- Radio Times
- Review by:
- Jane Rackham
It’s Christmas on the 1940s farm and that means one thing: one of Ruth Goodman’s austerity dinners. Unbelievably, the diners “mmmm” appreciatively over her sausage-meat and parsnip “murkey”, but then Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn have been sampling hooch they brewed up during the lengthy process of making roof tiles by hand. That would also explain Peter’s stumbling attempts at the foxtrot later.
Although the trio’s enthusiasm and geniality gets wearing, this is a brilliant way to learn about the past. Not many of us would have known how country folk protected the cities by setting up decoy targets to fool German bombers, for instance.
About this programme
3/8. Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn experience the conditions Britain's farmers faced during late 1940, when three million city dwellers fled to the countryside to escape the German bombing raids of the Blitz. Alex and Peter try to convert their outbuildings into refugee shelters, and meet a 94-year-old man who was conscripted as a farm labourer after refusing to fight. The presenters also learn how farmers helped spot enemy planes and lure them off-target, before getting ready to celebrate a wartime Christmas.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Presenter
- Ruth Goodman
- Presenter
- Peter Ginn
- Presenter
- Alex Langlands
Crew
- Director
- Stuart Elliott
- Executive Producer
- David Upshal
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