The BBC Marks Remembrance Week 2024

The BBC will once again mark Remembrance Week across television, radio, and online with a range of original and live programming, including the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance 2024, hosted by Adrian Lester and attended by senior members of the Royal Family, and the National Service of Remembrance at The Cenotaph.

Tim Davie, BBC Director-General says: “The BBC is honoured to bring remembrance content to our audiences with special programming to commemorate those who served in the armed forces and to pay tribute to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Audio Described commentary of the live events is available via the Red Button and BBC iPlayer, while uninterrupted commentary-free coverage of the live events at the Cenotaph will also be available on iPlayer.

TV & BBC iPlayer

Saturday 9 November

The Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance

BBC One and iPlayer, 9pm-10.40pm

Senior members of the Royal Family will attend The Royal British Legion’s annual Festival of Remembrance from the Royal Albert Hall. Hosted by Adrian Lester – music artists include Welsh singing legend Sir Tom Jones, Jack Savoretti, Alexandra Burke, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Samantha Barks and Jake Isaac. The Central Band of the Royal Air Force and The Bands of HM Royal Marines will also create awe inspiring displays of military music.

The Festival will celebrate the men and women who fought in World War Two in 1944, commemorating those who fought on D-Day and in the Normandy campaign, in Italy at Monte Cassino and Kohima and Imphal in East Asia. There will also be stories from those that fought in Afghanistan, a focus on the work the Royal Air Force are doing training Ukrainian pilots and a celebration of the children of those that serve in the armed forces.

His Majesty The King was confirmed as Patron of the Royal British Legion earlier this year.

Sunday 10 November

Remembrance Sunday: The Cenotaph

BBC One and iPlayer, 10.15am-12.35pm

David Dimbleby will present live coverage from London as the Royal Family leads the nation in the Remembrance Sunday commemorations at the Cenotaph.

Members of the Royal family will join leading UK politicians, alongside representatives of the armed forces, the Commonwealth nations, and faith communities, for the two minute silence at 11 o’clock and the National Service of Remembrance.

This is followed by the wreath laying, as the nation remembers all those who have died serving their country, and the historic march past of nearly 10,000 veterans organised by the Royal British Legion.

Veterans and their families from across the nation will reflect on the personal importance of Remembrance. On Whitehall, Sophie Raworth will speak live with some of those taking part in the day as they share their remarkable stories of courage and sacrifice.

Audio Described commentary is available via the Red Button and BBC iPlayer, while uninterrupted commentary-free coverage of the live events at the Cenotaph will also be available on iPlayer.

Peace In No Man’s Land, The Story Of The Christmas Truce

BBC Four and iPlayer, 7.20pm-7.55pm

Martin Jarvis VO’s the story of the 1914 Christmas Truce on the Western Front in WWI, told by three survivors.

Five to Eleven: Michael Hordern

BBC Four and iPlayer, 7.55pm-8pm

Michael Hordern reads extracts from poetry and prose.

War Grave

BBC Four and iPlayer, 8pm-9pm

Documentary featuring a moving selection of stories in which relatives and comrades remember those who have been killed in conflicts from the First World War to the Falklands.

Dan Cruickshank’s Monuments of Remembrance

BBC Four and iPlayer, 9pm-10pm

Dan Cruickshank reveals the extraordinary story behind the design and building of iconic First World War memorials and explores the idea behind the creation of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Sunday 10 and Monday 11 November

BBC Breakfast and the BBC News at One will be reflecting and remembering the sacrifices and heroism of those involved in all conflicts.

Radio and BBC Sounds

BBC Radio 2 

Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance 2024  

Saturday 9 November, 8pm-9pm

Paddy O’Connell presents highlights from the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall. Paddy O’Connell presents highlights from the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall with spectacular music from star acts and massed military bands.  This year’s event will celebrate the remarkable men and women who fought in World War II in 1944.  To mark this 80th anniversary, we will commemorate those who fought on D-Day and at Monte Cassino and Kohima.  We will also reflect on recent conflicts – this year marks ten years since UK forces ended combat operations in Afghanistan.  And, we will pay tribute to the children of those that serve in the armed forces, including a special performance from the Service Children’s Community Choir.

