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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

Clare Perkins

John Macmillan

Buom Tihngang

Ryan Whittle

Daniel Betts

Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong

Alexander Devrient

Peter Bankole

Cameron Percival

Patricia Cumper

Jonathan Ruffle

Jonquil Panting

Tommies: 22 August 1918

22/08/2018

22 August 1918

BBC Radio 4 - Tommies, 22 August 1918

The story of the YMCA's Mrs Addie Washington, sent to support US black soldiers in France.

Arriving in France, the US Army includes 200,000 black soldiers. Mrs Addie Washington is one of only four YMCA workers sent to support them, as they face their own particular war.

Mrs Adeline Washington is one of only four black American YMCA workers, sent to support the 200,000 black American soldiers arriving in France in 1918.

In this story by Patricia Cumper and Jonathan Ruffle, Mrs Washington's duties should keep her away from the fighting. But when she uncovers a shocking secret about the US 371st Regiment, currently in the frontline at Esnes-en-Argonne, she has to find any way to get there - and fast.

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.

Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting.

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