Oh! What a lovely podcast

Can a conscientious objector be a hero?
Branded is widely regarded as one of the finest episodes of Dad's Army, combining comedy with a thoughtful exploration of courage, duty, and prejudice.
When Captain Mainwaring discovers that the gentle Private Godfrey was a conscientious objector during the First World War, the platoon quickly brands him a coward. But the truth is far more complicated.
In this episode, Angus, Jessica and Chris discuss how accurately Branded portrays conscientious objection, what it reveals about attitudes to the First World War, and why this remarkable episode remains one of Dad's Army's most powerful, while never losing the humour that makes it such a classic.
 
References
Perry, J. and Croft, D. (1969) Branded. Dad's Army. Series 3, Episode 11. Directed by Harold Snoad. BBC1, 20 November.
Curtis, R. and Elton, B. (1983–1989) Blackadder. Television series. BBC.
McKibbin, R. (1998) Classes and Cultures: England 1918–1951. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Philpott, W. (2009) Bloody Victory: The Sacrifice on the Somme and the Making of the Twentieth Century. London: Little, Brown.
Hammett, J. (2022) Creating the People's War: Civil Defence Communities in Second World War Britain. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Can a crime novel help us understand the long shadow cast by the First World War?
In this episode of Oh! What a Lovely Podcast, we explore Christina Koning's acclaimed Blind Detective series. The novels follow Frederick Rowlands, a veteran who lost his sight at Ypres and must navigate the challenges of postwar Britain using his memory, hearing, and sharp intuition.
Set against the backdrop of the 1920s and 1930s, the series combines engaging mystery stories with a rich portrayal of a nation living with the social, cultural, and personal consequences of the Great War.
Jessica, Chris, and Angus are joined by Christina Koning to discuss the inspiration behind Frederick Rowlands, the realities of blindness in the interwar years, and perhaps how crime fiction can illuminate the lasting legacy of the First World War.
 
References:
Koning, C. (2023) Blind Detective. London: Allison & Busby.
Faulks, S. (1993) Birdsong. London: Hutchinson.
Barker, P. (1991) Regeneration. London: Viking.
Barker, P. (1993) The Eye in the Door. London: Viking.
Barker, P. (1995) The Ghost Road. London: Viking.
Light, A. (1991) Forever England: Femininity, Literature and Conservatism between the Wars. London: Routledge.
Chesterton, G. K. (1911) The Innocence of Father Brown. London: Cassell.
Sayers, D. L. (1923) Whose Body?. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
Winspear, J. (2004) Maisie Dobbs. London: John Murray.

What happens when a classic Agatha Christie story is reimagined with the memory of war lingering behind it?
In the latest episode of Oh! What a Lovely Podcast, Jessica, Chris and Angus are joined by Kemper Donovan, author and host of All About Agatha, to discuss Agatha Christie's The Seven Dials Mystery and its recent Netflix adaptation.
Unlike the familiar worlds of Poirot and Miss Marple, The Seven Dials Mystery blends mystery, comedy and espionage into a lighter and more adventurous story. The new adaptation embraces that spirit while reworking elements of the narrative for modern audiences, including giving the First World War a much greater role than it plays in the original novel.
 
References:
Christie, A. (1929) The Seven Dials Mystery. London: William Collins Sons & Co.
Chibnall, C. (2026) Agatha Christie's Seven Dials. Netflix.
Wharmby, T. (dir.) (1981) The Seven Dials Mystery. London Weekend Television (ITV).
Cannadine, D. (1990) The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Was patriotism in the First World War really shared by all, or was it shaped and enforced from above?
In the latest episode of Oh What a Lovely Podcast, we speak with Richard Batten about his book For King and Country, an examination of patriotism in Devon during the First World War.
Using Devon as a case study, Richard explores how local elites tried to encourage, direct, and sometimes police patriotic behaviour on the Home Front. From recruitment drives and conscription tribunals to charity work, farming, and fishing, the conversation looks at the many ways people were expected to serve the nation between 1914 and 1918.
 
References:
Batten, R. (2025) For King and Country: The Role of Patriotism in Mobilisation in the First World War. Barnsley: Pen & Sword History.
Catriona Pennell (2012) A Kingdom United: Popular Responses to the Outbreak of the First World War in Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Gregory, A. (2008) The Last Great War: British Society and the First World War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Silbey, D. (2005) The British Working Class and Enthusiasm for War, 1914–1916. London: Frank Cass.

What does the First World War look like when it arrives not as a battle, but as an invasion of home, family, and childhood?
In this episode of Oh! What a Lovely Podcast, we discuss My Soul, A Shining Tree, a novel by Jamila Gavin that explores the opening months of the First World War through the experiences of children, civilians, and young soldiers caught up in the German invasion of Belgium in 1914.
References:
Jamilia Gavin, My Soul, A Shining Tree (2025)
Christopher Clark,  The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 (2013)