Guests from music, television and military worlds tell Paddy of the special honour it is to be involved in this annual event.  Past and present military personnel will come together to be honoured for their service and dedication in defending our freedoms and way of life.  As the petals fall in the Royal Albert Hall, the festival will pay tribute to all victims of war and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice and those who continue to risk their lives today.

Music artists include Welsh legend Sir Tom Jones, Jack Savoretti, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Samantha Barks, Alexandra Burke and Jake Isaac. The Central Band of the Royal Air Force and the Bands of HM Royal Marines will create awe-inspiring displays of military music.

BBC Radio 3 

Choral Evensong: Clare College, Cambridge 

Wednesday 6 November, 3pm-4pm

Choral Evensong is live from Clare College, Cambridge on Wednesday 6 November (and repeated on Sunday 10 November at 15:00) including music to mark Remembrance Day.

Repertoire includes:

• Introit: Justorum animae (Stanford)
• Responses: Lucy Walker
• Psalms 32, 33, 34 (Jones, Randall, Pratt)
• First Lesson: Proverbs 3 vv27-35
• Canticles: Clare Service (Graham Ross) (world premiere)
• Second Lesson: Matthew 18 vv21-35
• Anthem: How are the mighty fallen (Ramsey)
• Hymn: O God, our help in ages past (St Anne)
• Voluntary: Elegy (Ireland)

Graham Ross is the Director of Music, with organists Daniel Blaze (Sir William McKie Senior Organ Scholar) and Evie Perfect (Junior Organ Scholar)

Compline: Remembrance Sunday 

Sunday 10 November, 9.30pm-10pm 

Part of a series of reflective services of night prayer, with words and music for the end of the day in the run up to Christmas, Compline on Sunday 10 November marks Remembrance Sunday from the Church of St Bartholomew the Great, London. Today’s episode includes works by Marchant, Nathan James Dearden, Wood, Eleanor Daley and Lobo, with conductor Rupert Gough.

• Introit: The souls of the righteous (Marchant)
• Preces (Plainsong)
• Hymn: Te lucis ante terminum (Nathan James Dearden)
• Psalm 121 (Walford Davies)
• Reading: John 15 vv11-13
• Responsory: Into thy hands, O Lord (Plainsong)
• Canticle: Nunc dimittis (Wood)
• Anthem: Set me as a seal (Eleanor Daley)
• Antiphon: Ave regina caelorum (Lobo)

BBC Radio 4 

Soul Music: Benedictus 

Saturday 9 November, 10.30am – 11am 

Sir Karl Jenkins’ Benedictus is the penultimate movement from his anti-war mass, The Armed Man. Written twenty-five years ago this year and performed over three thousand times, Sir Karl dedicated it to the victims of the 1998-1999 Kosovo war. It was originally commissioned by The Royal Armouries Museum and premiered for the millennium.

The Armed Man as a whole reflects the descent into war, but the movement of Benedictus’ emerges as a message of hope and peace in the aftermath. Benedictus is recognised for its haunting cello theme, in a register unusually high for this resonant instrument. The cello solo gradually expands into a full choir and orchestra.

Benedictus has given solace to listeners through some of the most difficult moments of their lives. We hear some of their stories. Featuring: British Armed Forces Veteran Michael Wright, who served in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan; Reverand Charles Thody, Priest in Lincolnshire and chaplain for the NHS; Dane Coetzee, cellist in Cape Town, South Africa; And the composer of Benedictus himself, Sir Karl Jenkins and his wife, Lady Carol Jenkins.

Sunday Worship: Devotion and Duty 

Sunday 10 November, 8.10am – 8.45am  

In this Sunday Worship service on Remembrance Day the two Archbishops of Armagh, the Church of Ireland’s Most Rev John McDowell and the Most Rev Eamon Martin of the Roman Catholic Church reflect on the lives and service of two military chaplains during the Second World War. Led by the Rev Dr Lesley Carroll.

