Can a film about the First World War work without trenches or battles?

In this episode of Oh What a Lovely Podcast, Angus, Jessica and Chris discuss the 2025 film The Choral, which uses song, performance and collective experience to explore the impact of the First World War on a northern English community. We talk about what the film gets right, where it challenges expectations, and how it fits into wider portrayals of the war on screen.

Can a story about soldiers shaking hands in the snow carry a warning for the nuclear age?

This episode of Oh What a Lovely Podcast brings Jessica, Chris and Angus together with Anne Marie Einhaus for a conversation about Robert Graves short story Christmas Truce. The story appears in the Penguin Book of First World War Stories and follows an elderly veteran who recalls the rare moments in 1914 and 1915 when soldiers on both sides met peacefully in the frozen landscape between the trenches.

Through these memories the veteran describes friendship that cuts through wartime propaganda, as well as the swift return of violence. Set against a discussion with his grandson in the early 1960s, the story contrasts youthful optimism in the anti nuclear movement with the weary caution of lived experience. It is a thoughtful look at the limits of goodwill and the forces that shape conflict.

References:
Graves, R. (2007) 'Christmas Truce', in Ein­haus, A-M. (ed.) The Penguin Book of First World War Stories. London: Penguin Classics
Keynes, G. (1962) A Bibliography of Siegfried Sassoon. London: R. Hart-Davis.
Levy, D. (dir.) (1995) Silent Night (Stille Nacht)

Was Blackadder Goes Forth the most powerful portrayal of the First World War ever put on television?

In this episode of Oh! What a Lovely Podcast, Jessica, Chris and Angus take a look at the enduring legacy of Blackadder Goes Forth. First broadcast on BBC One in 1989, the series blended sharp wit and biting satire with a surprisingly moving look at life – and death – on the Western Front.

The team discuss how the show evolved, the historical realities behind its humour, and why that unforgettable final scene still resonates decades later. They also explore how Blackadder helped shape popular perceptions of the Great War, influencing how generations have come to understand the conflict and its soldiers.

So, was Blackadder Goes Forth just a comedy – or something far more profound?

References:
Badsey, S. (2014) The Two Western Fronts: The First World War and the Second World War in British History and Memory. London: Continuum.
Barker, P. (1991) Regeneration. London: Viking.
BBC (1964) The Great War [Television series]. London: BBC.
Bet-El, I. (1999) Conscripts: Lost Legacies of the Great War. Stroud: Sutton Publishing.
Iserwood, I. (2017) Remembering the Great War: The Nation, the Public and the First World War Commemoration. London: Bloomsbury.
Newman, S. (dir.) (2025) The Choral
Faulks, S. (1993) Birdsong. London: Hutchinson.

How did the First World War bring down Europe's great dynasties, and how did the BBC retell that story on screen?

In this episode of Oh What a Lovely Podcast, we look at Fall of Eagles, the 1974 BBC drama that charts the decline of the Romanovs, Hohenzollerns, and Habsburgs. Across 13 episodes, the series follows the personal rivalries, dynastic struggles, and political failures that led to the collapse of three empires during the Great War.

Created by John Elliot and produced by Stuart Burge, the show boasted an impressive cast and scripts from writers such as Jack Pulman (I, Claudius) and Troy Kennedy Martin (The Italian Job). Critics praised its scope and performances, even if it sometimes focused more on palace drama than wider historical forces.

Join Angus, Jessica, and Chris as they discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and legacy of this ambitious attempt to dramatise the road to 1914 and the end of Empire.

Links:
The Fall of Empires, BBC (1973)
I, Claudius, BBC (1976)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
The Sweeny (1975-78)
The Italian Job (1969)
Oh! What a lovely war (1969)
Blackadder Goes Forth, BBC (1989)
Britain's Great War, BBC (2014)
Adrian Gregory, The Last Great War (2008)
Alan Clark, Lions Led By Donkeys (1961)
Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (1987)
Television Heaven

What do young adults think of First World War fiction aimed at them?

In this episode of Oh What a Lovely Podcast, we hand the mic to a group of young readers to hear their thoughts on The Boy I Loved by William Hussey, a novel exploring the impact of war on love, identity and loss. After their thoughtful reviews, Chris, Jessica and Angus reflect on the responses and what they reveal about how the war is understood today.

What makes a 50-year-old book on WWI still essential reading?

In this episode, Angus, Jessica, and Chris are joined by Ian Isherwood and Steven Trout, authors of But It Still Goes On: Paul Fussell's The Great War and Modern Memory at 50. We revisit Fussell's classic, exploring its legacy, impact, and the debates it continues to spark in the world of war literature and memory studies.

References:
Ian Isherwood and Steven Trout, But it Still Goes On: Paul Fussell's The Great War and Modern Memory at 50, The Journal of Military History
Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory
--- Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War
--- Class: A Guide Through the American Status System
--- Doing Battle: The Making of a Skeptic
Frederic Manning, Her Privates We
Siegfried Sassoon, The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston
Max Ploughman, A Subaltern on the Somme
Robert Graves, Goodbye To All That
Dan Todman, The Great War: Myth and Memory
RC Sherriff, Journey's End
Samuel Hynes, A War Imagined
Charles Edmonds, A Subaltern's War

What happens when a controversial real-life figure becomes the centre of one of the BBC's most politically charged wartime dramas?

In this episode, we revisit The Monocled Mutineer (1986), Alan Bleasdale's adaptation of the story of Percy Toplis — alleged ringleader of the 1917 Étaples mutiny. The four-part series drew huge audiences but quickly became a flashpoint in debates over historical accuracy, media bias, and the BBC's role in shaping national memory.

We unpack the drama's reception, the historical evidence (or lack thereof) behind Toplis's role in the mutiny, and how the show explored themes of class, power, and military discipline in the First World War.

References:
Emma Hanna, The Great War on the Small Screen: Representing the First World War in Contemporary Britain (2009)
John Buchan, The 39 Steps (1915)
William Hussey, The Boy I loved (2025)
Boys from the Black Stuff (1982)
Dope Girls (2025)
The Crimson Field (2014)
Hornblower (1998-2003)
Masters of the Air (2024)
Sharpe (1993-2008)