Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Helen Hunt, Julia Brown, Jonah Hauer-King, Sean Bean, Zofia Wichlacz, Brian J. Smith, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Parker Sawyers, Max Riemelt, Tomasz Zietek, Joao Rei Viller, Eugenie Derouand, Ansu Kabia, Ewan Mitchell, Lesley Manville, Johannes Zeiler, Blake Harrison, Ceallach Spellman, Dora Zygouri, Matthew Aubrey, Arthur Darvill, Benjamin Wainwright.
There are always warnings from history, none more so than the effect World War Two had on the continent of Europe and the wider implications on those caught up in its wake, both politically and socially. The individual who saw their city burn, the displaced refugee who became a statistic, children born in to the world and who would never know their father, the female heart riddled with hate turning to murder out of revenge; such is the fate of humanity across time when we allow the evil of Fascism the breathing space to set the World On Fire.
There have been a multitude of television serials since those dark days that have dealt with the impact on the ordinary family, the man and woman of the street, and how they have dealt with it; this is not to suggest in any way that it is time to move on as some would readily infer, neither should we forget, for in a time of uncertainty, when the rage contained by the rusty wire threatens to pop open like a shaken up bottle of Champagne, we need to remember those that have fallen, that fought and who were sacrificed in the name of peace.
World On Fire has all the attributes of a phenomenal series in the making, a praise worthy endeavour which after one series is equal to the likes of Tenko, Secret Army, A Family At War and despite it being set in the aftermath of conflict, Shine On Harvey Moon. Whilst there is no escaping the sense of the damage inflicted, especially on the heroic Poles who were overwhelmed and saw their country ravaged by the Nazi regime, it is to the family, immediate and extended, to which the viewer is given the chance to glean into the lives of.
The intricacy and the weaved web of personnel will arguably have some claim that such events cannot happen to a family in such numbers, and yet they forget a simple truth, that we are all tied, one way or another to each other, to our neighbour, to those we love, to those who cause us pain and it is in this that the events of the awful, horrendous days play out as a backdrop, as a reminder of what we are sacrificing now eighty years on.
With exceptional performances by Julia Brown, Zofia Wichlacz, Johannes Zeiler and of course the ever-reliable Sean Bean as the PTSD-inflicted and conscientious objector Douglas Bennett, World On Fire not only sets a tone for heartbreak, unfulfilled dreams and the optimism of Hope, but for being able to show without fear the effect of war on the people, no matter whose country they belonged to.
A stirring series which will surely go from strength to strength, placing itself firmly as a national favourite.
Ian D. Hall