Ceremony of Remembrance from the Cenotaph 

Sunday 10 November, 10.30am -11.45am 

BBC Radio 4 broadcasts the ceremony of Remembrance from the Cenotaph in London.  Paddy O’Connell leads live coverage from Whitehall of the solemn ceremony when the nation remembers the sacrifices made in the two world wars and in more recent conflicts. BBC World Service will simulcast the ceremony until 11.30am.

Local BBC Radio will be marking the silence across all stations in England on Remembrance Day.

Children’s and Education

CBBC and CBeebies

Monday 11 November

To mark the two-minute silence at 11am on 11 November, CBeebies and CBBC will simulcast Poppies, an evocative, dialogue-free animation that sees war as experienced by animals in a WWI battlefield. The film is set to a score composed by Oscar-winning Steve Price (Gravity) and recorded by the BBC Philharmonic. Poppies will also be available on BBC iPlayer from 4th November for use in schools.

On CBeebies, there’s a special Remembrance episode of Time For School and on CBBC, Operation Ouch! travels back to the First World War.

There are resources for use in both primary and secondary school classrooms on BBC Teach, BBC Bitesize and Newsround to help teachers to mark the occasion with their pupils. BBC Teach has an assembly framework exploring the themes of being thankful for the sacrifice of others who have fought to preserve our freedoms.

Nations

BBC Cymru Wales

To mark Remembrance month and a decade since the withdrawal of British combat troops from Afghanistan, a new documentary Helmand: Tour of Duty, available on iPlayer, tells the intimate, dramatic and revelatory story of ten Welsh Guards deployed to the frontline of the war in Helmand Province in 2009.

Sunday 10 November

BBC Radio Cymru has a brand new play – Nes Daw’r Wawr (Until the Break of Dawn) – at 9.30am. Written and Directed by Gareth Owen, the play follows three young Welsh soldiers over twenty minutes at the front-line during the First World War. Framed by the poetry of Hedd Wyn, this raw portrayal with a musical backdrop tells the story of three youngsters who find themselves in No Man’s Land. It stars, Gareth Elis, Siôn Emyr, Elis Myers-Sleight, Archie Christoph-Allen and Cerys Matthews. Adam Watcher is the Musical Director.

Radio Wales’ Service for Remembrance Sunday will be broadcast at 7.30am from Newport Cathedral, with reflections from Bishop Cherry Vann and music from Newport Cathedral Choir. It will be repeated at 7.30pm

BBC Northern Ireland

A range of BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle programmes will reflect the annual Remembrance.

Sunday 10 November

Thought for the Day at 7.55am, and Thought for the Week at 10.45am will explore the theme of remembrance.

From 10.30am-11.45am BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle will join BBC Radio 4 for the traditional Ceremony of Remembrance from the Cenotaph at Whitehall in London.

Sounds Sacred from 5pm will be devoting the programme to reflect on Remembrance Sunday.

Other programmes across the weekend, including Your Place And Mine, will feature stories and interviews connected to the World Wars and remembrance.

Monday 11 November

BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle will also mark the Armistice Day silence

BBC Scotland

Sunday 10 November

In Sunday Morning on BBC Radio Scotland on 10 November there’ll be features marking Remembrance Sunday. In Caribbean Remembrance Walk, historian Lisa Williams takes a short tour of Edinburgh telling the tales of three fascinating figures of colour in British Military History and their connections to Scotland.

In This Spiritual Life, the South Ronaldsay and Burray minister, Rev Marjory McLean, discusses her life in faith and the experience of being a minister on Orkney and as a Church of Scotland reservist military chaplain in Afghanistan.

Faith Forum – How To Remember features a discussion around the challenge of keeping Remembrance relevant as first hand witnesses pass on and the younger generation have less direct connection to the impact of war.