Tony Robinson's World War 1

Overview:

Sir Tony Robinson, the history presenter and former Black Adder star, tells the story of the Great War. How it started, how it changed the world and how it finished with a 100 day flourish of military brilliance, which finally put an end to four years of incompetence and slaughter. With the aid of hundreds of amazing archived 3D images of the Great War which chronicle WWI from start to finish and breathe new life into the story, Tony Robinson's World War I allows modern audiences to see the war in a completely new way. Robinson will also show how the Great War changed British people for generations to come – liberating large portions of the working class, powering the rise of the Labour party and breaking the old ties of service to the aristocracy.

Created by:

Status:

Ended

Language:

English

First air date:

3/13/2015

Last air date:

4/3/2015

Key words:

world war i

Seasons

Season 1

4 Episodes

Cast

Tony Robinson

~ as ~

Himself - Presenter

Max Hastings

~ as ~

Himself

Catrine Clay

~ as ~

Herself

Andrew Robertshaw

~ as ~

Himself

Karina Urbach

~ as ~

Herself

Mat McLachlan

~ as ~

Himself

Tim Shields

~ as ~

Himself

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

Peter McGinn
Written 5 year(s) ago
8
This is a first rate documentary series about World War I, aka The Great War. At the time it was the third documentary series I had watched about World War I in a few week period. I placed it in between the other two as far as quality and entertainment value.

Tony Robinson does a pretty good job as presenter, speaking with enthusiasm and a latent curiosity to find out what caused the war and how it was fought.

Many times Robinson comments on the splendid 3D pictures taken during the war, long available but never before viewed on television. Perhaps I missed something, but they seemed like regular black and white pictures to me. Perhaps if they had been compared with other pictures there would have been more clarity or depth on display, I don't know. One good thing this program does has to do with the experts documentaries like this always use to discuss the subject. Usually you see authors or university professors, but here they used experts in the field, many who held jobs to do with their expertise. I found them to be more knowledgeable than usual.

One change that may have helped the presentation has to do with the reading of soldiers' journals and diaries. Robinson did all of the reading, and it might have been more effective if they had other actors read these entries to break up Tony Robinson's voice-over. In any case, it is a historical series well worth watching.