday (utterly ridiculous !) and I expect a Gardeners World special (to show us how to grow poppies !)

In The Know (as always) wrote:
I did tell you months ago that the Beeb planned to run the WW1 coverage for longer than the actual war lasted !!!!!

We had WW1 Antiques Roadshow yesterday (utterly ridiculous !) and I expect a Gardeners World special (to show us how to grow poppies !)

It's typical BBC propaganda, wait till they do something on WW2, there be a special edition of Ready Steady Cook called Spam Special.

There were 37 million casualties in WW1 - with about 17 million killed. One of the deadliest wars ever.

It is right that it is remembered by the BBC - a hundred years later, and with a variety of programs.

ALL of them dead now - even the ones who didn't go to war !

Even their loved ones are mostly dead too !

Whats the point?

May as well "celebrate" Agincourt !

Both Grandfathers fought gallantly on the western front,celebrate bravery yes,but a soap opera? Rather demeans it...

Pattaya wrote:
Both Grandfathers fought gallantly on the western front,celebrate bravery yes,but a soap opera? Rather demeans it...

Maybe do a spin off series about those who deserted. This soap area about WW1 is going to full of historic inaccuracies, hammy acting, false Queen English dialects and dodgy camera work.

Pattaya wrote:
celebrate bravery yes,but a soap opera? Rather demeans it...


By no stretch of the imagination could the BBC programs be describes as a soap opera - defined as follows:-

'a television or radio program that has continuing stories about the daily lives and problems of a group of people'


The coverage is comprehensive, educational, varied and interesting - particularly to those new to the subject.

And it covers the broader impact of the war, the justification, its poetry and music, its politics - and the 'home and away' aspects of this Great War.

Why keep historical archives at all - in the Imperial War Museum and elsewhere - if they are not to communicated to us all, every now and then?

Should museums be closed if are not (to be) interested?

ROSS1938 wrote:
Pattaya wrote:
celebrate bravery yes,but a soap opera? Rather demeans it...


The coverage is comprehensive, educational, varied and interesting - particularly to those new to the subject.

And it covers the broader impact of the war, the justification, its poetry and music, its politics - and the 'home and away' aspects of this Great War.


So not a soap opera then...I do not have a TV...why see it second hand when you can see it for yourself?

Pattaya wrote:
celebrate bravery yes,but a soap opera? Rather demeans it...

Have you actually seen The Passing Bells (BBC1 every night this week at 7pm) ?

Its like Neighbours meets World War 1 !!!!!

(and its because its so much like Neighbours that they have even shifted The One Show to accomodate its kiddie audience)

andrew wrote:
Maybe do a spin off series about those who deserted.

Now ... that may just be interesting (and throw a new light on a very tired story.

WW1 was such a pivotal event that changed the world dramatically; here's just a few of those changes:-


- World ecomomic power was ceded to the USA who provided a large portion of the war's finance. The influence of the English aristocracy was greatly curtailed, and workers' political parties gained ground.

- Empires collapsed; the Russian in 1917; the German/Austro-Hungarian in 1918; the Ottoman in 1922

- Much of the Arab Land which had been part of the Ottoman Empire was taken over by Britain and France

- Independent countries arose; Ireland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia and Turkey

- The Bolsheviks took over Russia in 1917, and facists took Italy in 1922

- Further consequences of WW1 were an influenza epidemic (which killed over 25 million people worldwide) and the mass murder of Armenians in Turkey


But the Great War changed so much else - like nothing ever before; in Europe and beyond.

It is so deserving of the excellent work and attention that BBC TV are putting into it.

To type 'what's the point?/all of them dead' - exhibits and illustrates a sad unwillingness and/or inability to understand how and why the UK (and the world) has arrived in the here and now, approaching the end of 2014.

Ideally we should learn history to understand the present, and to avoid repeating mistakes but it never seems to make a difference, does it?

honey!oh sugar sugar. wrote:
Ideally we should learn history to understand the present, and to avoid repeating mistakes but it never seems to make a difference, does it?

The world learned little from The Great War,in fact it did it again,but worse 21 years later.

In The Know (but not this time) wrote:
andrew wrote:
Maybe do a spin off series about those who deserted.

Now ... that may just be interesting (and throw a new light on a very tired story.

Glad I can find some common ground with ITK.

Just need him to support UKIP.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Owen

96 years ago today at Sambre-Oise Canal, France Wilfred Owen died.

Soap opera...or perhaps music?

honey!oh sugar sugar. wrote:
Ideally we should learn history to understand the present, and to avoid repeating mistakes but it never seems to make a difference, does it?

yes ... the war to end all wars - just managed to start a whole string of 'em !!!!!

Pattaya wrote:
so not a soap opera then

Have you actually seen The Passing Bells (BBC1 every night this week at 7pm) ?

Its like Neighbours meets World War 1 !!!!!

(and its because its so much like Neighbours that they have even shifted The One Show to accomodate its kiddie audience)[/quote]

It MUST be a soap opera - Mrs ITK is glued to it.

SP17 wrote:
WW1 was such a pivotal event that changed the world dramatically; here's just a few of those changes:-


- World ecomomic power was ceded to the USA who provided a large portion of the war's finance. The influence of the English aristocracy was greatly curtailed, and workers' political parties gained ground.

- Empires collapsed; the Russian in 1917; the German/Austro-Hungarian in 1918; the Ottoman in 1922

- Much of the Arab Land which had been part of the Ottoman Empire was taken over by Britain and France

- Independent countries arose; Ireland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia and Turkey

- The Bolsheviks took over Russia in 1917, and facists took Italy in 1922

- Further consequences of WW1 were an influenza epidemic (which killed over 25 million people worldwide) and the mass murder of Armenians in Turkey


But the Great War changed so much else - like nothing ever before; in Europe and beyond.

It is so deserving of the excellent work and attention that BBC TV are putting into it.

To type 'what's the point?/all of them dead' - exhibits and illustrates a sad unwillingness and/or inability to understand how and why the UK (and the world) has arrived in the here and now, approaching the end of 2014.





Sadly JK - there's little interest or debate about the reasons for - or consequences of WW1

When the TV coverage of WW2's 100th anniversary comes; again it'll be 'what's the point, all dead now'

My father (and yours, I think) had a hand in that more recent conflict.

But one has to wonder if a supreme smugness has taken over

Where it more important to say who you are, where you were, those you knew and what you think - and moan about folks just doing their best

Maybe, nothing really matters - and so many brave men and women died for nothing.....

In The Know (as always) wrote:
Pattaya wrote:
so not a soap opera then

Have you actually seen The Passing Bells (BBC1 every night this week at 7pm) ?

Its like Neighbours meets World War 1 !!!!!

(and its because its so much like Neighbours that they have even shifted The One Show to accomodate its kiddie audience)

It MUST be a soap opera - Mrs ITK is glued to it.[/quote]

Do the actors put on a strong English accent to hide their cockney accents, which still comes through from time to time ?

andrew wrote:
Do the actors put on a strong English accent to hide their cockney accents, which still comes through from time to time ?

No - even the ones playing the Germans speak in English !