To Serve Them All My Days DVD

This engrossing 13-part drama series was adapted for the BBC by acclaimed screenwriter Andrew Davies (Bleak House, Bridget Joness Diary, Pride & Prejudice) from R. F. Delderfields 1972 novel, To Serve Them All My Days. Mirroring the history of Britain in the post-Great War era, the experiences of a young teacher recently invalided out of the army are set against the difficulties, contradictions, and social issues of the inter-war years. After barely surviving the trenches of World War I, an embittered young soldier takes a teaching post at Bamfylde, an elite boarding school in the uplands of West Devon. It is an unlikely job for a Welsh miners son without a degree, but David Powlett-Jones (John Duttine) proves to be a rare schoolmaster, as passionate about learning as he is about teaching. Flying in the face of convention and earning himself the nick name Pow Wow for his propensity for discussion and debate, Powlett-Jones history lessons include recollections of life at the front and honest analyses, verging on socialism, of the wars political background and potential consequences. Through two tumultuous decades, Powlett-Jones finds and loses love with several women and inspires his students with his courage and idealism, qualities that help prepare him to send another generation of young men off to fight another war. Through the portrayal of Davids life, To Serve Them All My Days shows the manner in which British society came to terms with the turmoil of the Great War, the General Strike and socialism in particular.