Home Front

12 December 1916 - Geoffrey Marshall (Season 9 start)


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On this day in 1916, Germany offered peace terms to the Allies via neutral America, and in Tynemouth, Geoffrey Marshall builds a new alliance with a New York steel magnate.

Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz

Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole

NOTES

Season 9 of Home Front (Foreign Bodies) opens shortly after the Somme, on the day a war-weary Germany made a peace offer to the Allies via neutral America - an offer treated with suspicion by Lloyd George's new Government, formed only the day before.

After two and a half years of war, and against a backdrop of the British Empire Union's "Intern Them All" rallies, anxieties about foreigners were beginning to simmer ever closer to the surface across Britain. There were real fears of a "hidden hand", networks of "Hunnish" sympathisers going up to the highest level of Government, with an agenda to destroy the country from within. Newspapers and politicians called for public lists of both naturalised and unnaturalised "aliens", whose patriotism was constantly questioned. In Tyneside, a crucible of foreign sailors, munitions factories and a tradition of dissent, paranoia about foreign bodies was most keenly felt.

Season 9 of Home Front is story-led by Sebastian Baczkiewicz (PILGRIM, MR RAINBOW) and written by Sarah Daniels (THE CAZALETS, EATING FOR ENGLAND), Katie Hims (MARTIN BECK, KING DAVID), Shaun McKenna (THE FORSYTES) and Claudine Toutoungi (SLIPPING).

SECRET SHAKESPEARE

A phrase is hidden in every episode in 2016. If you spot one, tweet it using #BBCHomeFront.

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