Images Beyond History: Photographs of the Western Front

This autumn the BBC is planning to provide viewers with a cross between Survivors and The 1900 House. Twenty-five young men will be put into simulated trenches to re-enact the experience of the Western Front in November 1916. Each will be exposed to simulated fire and will ‘die’ at the behest of the producers, who will eventually winnow the twenty-five down to a final ‘survivor’. The experience was summarised by the Guardian (June 25th, 2001) as ‘wading through mud, living with rats and maggots, and being gassed, deprived of sleep and subjected to simulated shelling’.