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Every November since 1919, the nation has paused to reflect and remember. It is a moment born out of the First World War but which has come to recognise all of those who have been involved in conflicts over the past century. This year will be no different, but the fact that exactly 100 years ago the world had become embroiled in what quickly became known as The Great War gives an added resonance. The Ö÷²¥´óÐã’s Remembrance Week coverage will be extensive across TV, radio and online, with the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance on Saturday evening and the Remembrance Sunday commemorations from the Cenotaph in Whitehall at the heart of our coverage. You can read.

The Ö÷²¥´óÐã’s World War One season has now been running for 10 months. In that time we have offered a huge range of programmes – from documentaries to drama, from archive-based programmes to online guides. Our latest research tells us that we have reached nearly three quarters of the UK population with output specifically about the First World War. A survey for the independent think-tank British Future tells us that the Ö÷²¥´óÐã has been the single most important source for people to find out about the centenary. What is particularly encouraging is that despite the amount of coverage this year, the majority of people still want to know more. Although levels of understanding have risen, there is certainly an appetite for more discoveries.

That interest is very much reflected in our plans. In the coming weeks there will be programmes on Teenage Tommies, on the Indian soldiers who fought in the conflict and the soldier poets of the Somme. Special editions of Country File and Antiques Roadshow will tell stories from the war looking at its impact on life in Britain. There is new drama with on Ö÷²¥´óÐã One, telling the story of the war through the eyes of two young men, whilst on Radio 4 the dramas and will continue to chart the course of the conflict. On Ö÷²¥´óÐã Four, we will begin a complete repeat screening of the seminal 1964 documentary series The Great War. And of course, next year we will mark the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli and in 2016 the centenaries of Jutland and the Somme.

So, as the commemorations take place this November, we at the Ö÷²¥´óÐã are aware that we are uniquely placed to help people remember the fallen and to build understanding about the conflict which gave birth to modern remembrance. It is something we will continue to do over the next four years, charting the course of the war which did so much to change how people thought and how people lived.

Adrian Van-Klaveren is Controller, Great War Centenary

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