BBC Radio Drama family REUNITED as the extraordinary WW1 Drama Serial 'HOME FRONT' comes to an end ...

SEAN CONNOLLY, LUCY HUTCHINSON and BELLA HAMBLIN aka The Moore family in the BBC Radio Drama serial 'HOME FRONT' are reunited ...

It was a very special evening for myself and my actress wife BELLA HAMBLIN last night as the BBC's First World War radio drama serials 'HOME FRONT' and 'TOMMIES' came to an end ... It was of course an entirely appropriate time to celebrate the achievements of both dramas as it fell on the eve of Remembrance Sunday and the centenary of the Armistice.

It was lovely to celebrate our part in the FOUR YEAR SPANNING drama 'HOME FRONT' playing Folkestone Bakers, husband and wife ERNIE & HILDA MOORE (played by my REAL WIFE - BELLA HAMBLIN) with our lovely daughter JESSIE played by LUCY HUTCHINSON and catch up with the many people we had worked with in that time. Lucy will probably hate me for sharing this but have a look below for a picture of us all in the first year of the show back in 2014!

BELLA HAMBLIN, LUCY HUTCHINSON and SEAN CONNOLLY - The Moore Family during recording on the first season of the BBC Radio serial 'HOME FRONT' ...

The setting for the celebration was the BBC's BROADCASTING HOUSE in a VERY WET London ... Moving speeches of thanks and appreciation about both 'HOME FRONT' and 'TOMMIES' mixed in with a smattering of poetry and song, made for a rather splendid evening! Re-acquainting ourselves with friends and colleagues was a real treat, including meeting up with one of my 'ARCHERS' sisters, actress and voice artist SUSIE RIDDELL (see below), who also appeared in 'HOME FRONT' ... So I had the pleasure of being with my 'HOME FRONT' radio wife and daughter but also my 'ARCHERS' sister, confused yet??!!

SUSIE RIDDELL, SEAN CONNOLLY and BELLA HAMBLIN, radio family at the BBC ...

Recorded at BBC BIRMINGHAM since 2014, the last ever episode of 'HOME FRONT' was aired yesterday, SATURDAY 10th NOVEMBER. The sprawling, 561 episode drama, transmitted on BBC RADIO 4, was mostly set in three locations in the UK; Folkestone, Tyneside and South Devon. The entire series, overseen by JESSICA DROMGOOLE, will be available to listen to for the next TEN YEARS via the BBC iPlayer here - also check out the new BBC APP - SOUNDS ... It's been special!

One last hurrah for ERNIE & HILDA MOORE in SEASON 11 of BBC RADIO 4's 'HOME FRONT' ...

If you've been following BBC Radio 4's First World War drama serial 'HOME FRONT' you will probably know (SPOILER ALERT!) ... that in SEASON 10 my character for over THREE YEARS - ERNIE MOORE and my wife HILDA MOORE (played by real-life wife BELLA HAMBLIN) were tragically killed in the historic BOMBING OF FOLKESTONE on 25th MAY 1917, leaving our daughter JESSIE MOORE parent-less!

Well, if you are keen reader of the RADIO TIMES you might have noticed that both ERNIE and HILDA appear in the cast list as SEASON 11 started it's run on 31st JULY!
If you'd like to know how this is possible, then click http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08yfhs7 to listen to yesterday's episode called '2nd August 1917 - Jessie Moore' with a description as follows;

"On this day in 1917, the heaviest rainfall in 30 years fell on Passchendaele, and in Folkestone, Jessie lives under a cloud."

Season 11 runs from July 31st through to September 22nd 2017 ...

                        

There's also a terrific new way to explore the series thus far on the BBC website called the HOME FRONT STORY EXPLORER you can find it here http://homefront.ch.bbc.co.uk/ ... There's some great content to explore and gives an excellent overview of the major themes of the series as well as some really terrific artwork on the mini-site including pictorial imaginings of ERNIE MOORE (above) and my wife HILDA (left).

If you haven't already listened to it yet or maybe you just missed it, there was a marvellous 45 minute one-off edition called  'HOME FRONT - A LIGHTENING' written by Sarah Daniels. The episode marks the centenary of Britain's first Gotha Air Raid, which devastated Folkestone on 25 May 1917. Weaving real historical figures and testimony with the stories and characters of Home Front. Here's the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08mjsvj

It's been a real privilege to be involved in such a ground-breaking radio series, made all the more special doing it alongside my wife HILDA, sorry ... Bella!!