Oh! What a lovely podcast

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)

What does the First World War look like when the story is driven not by battles, but by loss, hope and unanswered questions?
In this episode of Oh! What a Lovely Podcast, we turn to A Very Long Engagement, Jean Pierre Jeunet's 2004 French film set during and after the First World War. The story centres on Mathilde, a young woman who refuses to accept that her fiancé has died after being condemned by a French military tribunal and sent into No Man's Land.
As Mathilde begins her own investigation, the film moves between the violence of the trenches and the fragile hopes of life on the home front. Through a complex and shifting narrative, A Very Long Engagement reveals how chance, cruelty and survival shaped the fate of a group of soldiers caught up in the war.
Links:
A Very Long Engagement, Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2004)
Amilie, Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2001)
Alien Resurrection, Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet (1997)
Un long dimanche de fiançailles, Sébastien Japrisot (1991)
Paths of Glory, Dir. Stanley Kubrick (1957)

Can a film about the First World War work without trenches or battles?
In this episode of Oh What a Lovely Podcast, Angus, Jessica and Chris discuss the 2025 film The Choral, which uses song, performance and collective experience to explore the impact of the First World War on a northern English community. We talk about what the film gets right, where it challenges expectations, and how it fits into wider portrayals of the war on screen.