Really enjoyed it, glad Isabel finally got married (an affair with a married vicar and two previous engagements).
Wish Damien was in but at least Hardy got a couple of mentions - and he was dancing with Emily!
Unfortunately, unless the next series is set in Devon, that may be the last time Damien appears. Home Front follows certain families whose base is Folkstone; other characters in areas they visit seem to be those who have a connection with one of the Grahams or their extended family (especially Kitty Lumley). Emily is, alas, a relatively minor character.
However, if part of the next season is set in Devon, I would hope he's in!
Hi Ellie Oh I do hope we hear Damien / Hardy Walsh again in the next series (which I assume will be the last ever series). It would have been more of a certainty if he and Emily not been mentioned in the last episode of this series, because their story needed closure. But the brief mention of them dancing together could (kind of) count as closure, as the audience now are more sure of their romance developing. But it would be great if the final final ep ended on a wedding too wouldn't it? Especially after that "imagine that" scene when Cyrus thought they were getting married! Fingers crossed!
I would love them to go round all the characters, in Folkstone, Tynemouth and Devon, and have an update on them all. A few months probably isn't long enough for a wedding but an engagement would be lovely!
I'm just really wanting to see and hear more Damien! I just hope "something in the pipeline" isn't code for "nothing right now".
It's only right that all locations are covered Ellie!
I've just read the final series begins 24 September...
You said: "I just hope "something in the pipeline" isn't code for "nothing right now". "
I guess you're referring to his recent Lovetalkin podcast interview? That is definitely not the way i read it - you're missing the last part of that sentence, which more than implies particular projects on the way!
"you have a lot of things in the pipeline haven't you, which you can't talk about"
Although I do share your yearning for more DaMo... and soon!
I totally have my fingers crossed for a romance between Emily and Hardy!
I love Damien's enthusiasm for radio work. It's probably not considered the most glamorous work in acting circles but it gives pleasure to lots of listeners.
I love Damien's enthusiasm for radio work. It's probably not considered the most glamorous work in acting circles but it gives pleasure to lots of listeners.
Me too Rosie, and very grateful for it. I often wonder about the radio process from the actor's point of view - it must be a very different experience without the visual 'recording' of the work. I'd love to know more about these recordings, they are very much a ensemble and must be recording that way.
"As well as season 15, we have a special which is set on the 10th of November 1919 on the eve of the first rememberance day, the first anniversary of the armistice, and it's an opportunity to flash forward in our characters lives and imagine where they might be. And that really is our final goodbye, that really is when we try and finish as many stories as we possibly can"
As series 15 is set in Folkestone, could this final special episode perhaps feature a certain Hardy Walsh, if a romance did indeed flourish with Emily Colville?
I am too hoping for a HardyEmily romance, he's very keen, but I don't think she noticed. she probably too concerned about her dad.
Maybe they will continue after end of the war, there must be many stories with the men returning from the front line.
__________________
"It’s not dissatisfaction, it’s a feeling more akin to having been born in captivity..the seeping realisation that your dreams and ambitions are just too big, too rich for this domestic world”
I felt that the slight glimmer of the possibility of a possibility of a romance between Hardy and Emily was mutual, not just on Hardy's side - especially in that moment in the '1 August 1918 - Emily Colville' episode when Cyrus thought they were getting married and they both responded with "imagine that".
This was followed by the last mention in series 14 of Hardy and Emily, and they were dancing together
So we are certainly be led towards a romance for the pair!
Ann, as mentioned in this post, Series 15 is the final ever series of Home Front and it is set in Folkestone now Devon.
But there is a special flash forward episode which is over an hour long "set on the 10th of November 1919 on the eve of the first rememberance day, the first anniversary of the armistice, and it's an opportunity to flash forward in our characters lives and imagine where they might be. And that really is our final goodbye, that really is when we try and finish as many stories as we possibly can."
As Emily Colville is a main character and her family circumstances turbulent, it seems possible we will have some completion to her story. So fingers crossed our pair have a mention!
The below info from the BBC Media Centre indicates that the final special Home Front episode is set in Folkestone... so it looks like we won't be revisitng Devon afterall!
A special edition of Home Front, Radio 4's epic drama series marking the centenaries of the First World War.
It is 10 November, 1919, a year and a day after the last episode: Folkestone is preparing for the first Remembrance Day and contemplating a new post-war world.
Cast
Florrie Wilson ..... Claire Rushbrook
Albert Wilson ..... Jamie Foreman
Kitty Lumley ..... Ami Metcalf
Victor Lumley ..... Joel MacCormack
Adam Wilson ..... Billy Kennedy
Jessie Moore ..... Lucy Hutchinson
Alice Macknade ..... Claire Louise Cordwell
Esme Macknade ..... Katie Angelou
Gabriel Graham ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Isabel Summer ..... Keely Beresford
Charles Summer ..... Rufus Wright
Ralph Winwood ..... Nick Murchie
Mrs Edkins ..... Rachel Davies
Bill Macknade ..... Ben Crowe
Norman Harris ..... Sean Baker
Marion Wardle ..... Laura Elphinstone
Edie Chadwick ..... Kathryn Beaumont
Other roles ..... Bea White, Rex Wood, Jonah Collingwood Harrold, Isobel Barry, Olivia Wales, Emma Handy, John Lightbody, Sean Murray, Ryan Whittle and Lewis Bray
Unfortunately, Home Front is mainly about Kitty Lumley, everyone else is secondary. But hopefully we will get to hear that she and Hardy are a couple - a mention in a letter from Cora, perhaps? I did like them, and not just because of Damien 😊
I was quite disappointed in the hour long episode. It was a different format from the other episodes and revolved solely around Folkstone. The first ten minutes were spent in detailing what people were dreaming - I felt someone wanted to be thought literary rather than tying up loose ends.
Spoiler alert! We learned:
That Kitty had another boy, that her mother had died of flu and that she and Victor were going to look after Isaac and try for another child themselves.
That Sylvia had been killed crossing the road and some thought it may have been suicide as it would have been her son's birthday.
That Bill Macknade had died and his widow was off to Canada, their daughter Esme was going to Antwerp to marry her milliner.
That Edie is now the cleaner at the library as the assistant librarian has returned from the war and she and Marion are now an item (they started off in Tynemouth and were friends of Kitty Lumley).
Looks like Adam and Jessie are now an item again.
Oh, and Isabel was struggling as Charles was developing a dependence on alcohol.
But so much was ignored, even in Folkstone. Suddenly, Adam was joining the police force. Nothing about what had happened over his confession of how Sam had died - I really wanted to know about that. What about Howard, how had he coped with being a widower? Was he still being pursued by Juliet?
No mention at all of what happened to those in the other areas, Tynemouth and Devon.
I have listened to Home Front since it began and would have preferred it not to have the follow up hour, it added nothing and barely touched on the problems people had after the war ended.
That's a shame. I'm sure lots of listeners would have liked to have heard updates on all the characters featured on the show.
I wonder if they might do the same thing in 2039 to commemorate a 100 years from the beginning of second world war.
__________________
"It’s not dissatisfaction, it’s a feeling more akin to having been born in captivity..the seeping realisation that your dreams and ambitions are just too big, too rich for this domestic world”
I've been enjoying relistening to Damien's series of BBC Home Front, which is still available on the BBC iplayer, for anyone who missed it the first time around! Below is the first episode with Damien as Hardy Walsh. It's a beautiful 11 minute nugget of loveliness.