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The first series of acclaimed BBC drama World On Fire demonstrated that it’s one thing to know about the events of the Second World War and quite another to feel what it must have been like to live through them. By telling the stories of ordinary people caught up in disquieting and often desperate times, the series brought to life the devastation wrought by war.

The story is sprawling, with a large ensemble cast stretched across the UK and Europe, but thanks to the well-drawn characters, World On Fire feels both intimate and nail-bitingly suspenseful. At the centre of the narrative is the love life of young translator Harry Chase, played by Jonah Hauer-King (currently leaving audiences swooning in The Little Mermaid). He leaves his girlfriend Lois and heads for Poland, where he soon finds himself morally bound to marry his new girlfriend, with a plan to bring her – and her family – to safety in England.

Since the first series ended way back in autumn 2019, we’ve been burning with curiosity about what happened next to Harry, his loves, his family and circle of friends. Thankfully, we can find out because series 2 of World On Fire is released on Sunday 16 July.

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So what else happened in series 1?

The answer is: a lot. Harry’s English girlfriend Lois (Julia Brown, The Last Kingdom) is at first mired in wartime factory work and domestic drudgery on behalf of her motherless family, including her troublesome brother Tom (Ewan Mitchell, who starred alongside Brown in The Last Kingdom) and pacifist father Douglas (Sean Bean, Marriage), who’s scarred by action in the First World War.

While the unfaithful Harry rushes into marriage in Poland and then joins the fight as a soldier in the British Army, Lois is able to carve out some freedom by touring as a singer with the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). She meets fighter pilot Vernon (Arthur Darvill, Doctor Who) on an airbase after one of her performances, and he offers to marry her even though she’s pregnant with Harry’s child.

Married to Harry but stranded in Nazi-occupied Poland, Kasia (Zofia Wichlacs) joins the resistance, becoming hardened to the violence she witnesses and shocked by her own capacity for it. The last episode of series 1 ends on an agonising, so-close-but-oh-so-far cliffhanger, as we’re left to wonder if she and Harry, who has come to extract her on a Special Operations mission, can be reunited and brought to safety.

There’s also a storyline featuring Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets) as Nancy Campbell, a tenacious US journalist determined to tell the truth about Nazi plans for invasion in the days leading up to the conflict.

What’s set to happen in series 2?

The Second World War was a truly global catastrophe, and the second series of World On Fire reflects its terrible impact around the world with storylines and characters scattered across five countries.

In Britain, we’ll see RAF pilots defend the skies above Manchester from German bombers, while rescue operations take place on the streets below.

We’ll revisit characters we met in occupied France during series 1, such as Henriette (Eugénie Derouand), a nurse who smuggles prisoners of war out of the country, as well as in the heart of Nazi Germany. And in the North African desert, we’ll see how British troops, including soldiers like Harry, joined forces with Indian Sappers and Australian Diggers.

Beyond revealing whether both Harry and Kasia make it out of Poland, we’re also counting on the second series to pick up several loose threads, particularly regarding the main characters’ extended families, such as Lois’s brother Tom, who was captured at Dunkirk but smuggled out of occupied France and was last seen heading towards Spain.

We’re also pleased to renew our acquaintance with Harry’s emotionally repressed mother, Robina (Lesley Manville, The Phantom Thread). Manville does icy hauteur brilliantly, but we’re relishing seeing more of her softer side as she’s humbled by wartime events.

Who else is joining the cast?

Mark Bonnar, the talented Scottish actor who stalked across our screens in Guilt, will play the mysterious Sir James Danemere, while Ahad Raza Mir (Resident Evil) can be seen in the trailer as Rajib, the fearless leader of a specialist unit of the British Indian Army.

We’re also intrigued by the casting of Gregg Sulkin (pictured below) from Marvel’s Runaways as a dashing, heroic and reckless RAF pilot.

When is BBC One’s World On Fire on TV?

The six-part series starts on Sunday 16 July August at 9pm on BBC One HD (CH 101) and will also be available on Apps & Games > BBC iPlayer. Series 1 is available now in Apps & Games > BBC iPlayer.