Home Front

By BBC Radio 4Fiction Drama

Home Front episodes

August 08, 2017 8 August 1917 - Alice Macknade
On this day in 1917, at the Conference of Modern Churchmen, Canon Glazebrook described socialism as sharing Christian virtues, while in Folkestone, Alice Macknade feels less than charitable.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
13 min
August 07, 2017 7 August 1917 - Howard Argent
On this day in 1917, the dramatist Basil Hood died, having suffered from nervous exhaustion, and Captain Lumley returns to Folkestone a more fragile man.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
12 min
August 04, 2017 4 August 1917 - Hilary Pearce
On this day in 1917, there was a service on the Leas in Folkestone to mark the third anniversary of the outbreak of war.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
12 min
August 03, 2017 3 August 1917 - Kitty Lumley
On this day in 1917, copies of Sylvia Pankhurst's 'Dreadnought' were seized in a raid, and in Folkestone, Kitty discovers a vital clue.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
13 min
August 02, 2017 2 August 1917 - Jessie Moore
On this day in 1917, the heaviest rainfall in 30 years fell on Passchendaele, and in Folkestone, Jessie lives under a cloud.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
13 min
August 01, 2017 1 August 1917 - Dorothea Winwood
On this day in 1917, Pope Benedict XV issued his Peace Note, describing the war as driven by a universal madness, and in Folkestone, Dorothea experiences a private sadness.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
13 min
July 31, 2017 31 July 1917 - Adeline Lumley (Season 11 start)
31 July 1917 marked the first day of Passchendaele, and - at the Maudsley hospital in London - Adeline and Phyllis are on the offensive.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Notes
Home Front Season 11 focuses on madness and trauma, both military and civilian, and is subtitled 'Broken and Mad', a line from the Sassoon poem, Survivors
No doubt they'll soon get well; the shock and strain
Have caused their stammering, disconnected talk.
Of course they're 'longing to go out again,'-
These boys with old, scared faces, learning to walk.
They'll soon forget their haunted nights; their cowed
Subjection to the ghosts of friends who died,-
Their dreams that drip with murder; and they'll be proud
Of glorious war that shatter'd all their pride...
Men who went out to battle, grim and glad;
Children, with eyes that hate you, broken and mad.
Folkestone is still recovering from the first Gotha Air Raid that struck suddenly and devastatingly on 25 May 1917, killing nearly a hundred citizens. At the heart of this narrative are three soldiers suffering war neurosis (shell shock), but the story refracts out to the madness of a town that has recently experienced significant trauma. The polarities of treatment for soldiers - from the talking cure of Dr Argent (& WH Rivers) to the 'punitive' methods of Dr Pilchard (& Lewis Yealland) - find a parallel in civilian manifestations. Post air raid anxiety, on a personal and a civic scale, can be treated by arrest and prosecution, or by accommodation and understanding.
13 min
June 09, 2017 9 June 1917 - Ralph Winwood
On this day in 1917, the Folkestone Herald reported that shell fragments were being hunted as mementoes, and Ralph has a very early morning visitor.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Notes:
Season 11 - focusing on Madness and Trauma, and set in Folkestone, will begin on 31 July.
12 min
June 08, 2017 8 June 1917 - Florrie Wilson
On this day in 1917, the Tenth Battle of Isonzo ended, with heavy losses on both sides, while in Folkestone, Kitty only has eyes for baby May.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
13 min
June 07, 2017 7 June 1917 - Isabel Graham
On this day in 1917, in the early hours of the morning, people as far away as Dublin were woken by the detonation of Messines Ridge, the biggest man-made explosion in history. In Folkestone, it's deafening.
Singers ..... Nancy Cole, Ksynia Loeffler, Stephen Jeffes, Tom Raskin, Charles Gibbs
Organ - David Smith
Written by Katie Hims
Singers conducted by Sam Evans
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
13 min

About Home Front

From the publisher's feed

Drama serial tracking the fortunes of a group of characters on the home front as they try to maintain normality while Britain is involved in the First World War.