COME July, we probably won’t be able to budge for documentaries commemorating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War and all thoughts will be with those who lost their lives fighting for our country.

But the Beeb is getting its foot in that door early and Jeremy Paxman kicked off this stunning four-part series, Britain’s Great War, last week by focusing on the early stages of the conflict.

Tonight he follows up by describing the crisis facing the country as it became obvious that it was fatally unprepared to fight a modern industrial war.

While women fill the factories to make bombs, men are forced onto the frontline, and conscientious objectors are threatened with the firing squad. Even the beer was watered down.

The landscape of the country had changed drastically, and Britons had to learn to do as they were told.