Tommies (radio drama)

Tommies
	Ident card used for the first episode of Tommies.
Genre	Drama
Running time	45 minutes
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
Home station	BBC Radio 4
Syndicates	BBC Radio 4 Extra
Starring	Lee Ross; Pippa Nixon
Created by	Jonathan Ruffle
Written by	Michael Chaplin
Directed by	David Hunter
Produced by	David Hunter; Jonquil Panting; Jonathan Ruffle
Narrated by	Indira Varma
Original release	7 October 2014 – present
No. of series	5 (as of November 2018)
No. of episodes	47 (as of November 2018)
Audio format	Stereo
Opening theme	composed by Nina Perry [1]
Website	Official website

Tommies is a British radio drama series, broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It is part of the BBC's World War I centenary season and planned to be broadcast over four years,[2] the same length of time as the war itself. Based on actual unit war diaries, it tells the story of a one day in the conflict exactly 100 years ago to the day.

Most of the episodes are set in either Flanders (the trench lines of the Western Front) or the Balkans (Salonika front), while a few narrate events in Africa or the Near East. The two principal characters are Mickey Bliss, a professional signals (wireless and telephone) NCO of the Indian army, whose initiative leads to his becoming an intelligence officer, and Celestine de Tullio, an English doctor who volunteers as a medical officer with the Serbian army in the Balkans, partly to avoid both her estranged family and Mickey Bliss.

Producers of the radio plays are David Hunter, Jonquil Panting and Jonathan Ruffle. Authors of the play scripts include Jonathan Ruffle, Michael Chaplin, Avin Shah, Nick Warburton and Nandita Ghose.

Cast and characters

Lee Ross - Sergeant Mickey Bliss, of the Signals Section, Lahore Division, British Indian Army
Danny Rahim - Ahmadullah Khan, a Havildar in the Signals Section, Lahore Division, British Indian Army.
Rudi Dharmalingam - Pavan Jodha, a Jemadar in the Signals Section, Lahore Division, British Indian Army.
Pippa Nixon - Celestine de Tullio, a doctor.
Patrick Kennedy - Robert de Tullio, banker and husband of Celestine.
Alex Wyndham - Lieutenant Maberley Dunster, of B Squadron, 15th King's Hussars, British Army.
Tony Pitts - Sergeant Walter Oddy, of the Signals Section, 2nd Division, British Expeditionary Force.
Elaine Claxton - Sister Marjorie Blaikeley, based in a Boulogne military hospital.
Clive Hayward - Major Hector Monkhouse, of the 15th Bengal Lancers, British Indian Army.
Sam Valentine - Harry de Tullio, young Pilot with the British army.

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References

"Tommies - BBC Radio Drama". OpenAudio. Retrieved 1 June 2015. Nina Perry has composed the signature tune and incidental music for BBC Radio 4 Drama serial 'Tommies’ - following over, the space of four years, the lives of those on and behind the battlefront of World War One.
Dowell, Ben (20 June 2012). "BBC Radio 4 plans first world war drama to be broadcast over four years". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 June 2015. The drama, which has the working title Tommies and is believed to be the UK's biggest ever one-off radio drama commission, will be scripted by a writing team led by Jonathan Ruffle and will tell the story of signals corps soldiers' experiences during the war in real time.

External links

Tommies at BBC Programmes

Radio Times, Tommies

World War I at BBC Online

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Tommies - BBC Radio Drama". OpenAudio. Retrieved 1 June 2015. Nina Perry has composed the signature tune and incidental music for BBC Radio 4 Drama serial 'Tommies’ - following over, the space of four years, the lives of those on and behind the battlefront of World War One.

[2] Dowell, Ben (20 June 2012). "BBC Radio 4 plans first world war drama to be broadcast over four years". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 June 2015. The drama, which has the working title Tommies and is believed to be the UK's biggest ever one-off radio drama commission, will be scripted by a writing team led by Jonathan Ruffle and will tell the story of signals corps soldiers' experiences during the war in real time.