Original version

BBC Radio 4 Extra

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Tommies

Drama

Drama: Historical

Drama series following the lives of those on and behind the battlefront of World War I.

Drama series following the lives of those on and behind the battlefront of World War I. Created by Jonathan Ruffle.

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 LW

Simon Scardifield

Dolya Gavanski

Aaron Vodovoz

Tony Jayawardena

Ryan Early

Waleed Akhtar

Omar Malik

Stephen Hogan

Indira Varma

David Hunter

Jonquil Panting

Jonathan Ruffle

Avin Shah

Tommies: 15 August 1918

15/08/2018

15 August 1918

BBC Radio 4 - Tommies, 15 August 1918

Two armoured trains meet on a single track in the desert.

Two armoured trains meet on a single track in the desert, in this extraordinary real-life battle story written by Avin Shah and starring Indira Varma.

Two armoured trains meet on a single train track in the desert, in this extraordinary real life battle story, written by Avin Shah.

Why have the 19th Punjabi Infantry Regiment of the British Indian Army been sent to Turkestan, where the British are not at war? 

Why are Russian soldiers driving both the train they're on, and the train they're trying to destroy? 

What's behind Railway Lieutenant Stepniak's paranoia about the enemy? 

And if either side damage the train track - will they ever get out of the desert? 

Meticulously based on unit war diaries and eye-witness accounts, each episode of TOMMIES traces one real day at war, exactly 100 years ago, telling untold stories about the war in Gaza, Gallipoli, Serbia, Mesopotamia, Russia, Macedonia, Italy, Turkmenistan and Tanzania, as well as on the Western Front.

And through it all, we've followed the fortunes of Mickey Bliss and his fellow signallers, from the Lahore Division of the British Indian Army. They are the cogs in an immense machine, one which connects situations across the whole theatre of the war, over four long years.

Series created by Jonathan Ruffle
Producers: David Hunter, Jonquil Panting, Jonathan Ruffle
Director: Jonquil Panting.

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

Tommies

15 August 1918

Contributors

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 Extra

About BBC Radio 4 Extra