Mark Gatiss on telly tonight

[PatB]

The WWI remembrance service being held in Westminster Abbey tonight, started 20 mins ago at 9.00 pm, BBC2. Will go on until 11:15. Mark will be reading a poem at some point in memory of the fallen.

[PatB]

I  posted the above a bit too late, but I didn't know Mark would be in it until he was introduced. Still you can watch (if you're allowed) via BBC iPlayer. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04d4vkz/world-war-i-remembered-from-westminster-abbey#group=p023t2xl

 

Mark is interviewed first at around 2:40, and reads The Messages by Wilfred Gibson at 01:40:55. If you're blocked from iPlayer,  here is the poem:

 

“I CANNOT quite remember…. There were five    
Dropt dead beside me in the trench—and three    
Whispered their dying messages to me….”    
 
Back from the trenches, more dead than alive,    
Stone-deaf and dazed, and with a broken knee,           
He hobbled slowly, muttering vacantly:    
 
“I cannot quite remember…. There were five    
Dropt dead beside me in the trench, and three    
Whispered their dying messages to me….    
 
“Their friends are waiting, wondering how they thrive—           
Waiting a word in silence patiently….    
But what they said, or who their friends may be    
 
“I cannot quite remember…. There were five    
Dropt dead beside me in the trench—and three    
Whispered their dying messages to me….”           
 

Other readers during the service were:

 

Penelope Keith
Rachel Stirling (Diana Rigg's daughter)
David Morrissey
Pippa Bennet-Warner
Sebastian Faulks

 

Finally there's a very poignant performance of Vaughan Willams' The Lark Ascending by the violinist Jennifer Pike at 01:49:55 while the dignitaries gather round the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
 

[Arcadia]

Thank you for sharing that!