Home Front

By BBC Radio 4Fiction Drama

Home Front episodes

September 10, 2015 10 September 1915 - Maggie Macknade
Maggie Macknade is the only person in her household who seems to understand the dangers of harbouring a deserter.
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
13 min
September 09, 2015 9 September 1915 - Juliet Argent
When Juliet Argent sees her good friend Dorothea struggling to cope with impending motherhood, she has a brilliant idea.
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
12 min
September 08, 2015 8 September 1915 - Alice Macknade
Alice Macknade has to say farewell to the love of her life as he heads off to war, just months after saying the same to her husband.
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
13 min
September 07, 2015 7 September 1915 - Gabriel Graham (Season 5 start)
This is the opening episode of Season Five of Home Front. The Graham household mark the day, a year on, when they lost their only son.
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
NOTES
Season Five of Home Front, story-led by Sarah Daniels, has at its heart a focus on Spiritualism*.
Unsurprisingly, the tide of grief and bereavement that visited Britain during the First World War brought with it a great flowering of spiritualism. Relatives wanted to be close to their loved ones in a way conventional religion was struggling to provide. For this reason many decided to extend their faith 'over the church wall', testing the waters of Spiritualism and psychical contact with the dead.
The Church was officially hostile, with the Bishop of London one of many who warned against the movement. Often the concern was less one of fraudulence - Spiritualism was compatible with Christianity - but rather that the mediums were meddling with dangerous forces and could easily be led astray. Accusations of charlatanism, pseudo-science and exploiting the bereaved were rife. It hardly helped that Spiritualism came in so many different guises. There was spiritualism as an industry, where palm-readers and mediums sold their services for profit; there was Spiritualism as a belief and philosophy; and there was the 'scientific' pursuit of psychical research, supported by leading thinkers like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who referred to it as "a call of hope and of guidance to the human race at the time of its deepest affliction"
*Earlier seasons have focused on the Outbreak of War, Recruitment, Industry and Profiteering. All previous seasons are available to download from bbc.co.uk/homefront.
13 min
September 07, 2015 7 September 1915 - Gabriel Graham
The Graham household mark the day, a year on, when they lost their only son.
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
NOTES
This is the opening episode of Season Five of Home Front, story-led by Sarah Daniels, which has at its heart a focus on Spiritualism*.
Unsurprisingly, the tide of grief and bereavement that visited Britain during the First World War brought with it a great flowering of spiritualism. Relatives wanted to be close to their loved ones in a way conventional religion was struggling to provide. For this reason many decided to extend their faith 'over the church wall', testing the waters of Spiritualism and psychical contact with the dead.
The Church was officially hostile, with the Bishop of London one of many who warned against the movement. Often the concern was less one of fraudulence - Spiritualism was compatible with Christianity - but rather that the mediums were meddling with dangerous forces and could easily be led astray. Accusations of charlatanism, pseudo-science and exploiting the bereaved were rife. It hardly helped that Spiritualism came in so many different guises. There was spiritualism as an industry, where palm-readers and mediums sold their services for profit; there was Spiritualism as a belief and philosophy; and there was the 'scientific' pursuit of psychical research, supported by leading thinkers like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who referred to it as "a call of hope and of guidance to the human race at the time of its deepest affliction"
*Earlier seasons have focused on the Outbreak of War, Recruitment, Industry and Profiteering. All previous seasons are available to download from bbc.co.uk/homefront.
13 min
July 17, 2015 17 July 1915 - Thornton Tulliver
In the last episode of Season Four of the drama series set in Great War Britain, expect fireworks at the grand opening of Hilary's latest venture.
Written by Richard Monks
Directed by Lucy Collingwood
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
12 min
July 16, 2015 16 July 1915 - Juliet Cavendish
The Grahams' engagement party for Howard and Juliet proves more eventful than planned.
Written by Richard Monks
Directed by Lucy Collingwood
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
13 min
July 15, 2015 15 July 1915 - Norman Harris
The investigation into Police Constable King's murder gathers pace.
Written by Richard Monks
Directed by Lucy Collingwood
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
13 min
July 14, 2015 14 July 1915 - Florrie Wilson
Victor brings shocking news to the Wilsons.
Written by Richard Monks
Directed by Lucy Collingwood
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
12 min
July 13, 2015 13 July 1915 - Howard Argent
A wartime celebrity makes an unexpected appearance in Folkestone.
Written by Richard Monks
Directed by Lucy Collingwood
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Editor: 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.