Episode 17 Points of View

Good afternoon and welcome to a special edition of Points Of View.

I'm here at the Imperial War Museum because this week we will be looking

at the BBC's plans to mark the 100th anniversary of World War I,

Plans drawn up in partnership with the museum.

In a while I'll be talking to the BBC controller

in charge of this big four-year-long project

and putting your comments to him, but first here's our round-up

of your views on the TV you've watched this week.

I have no alternative but to discharge the jury

and release the defendant.

A new role for the former Dr Who, David Tennant, in The Escape Artist.

This time, without the power of teleportation,

Tennant plays a junior barrister skilled at spiriting other people

out of tight legal corners.

Congratulations, well done.

It was a mistake, I just made sure they paid for it. Well, good man.

I'm just doing my job. Thank you, my friend.

Pleasure. Take care.

This was the first of three parts and for you - the jurors -

the verdict so far is good.

Very much on the wrong side of the law now

and Monday saw the return of the crime series Ripper Street.

You wish me to fight for your entertainment do you?

Quite the Roman emperor, ain't ya?

Jack the Ripper may be fading into memory,

but East London has found no peace.

The gritty melodrama proved a hit last series -

how is it fairing this time round?

Can I have some privacy? So is the criticism fair?

We put the complaints to the production team.

This is what they said.

So you speak and make amends, sergeant.

We just need to hear the words.

Train enthusiast Michael Portillo embarking on a second series

of his Great Continental Railway Journeys.

I'll be using this, my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide,

dated 1913,

which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel

for the British tourist.

He returned to his native Spain, travelling from Madrid to

Gibraltar with history-packed stops on the way.

Now, Gonzalo, how do we drink sherry? Well, in England, very badly.

So, two easy rules, drink it cold and drink it fast.

To sherry and to the railways. Thank you. Thank you.

Mmm. How's that? Well, I think it's pretty good.

Smell it, smell it, smell it.

It's really good.

Panorama tackled the issue of filth on Monday night

and I'm talking litter here.

# I'm addicted to you Don't you know that you're toxic? #

Since the '60s, the population of the UK

has risen by a little over 20%, but the amount of litter

being dropped has increased by an alarming 500%.

But were dirty streets really a subject for a serious

investigative current affairs programme?

'People can't wait for others to solve the problem - they're getting

'on with it for themselves.'

There's some over here, this is my big chance.

Feels good when you've done that.

Well, it is wonderfully autumnal here in the grounds of the museum

and it is of course a perfect time of year for the return

of one of our seasonal traditions.

And, Martin, you're going to be out and about, aren't you?

I am, Michaela, it's an Autumnwatch first.

I'm about to leave in this very vehicle

right out into the darkness

and become Autumnwatch's live roving reporter.

What could possibly go wrong? Welcome, it's Autumnwatch!

Packham, Strachan and Hughes-Games' annual look at the wonders

and beauty of our ever-changing countryside,

getting four seasons in one day type of responses.

So a bit of a Marmite programme. Some liked it, some not so much.

Next year, 2014 marks the centenary of the outbreak of World War I,

and to commemorate it the Beeb has planned

what's been described as the biggest and most ambitious BBC season ever undertaken.

So here's a little preview of just some of the highlights.

At 11.20, British forces were sent the fateful telegram,

which read simply -

"War, Germany, act."

A new landmark series launches a season packed with

documentaries like Gallipoli and The World's War,

offering new perspectives on the conflict.

It drew men in.

Men from every continent, men of every religion and every race.

My Great War unlocks never-before-seen interviews

recorded 50 years ago with those who survived the war.

What was it that we soldiers...

..stabbed each other.

Lots of World War I drama on the way as well,

covering all aspects of the conflict.

Such as The Ark, the story of a fictional field hospital

behind the trenches.

'The reason this hospital is different is

'because the men here have come from hell.

'Real hell.'

Just some of what we can expect over the next four years.

And Adrian Van Klaveren, who is the controller

of the World War I centenary is the man in charge of it all.

Welcome to you. Thank you.

Huge project, and it's been in the planning for a long time.

It is a huge project.

I think it's the most ambitious season

the BBC has ever mounted.

