Home Front

By BBC Radio 4Fiction Drama

Home Front episodes

June 06, 2017 6 June 1917 - Gabriel Graham
On this day in 1917, a "tropical rainstorm" descended on a damaged Folkestone, where Gabriel Graham's tempestuous journey leads to a flash of inspiration.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Ciaran Bermingham
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
13 min
June 05, 2017 5 June 1917 - Eric Morton
On this day in 1917, the second daylight Gotha air raid targeted Sheerness, while in Folkestone, the police station is still dealing with the fallout of the first.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
12 min
June 02, 2017 2 June 1917 - Dorothea Winwood
On this day in 1917, Canadian flying ace Billy Bishop shot down three German planes on a solo flight behind enemy lines, and in Folkestone, Dorothea Winwood's on a mission for the truth.
Singers ..... Nancy Cole, Ksynia Loeffler, Stephen Jeffes, Tom Raskin, Charles Gibbs
Organ ..... David Smith
Conductor ..... Sam Evans
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
12 min
June 01, 2017 1 June 1917 - Jessie Moore
On this day in 1917, funerals were held for another ten victims of the Folkestone air raid, and Jessie Moore confronts her loss.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
13 min
May 31, 2017 31 May 1917 - Gabriel Graham
On this day in 1917, the War Office met to discuss how to prevent future aeroplane attacks like that on Folkestone, and Gabriel Graham deals with the fallout locally.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
13 min
May 30, 2017 30 May 1917 - Kitty Lumley
On this day in 1917, the death toll from the Folkestone air raid now numbered 72, but for Kitty Lumley, the disaster offers a new start.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
13 min
May 29, 2017 29 May 1917 - Alice Macknade
On this day in 1917, the national press were allowed to publish the news that Folkestone was the centre of a great air raid, and locally, the first seven funerals for victims took place.
Written by Katie Hims
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
13 min
May 26, 2017 26 May 1917 - Alec Poole
On this day in 1917, while in Canada there were demonstrations against the introduction of conscription, people in Folkestone mourned their dead.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
12 min
May 25, 2017 Home Front: A Lightening
By Sarah Daniels. A special edition of Home Front, marking the centenary of Britain's first Gotha Air Raid, which devastated Folkestone on 25 May 1917. Weaving real historical figures and testimony with the stories and characters of Home Front, Sarah Daniels pays tribute to the people who died in this sudden, shocking atrocity.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Sound by Martha Littlehailes
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
NOTES
Friday 25 May 1917 marked the beginning of the Whitsun weekend, and shoppers queued in Tontine Street outside Stokes Greengrocers, who had put word around town that they were stocking fresh potatoes on that day. A squadron of Gotha planes who had attempted an attack on London, were returning unsuccessful, and tried their luck bombing the railway line that took thousands of soldiers daily to the coast.
Some planes attacked Shorncliffe Camp, killing 18, mainly Canadians, while others swept east across the town. A single bomb was dropped on Tontine Street at 6.22pm (breaking the clock of the Congregational Church). It killed 63 - 10 men, 28 women and 25 children. More than 100 were injured.
On Thursday 25 May 2017, the first plaque commemorating the victims will be unveiled in Folkestone.
44 min
May 25, 2017 25 May 1917 - Kitty Lumley
On this day in 1917, Britain suffered its first ever airplane bombing raid, and Tontine Street in Folkestone is packed with shoppers preparing for Whitsun weekend.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
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.