Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Home Front

Docudramas

Drama: Historical

Drama serial charting life on the home front during the First World War.

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.

drama brand.jpg

BBC Radio 4 FM

Charlie Clements

Ann Mitchell

Lucy Hutchinson

Lizzy Watts

Sam Swann

Finn Monteath

Yonatan Roodner

Ami Metcalf

Jane Whittenshaw

James Lailey

Hollie Thoupos

Sarah Daniels

Jessica Dromgoole

Home Front: Home Front: A Lightening

Home Front: A Lightening

25/05/2017

BBC Radio 4 - Home Front, Home Front: A Lightening

A special edition of Home Front, marking the centenary of Britain's first Gotha Air Raid.

Charlie Clements and Ann Mitchell star in a special edition of Home Front, marking the centenary of Britain's first Gotha air raid, which devastated Folkestone on 25 May 1917.

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.

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Home Front

Home Front: A Lightening

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4