We've been planning some of the programmes for years.

Some of the documentaries have been researched over a period of time.

Some of the dramas have been written and cast and then been produced.

So a huge amount of work right across the BBC,

every service involved in it, and offering a huge range of programmes.

Well, it's 2,500 hours of content - TV, radio, online.

And some of our viewers have been trying to do the maths

on what all of that entails.

And some were a bit concerned, as you can see.

So, is there a danger of audience saturation, here?

Yes, that's something we've thought about.

The centenary does last four years

because the First World War lasted that length of time

and there are events to mark all the way through.

What we are trying to do is to make sure

we mark the appropriate moments

and that we concentrate activity at particular points

so that people know where to find what we're doing.

And there's a range of programmes

that will appeal to different people in different ways.

You won't exhaust them?

No, we won't do that because it won't all be at a constant level.

There will be different moments

when we're looking at different aspects of the war,

whether that's the origins of it,

whether it's the military side of it,

looking at what went on at the home front.

We'll be doing that at different points, in different ways.

So I think each person will be able to find something of interest there.

The other issue for some of our viewers is, of course,

tone and whether the BBC gets the tone right.

So just see what they're saying about that.

So, the tone. Celebration, commemoration, which is it?

Yes, we've thought about that long and hard.

What we're trying to do are two things, really.

One is to commemorate the war,

commemorate those who died, those who were injured

and to make sure we mark the centenary of that properly.

But it's also about increasing understanding.

What we want to do across the whole four years

is to help people know more about the First World War -

what caused it, what took place during it

and what its consequences were, as well.

And we believe by doing that, we will end up

giving people a much better sense of what the war was about

and why it's still relevant today,

how it's changed the world in which they live.

The word "jingoistic" came up there

and the worry that that's how these programmes may seem

to people outside the UK.

Yes. I think both for audiences outside the UK

and actually many people in the UK,

I don't think people want us to be jingoistic.

We will tell the story of Britain during the war,

and I think people would expect that.

But equally, we're very much trying to take

an international perspective.

One of the things we're trying to do

is to tell people the stories of the war

that they're not so familiar with.

Stories which are beyond the trenches,

which are beyond the barbed wire and the mud,

to help people understand the war.

Why it was a global war.

The fact that people from so many countries fought in it,

and what that actually led to.

But this is not just about the content the BBC generates.

It's also about people revealing their connections to the Great War.

And I guess that's really what it should be about,

it's capturing those individual stories

of heroism or self-sacrifice.

Yes, I think that's vital, that we tell those individual stories.

We're at the point now

where there are no survivors from the conflict alive,

when it's moving from memory into history.

But actually, what we know is that

so many families have an individual story to tell.

So many places have a story that is about that place

and will help people understand more what the war meant,

why it was relevant.

And by getting to those individual stories and telling them,

both on radio, online and on television,

we think will give a real sense of why the First World War still matters.

The Director-General, Tony Hall, has said

that this season is going to have a profound impact

on the way we think about World War I.

So if I could ask you to, sort of, spin forwards to 2018,

how do you think it will have changed the way we see that war?

I think what we can do is to surprise people,

to tell them things about the war they didn't know before.

And to help them understand it much better, as well,

so that people have a much broader sense of what started the war,

why Britain was part of it

and a sense of actually what took place as a result of the war -

how it changed Britain in so many ways.

From the changes in the class system, the role of women,

through to all sorts of small things

which we still experience in our everyday lives.

I think by putting the First World War in that context,

people will feel over the next four years,

they've got a much better sense of why it matters.

Adrian Van Klaverin, thank you very much indeed. Thank you.

An epic project that I'm sure will keep us all talking

over the next four years.

Well, that's about it for this week,

except to remind you that in a few weeks' time,

we're going to have a special interview

with the BBC's Director-General.

Now is your opportunity to put your questions to Tony Hall.

And you can do so in one of many, many ways.

By post...

By phone -

the number is charged as a local rate call from any landline

and it is...

Or join the message boarders, where it's always lively.

There's also e-mail.

And don't forget, we're also on Twitter.

That's it for this week.

From this spectacular place, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd