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World On Fire shows that like all sailors, Harry Chase (Jonah Hauer-King) wants a girl in every port, since he has Lois (Julia Brown) back home in Manchester, but also a Polish lover in Kasia (Zofia Wichlacz). Oh, what a tangled web we weave! That said, Harry is such a wet blanket that it’s amazing he managed to pull one woman, never mind two!
It’s the start of World War II and in this first episode, the Germans are invading Poland.
Sean Bean plays Sean Bean. The Germans fire a bomb at him, but he SHOUTS IT AWAY! FOR YORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRKSHIRE! Seriously, though, he’s always SHOUTING! I’d love to see his attempt at an AMSR video(!)
Helen Hunt must’ve bagged a fair few quid for appearing in this, as journalist Nancy, but there was nothing she did in the first episode that enthralled me in any way.
On the plus side, it’s a delight to see the beautiful city of Prague. Plus, the ‘Next time’ bit, at the end of the programme, plays out during the closing credits, so that’ll shut those yappy fuckers up, instead of hearing them babble all over the credits. Also, the battle scenes are well-directed (albeit rather feeling like a cut-scene from Sniper Elite 4), but…. all too often, it’s mostly dull family drama and soppy love stories, and we must make sure they have both straight *and* LGBT relationships covered, no matter how uninteresting they are.
There’s also some really dumb dialogue in this, such as when one man says “Danzig has fallen, and the Germans are heading here! To Warsaw!”
Well, if you’re there already, you will know you’re in Warsaw. You don’t need to be told, and you don’t need to say it.
World On Fire begins on BBC1 on Sunday at 9pm. It’s is available to pre-order on DVD, ahead of its release on November 25th.
After broadcast, each episode will be on the BBC iPlayer for 30 days after transmission.
Episode 1 Score: 3/10
Series Directors: Adam Smith, Chanya Button, Andy Wilson, Thomas Napper
Producer: Nickie Sault
Writer: Peter Bowker
Cast:
Harry Chase: Jonah Hauer-King
Lois Bennett: Julia Brown
Nancy Campbell: Helen Hunt
Kasia Tomaszeski: Zofia Wichlacz
Douglas Bennett: Sean Bean
Albert Fallou: Parker Sawyers
Webster O’Connell: Brian J Smith
Stefan Tomaszeski: Tomasz Kot
Oswald Mosley: Jonathan McGuinness
Robina Chase: Lesley Manville
Walter Smith: James Quinn
Connie Knight: Yrsa Daley-Ward
David Walker: Charlie Creed-Miles
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.