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3 opere 6 membri 1 recensione

Serie

Opere di Sebastian Baczkiewicz

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Data di nascita
1962
Sesso
male

Utenti

Recensioni

Back in 2014, BBC produced a series to commemorate WWI - 561 episodes (~11 minutes each except for 1 which was 45 minutes), in 15 seasons, each airing exactly 100 years after the day it covers and running from 4 August 2014 to 9 November 2018 (with breaks - episodes were only aired in Monday-Friday and there were breaks between the seasons). It is the fictionalized story of Britain during the war - the people who stayed behind and had to keep living - despite the war. A lot of the storylines revolve around the war but there are enough additional ones (people keep leaving their lives after all) to make the whole thing even more interesting.

I had been planning to pick that one up for awhile (I've listened to the first season a few times) and apparently that was the time. The collection has the first 5 seasons, covering the time between 4 August 2014 and 30 October 2015.

Each episode is from the viewpoint of a single character but as they are interconnected (in the same locale anyway), the rest of them are in the story as well. But the change of perspective makes the story work better - the maid and the rich people who employ her see the world differently; the widow who can barely make her rent has different priorities compared to the local councilor.

The main story is the war - people leave for it, people die, refugees show up, people disappear, soldiers come back wounded, people volunteer time and money and anything in between. But among all that is Britain of 1914-1915 with the class society slowly eroding, women and worker rights activists starting to show up, spiritualism makes an appearance as a major belief and among all that people still fall in love, have babies and occasionally die outside of the war itself (and some who are considered death reappear).

4 of the first 5 series (1-2 and 4-5) are set in the sea resort of Folkestone where the fighting in France can often be heard and where the infrastructure built for tourists ends up being useful for the war preparation. The 3rd series is set in Tynemouth - where the local factories and shipyards are slowly converting to assist the war. Of course people do not stay static so characters from the two locations meet and merge occasionally once we meet them all.

The audiodrama has a big cast which can get confusing at times but the authors and the actors manage to make sure that you do not get lost in the narrative. It can get a bit tedious in some parts (because life can be like that) but overall it is an enjoyable way to spend some time with a story. I plan to continue with the next volume (the next 5 series) soon.

The (whole?) series is available for free from BBC in both individual episodes: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047qhc2/episodes/player and in the weekly omnibuses: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04dv1g4/episodes/player
… (altro)
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Segnalato
AnnieMod | Apr 15, 2022 |

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Opere
3
Utenti
6
Popolarità
#1,227,255
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