WW1 // The Great War - Telling its stories on television with David Parker

How can television possibly convey the nightmare that was the First World War for its fighting troops? TV programme maker David Parker will be talking about and screening two programmes made for local television that tried to achieve just this. 

 

 

West Country Harry Patch, one of the longest survivors of WW1was a contributor to the series ‘Till the Boys come Home', a three part series based on the book ‘NoThankful Village’ by Chris Howell. The series followed a community play set in the Somerset Villages near Midsomer Norton and David will screen programme three ‘A Brush with Death’.

 

 

The film in part two takes a very different approach. It is the story of one man’s war and death in the mud told by his grandson. Henry Fear, enlisted in a ‘pals’ brigade in 1914, 'Bristol’s Own' and he died in the battle of the Somme. The film follows Nick Fear as he searches for answers to questions about his grandfather’s war and death.