BBC trains sights on Afghanistan

One of the new BBC3 shows, announced yesterday, will follow the lives of new recruits right through to frontline combat duties.

The other will examine the decade of warfare in Afghanistan through footage and the words of those involved in the bloody campaign.

Programme chiefs see the shows as a way of engaging the channel's 16- to 34-year-old target audience with the conflict.

Danny Cohen, the controller of BBC3 who is also now running BBC1, said: "We believe that these two projects will be a powerful way to engage young people with the bravery and sacrifice of British soldiers – many of whom are in their teens and 20s themselves."

Would You Join The Army? is a five-part series which looks at raw recruits and their families over an 18-month period.

A three-part series Our War: 10 Years In Afghanistan will see film-makers given "unprecedented access" by the Ministry of Defence to help understand the years of warfare since the 2001 invasion.

BBC4 is also to show a series looking at life in the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy