BBC’s WW1 coverage ‘so saturated in grief you’d never know we won’

AN EX-ARMY commander has criticised the BBC’s Great War centenary coverage as ‘too saturated in grief’.

Colonel Tim Collins said the victory securing the end of the First World War was ‘largely forgotten’. He criticised the Corporation’s coverage of the Battle of Passchendaele centenary – and called for a different approach for the Armistice anniversary later this year.

Col Collins, commander of the Royal Irish Regiment during the Iraq war – and famed for his rousing eve-of-invasion speech – wrote in Radio Times: ‘Last year’s coverage of the Passchendaele anniversary by the BBC was a prime example. While paying appropriate tribute to the sacrifice of the many soldiers who lost their lives, it was saturated in grief, in the horror and pity of war.

‘When the time comes to mark 100 years since the Armistice … I am calling on the BBC to also note that we are marking a victory.’

The BBC marked the Passchendaele centenary with two days of live broadcasts from Flanders.

At the time, Claire Popplewell, BBC Events editor, said the programming would ‘remember all those who died’, and that the name Passchendaele was ‘synonymous with the inhuman conditions and bloody ferocity of one of the First World War’s most horrific battles’. Criticising TV coverage of the war in general, Col Collins said it would be difficult for audiences to know ‘that Britain and her Allies won’.

He said the coverage ‘focuses almost completely on what has been called the “Blackadder” version. “Lions led by donkeys” is the characterisation of the British forces and is, effectively, all the current generation knows of these events. The brilliance of our leadership, and the contribution of the Dominions, has been blotted out and forgotten.’

A BBC spokesman said: ‘We’ve aimed to reflect every aspect of the war, with military history alongside examinations of the lives of ordinary soldiers.’