Love life in flames:
World On Fire’s Harry Chase faces emotional strife as well as the horrors of war in France. Jim Maloney reports.
Romance takes a complicated twist in World On Fire.
As Europe is shaken by war in World On Fire, Harry Chase’s complicated personal life also manages to rattle him amid the violence and brutality. In episode three, Harry is now a second lieutenant in the British Expeditionary Force and is in France with his unit, alongside his dutiful sergeant Stan (Blake Harrison), supervising the digging of foxholes and tank traps. Then he is startled by the appearance of Lois, his former girlfriend from Manchester. She has arrived at the base camp to perform with the Entertainments National Service Association and she has some big news for him. “Harry is still in love with Lois,” says Jonah Hauer-King, who plays him. “But he is in a very strange position where he couldn’t imagine being genuinely in love with two people at the same time. It wasn’t so much an affair that he had in Poland with Kasia (Zofia Wichlacz). He loves her too. “Harry has a lot of good intentions and is passionate about things but he is also deeply flawed – reckless and selfish. “He’s not scared of showing how he feels, but he acts so impulsively and doesn’t think about the consequences. That’s one of the biggest things that he learns – to not be so self-centred all the time. His biggest mistake is not being open and honest and upfront with the people he loves the most. “He suffered quite a significant amount of emotional trauma growing up and that’s had a huge effect on him. His mother, Robina
“Harry has a lot of good intentions and is passionate about things but he is also deeply flawed.”
– Jonah Hauer-King
(Lesley Manville), is a single parent and she is really tough.
“I think that a lot of his reckless behaviour is reacting against the pressure that she has put on him from a very early age.
“She is constantly telling him that he needs to be a diplomat and to marry a good class of girl and he’s not interested. He met factory worker Lois at an anti-fascist rally. He’s political and kind – all the things that his mum isn’t but, inevitably, there is also a huge love between them which is discovered over the course of the series.
“This is definitely a World War II piece that is focused on the characters and how the war really affects them. There’s action and battle sequences on a huge scale, but it’s grounded in the intimacy of human relationships and the characters and what they are going through and how they’re feeling in a way that I don’t think you see that often in television drama.”
Lois is equally surprised to have bumped into Harry in France but she is playing it cool and starts to respond to overtures by another soldier, named Joe.
“Lois has found herself in a love triangle but she’s a very strong woman who cracks on with things regardless of how difficult they are,” says Julia Brown, who plays her.
“She has a real passion for music and the war gives her the chance to explore that when she and her friend from Manchester, Connie (Yrsa Daley-Ward), join ENSA.
“She gets to go to places she would never have gone to. At the beginning they are performing in small clubs in Manchester and Blackpool and then they are performing in France and they go on a journey and their confidence really grows.
“In preparation for the role I worked with an amazing singing teacher who found a bit of my voice that I didn’t know that I had. I was so excited because I used to sing when I was younger.
“The songs I sing in the drama are beautiful, and I recognise them from my grandparents and the modern takes of them over the years.
“I started with a month of rehearsals working with a brilliant musical director called Matt Smith.
“To begin with we spent time focusing on finding Lois’ style and, because I’d never sung jazz before, Matt was trying to teach me how to free up my voice.
“Then we started tackling the songs and it has opened up a whole repertoire of music for me, which has been a really fun aspect of the job.
“My favourite song from this period is Dream A Little Dream. The funny thing about that was when I auditioned, they asked me to sing a snippet of a song that I liked and I sang that one because my granny used to sing it to me when I was young.
“She sang during World War II as a girl and it was crazy and lovely that when I finally got the part and the script, I got to perform it.”