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Home Front Britain: Saga talks to actor Jim Carter
Acclaimed actor Jim Carter is not, according to Jim Carter, the obvious choice for his new role. "Maybe I'm cheap?" he speculates with a laugh
Having pretty much cornered the market in documentary voiceovers, Jim is going one step further this month and fronting the Discovery Channel's Home Front Britain, a series that tells the story of the Second World War through some rare Ministry of Information propaganda films.
While Jim clearly brings his customary gravitas to the role, he wasn't actually born until three years after the end of the War. However, while his own memories are limited – "I remember National Health orange juice" – the after-effects were still felt throughout his childhood and beyond.
"Of course the war was very strong in my mum and dad's mind; for anyone of that generation. My mum was a Land Girl, and some of the films in this series touch on women at work, which was a huge new thing, women on the work force in farms and factories. So, yes, it had a big impact on them and was very alive in my mind as a result.
"They always talked as we drove through the Yorkshire Dales going to visit my grandmother that this was the site where they were cycling when someone rushed out of a farm house shouting 'the war is over, the war is over' and they went and shared a sherry with this farmer.
"But we all grew up with it. All my comics had Germans as the bad guys, so it was lived over and over again. We knew about it, and knew about El-Alamein and Monty and Churchill and 'We shall fight them on the beaches' and all that was part of your upbringing."
The films featured in the series cover a wide range of subjects, from how to identify and accost a German spy (in the charmingly-named Miss Grant Comes To The Door), how to extinguish an incendiary bomb (Go To Blazes) and even how to avoid STDs (Love On Leave). Perhaps the most interesting thing though is the calibre of the personnel involved.
"It's amazing," confirms Jim. "Humphrey Jennings was the great filmmaker, the likes of John Mills, Laurence Olivier and Alistair Sim are featured, and I believe Hitchcock directed some. I think it was probably their patriotic duty to get involved, but they're proper, really well made, interesting films, either little stories or documentaries."
What's also interesting is how readily the British public accepted the films as entertainment. Of course, there is an argument that we could do with some message films now. Maybe "How Not To Stab Someone"? or "How Not To Finish Every Sentence With 'Innit'"?!
"Or 'On A Rising Inflection'" adds Jim, with a laugh. "Or how about 'How To Use 'Like' In The Proper Context'?"
As useful as they'd be, in today's more cynical times, it's hard to imagine the population embracing such propaganda as entertainment.
"I don't know if you could," agrees Jim. He laughs. "But I'd propose it's because there's not a great national cause that everyone believes in nowadays. I think that was the thing, people believed in what they were doing so they were more open to being sold a message.
"I think that's one reason why 70 years later we still talk about the war. Although it was obviously a time of privation, there's a degree of nostalgia to the drawing together in a common cause, that feeling of community - although at one point the crime rate went up during the war! You like to think that with people would all live together, but some would see a bombed out house and nip in and nick things.
"It's not really the Dunkirk Spirit is it? 'Ooh, a bomb's hit number 33, I've always fancied their tea set...'"
Written by Neil Davey
Home Front Britain with Jim Carter is broadcast on the Discovery Channel from September 11, at 10pm.
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