BBC One’s hit wartime drama World on Fire returned over the summer – but only after a frustrating series of delays, largely caused by Covid, which led creator Peter Bowker to joke that the series “took longer to film than the war itself”.
Bowker was speaking at an online RTS National Event in July ahead of the transmission of the second series, almost four years after the first aired.
An exclusive Q&A with the cast and creators behind the second series of the hit WWII drama, World on Fire.
On the panel were:
Peter Bowker – Creator and Writer
Jonah Hauer-King – Harry
Ahad Raza Mir – Rajib
Gregg Sulkin – David
Julia Brown – Lois
Miriam Schiweck – Marga
Blake Harrison – Stan
Hosted by Charlie Girling.
The new six episodes will be written by series creator Peter Bowker alongside Rachel Bennette and Matt Jones, which will continue to tell the story of World War Two through the eyes of ordinary people whose lives have been thrown into chaos.
October 1940. As lone pilots are sent to destroy German bombers prowling the skies above Manchester, the beginning of the Northern Blitz signals the true reality of war arriving in Britain.
Over three series, The A Word has been widely praised for its honest portrayal of autism and the tensions this unleashes on a family. But The A Word is also laugh-out-loud funny and joyful – and, given its Lake District setting, beautiful to look at.
The BBC One drama, which finished its third series in early June, tells the story of Joe, a young boy with autism, and his fractious, larger-than life extended family.
Set in the 1990s, Babs sees Windsor preparing to perform in the theatre that evening, where she talks us on a journey of the events and people that shaped her career, from her lonely childhood and complicated relationship with her father, to capturing the attention of Joan Littlewood and being cast in the Carry On films.
Within a few minutes of taking tea with television writer Peter Bowker, it becomes clear why he writes such effective dramas on subjects close to his heart. He is a people person: curious, observant and fascinated by family dynamics and human quirks. At one point, he suddenly directs a question at me, and I realise how easy it would be to open up to him.
Aged 57, born in Stockport – his strong northern accent is still intact – he also tends to end every other sentence with laughter. When he talks about his fictional characters, it is as if they are real.
Radio Times has announced the line up for its inaugural festival, which will be held at Hampton Court Palace in September.
The programme includes talks from RTS award-winners Sir Bruce Forsyth, Melvyn Bragg and Peter Bowker, alongside masterclasses ranging from drawing with Horrid Henry illustrator Tony Ross to learning how to act on radio with The Archers’ Charles Collingwood (Brian Aldridge).
