the great war, the people's story

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  • LadyOfShalottLadyOfShalott Posts: 3,017
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    This really is a superb series.

    Excellent acting from all concerned (especially Daniel Mays, Matthew McNulty and James Norton).

    This series has explored the human experience of the Great War when it seems the latest thing is to vindicate it....

    I imagine most families have their own stories to tell. My own has some, more so from the Second World War (as mentioned by the previous poster) which if we stop to think, bring home the horror and loss.

    Will miss this when it finishes next week.
  • Chris1964Chris1964 Posts: 19,725
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    It was heart breaking and Emily never married but saved the letters all her life to be found by someone cleaning out her home after she passed away. I had two spinster aunts (who were actually old enough to be my granny), one lost her fiancé in WW1 and went in to nursing, the other although born in 1908, didn't marry as there were very few young men around. She also became a nurse, they were both wonderful to me as a child and I'm sure would have made loving wives and mothers.

    Yes the letters have a bygone innocence about them and are truly heartbreaking given the almost inevitable stories end.
    The fact that she never married adds a further poignancy to the sacrifice he made, and I wonder how many spinsters emerged out that hellish period.
  • LadyOfShalottLadyOfShalott Posts: 3,017
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    Chris1964 wrote: »
    Yes the letters have a bygone innocence about them and are truly heartbreaking given the almost inevitable stories end.
    The fact that she never married adds a further poignancy to the sacrifice he made, and I wonder how many spinsters emerged out that hellish period.

    Every family had a maiden aunt, if not more than one.

    When I look at my family (both sides), I feel sad that these women weren't generally treated with much sensitivity, They were dismissed as spinsters, and were considered a burden and in many ways, an embarrassment.

    The "good old days", eh?
  • catinabasketcatinabasket Posts: 707
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    I'm watching on plus 1 but I know the story of Will and Emily. I don't understand why the actress playing Emily has a Welsh accent. Emily was from London.

    Yes, I am afraid that did irritate me a little bit, although I love this splendid series. Matthew McNulty in particular was a revelation as 'Hubbins'.
  • valkayvalkay Posts: 15,726
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    Every family had a maiden aunt, if not more than one.

    When I look at my family (both sides), I feel sad that these women weren't generally treated with much sensitivity, They were dismissed as spinsters, and were considered a burden and in many ways, an embarrassment.

    The "good old days", eh?

    Yes my own Great Aunt was engaged to an Australian soldier in the British army, he was killed before the 1st Ypres, the first Australian to be killed. She never married and we thought it a bit funny. He was sending money home to his family to save for after the war when they were going to emigrate to Australia, they offered her his money which she refused. My grandparents were going to go with them to Australia, but if they had then I and my brother and sister wouldn't be here because my father would never have met my mother.
    When I was researching the family tree I made contact with his Australian family and we met up with them at his grave in Belgium.
  • GatehouseGatehouse Posts: 486
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    I've been disappointed with this. It's all very corny and underwhelming compared to the BBC's efforts, none of it has really convinced me. And so very much screen time wasted on shots of people reading letters.
  • sianlovescatssianlovescats Posts: 1,039
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    Chris1964 wrote: »
    Yes the letters have a bygone innocence about them and are truly heartbreaking given the almost inevitable stories end.
    The fact that she never married adds a further poignancy to the sacrifice he made, and I wonder how many spinsters emerged out that hellish period.

    I have worked with the elderly for many years and have met many women who were parted from their beloved soulmate by the savagery of war. And many men lost their beloved partners too, not just in action but through working in the munitions factories. It was highly dangerous work. I also visited men in their homes and it always touches me when I see tapestries and other needlework on their walls. Prisoners of war had to do things in order to deal with the boredom...but also to deal with the difficulties of being apart form loved ones too. I fukkkkin’ hate conflict and war.
  • trunkstertrunkster Posts: 14,468
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    Gatehouse wrote: »
    I've been disappointed with this. It's all very corny and underwhelming compared to the BBC's efforts, none of it has really convinced me. And so very much screen time wasted on shots of people reading letters.

    "Corny" ?? How on earth did you come to that summarisation?
  • GatehouseGatehouse Posts: 486
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    trunkster wrote: »
    "Corny" ?? How on earth did you come to that summarisation?

    The atmospherics, the voice over, the acting, the whole feel. Corny IMO, very ITV. Filtered through a modern perspective too much. It felt like Downton WWI to me. The BBC's Great War Diaries did a similar thing much better.
  • Fibromite59Fibromite59 Posts: 22,518
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    My Grandmother told me this tale. Her brother went and joined up at the start of WW1 and he was only 16. His parents were not at all happy about it but he was so keen to go. He was only in it for a few months when he wrote home and said how terrible it was and he was in the trenches, and please could they get him home because he was so unhappy and frightened.

    His father wrote to say that he was only 16 and it got him out and back home. Of course, then as time moved on he got to the age where he would be called up and he was in a state of dread about it.

    He was called up when he reached 18 and less that a month later he was killed. It is such a sad story.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
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    What an amazing series. Really enjoying it so far.

    I once remember hearing that the was sold to men as some kind of 'exciting adventure'. I wonder how true that is? How awful the reality must have been. :(
  • Leicester_HunkLeicester_Hunk Posts: 18,316
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    Nobody else watched this tonight?
  • Chris1964Chris1964 Posts: 19,725
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    Have it recorded tonight. Excellent series though.
  • BellaRosaBellaRosa Posts: 36,512
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    I didn't want this show to finish. I have loved hearing all the stories from various people as sad as they are.

    Wish they would make more tv shows like this rather than the reality rubbish that is forced upon us.
  • LadyOfShalottLadyOfShalott Posts: 3,017
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    This was an excellent series. The format allowed the story to unfold and give a sense of the endlessness of the war and how perceptions changed over the years,

    I found it very moving at the end - not just Ted's death but the mixture of euphoria and desolation at the armistice.

    The final words about the vast numbers of wartime diaries and letters held at the Imperial War Museum made me to sort through the papers of my grandmother, all stored in the loft. Who knows what's in there.

    Brilliant.
  • BellaRosaBellaRosa Posts: 36,512
    Forum Member
    This was an excellent series. The format allowed the story to unfold and give a sense of the endlessness of the war and how perceptions changed over the years,

    I found it very moving at the end - not just Ted's death but the mixture of euphoria and desolation at the armistice.

    The final words about the vast numbers of wartime diaries and letters held at the Imperial War Museum made me to sort through the papers of my grandmother, all stored in the loft. Who knows what's in there.

    Brilliant.


    How lovely for you having those. My family left nothing and know that my dad burnt a lot of papers before he died. So I am left wondering what he didn't want us to know :(

    I am now searching for all wartime diary books from my library as I have already read a few but as sad as they are they are so interesting.
  • Fibromite59Fibromite59 Posts: 22,518
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    BellaRosa wrote: »
    How lovely for you having those. My family left nothing and know that my dad burnt a lot of papers before he died. So I am left wondering what he didn't want us to know :(

    I am now searching for all wartime diary books from my library as I have already read a few but as sad as they are they are so interesting.

    I could never understand why my Grandfather got rid of all his diaries he kept of WWI. When I was a child my grandmother always talked about all the diaries he had kept of when he was in the war and of all the wonderful descriptions in them. He was sent to quite a few countries during that time. When I was about 15 or so, I started to ask if I could read them, but there was always the excuse that they were in the attic and that they would get them down "sometime".

    When they died in the late 1960's, my parents had to clear the house, and there was no sign of the diaries. My uncle said that he remembered them having a big bonfire some time before and burning a lot of old stuff on it, so that must have included the diaries. To this day I find it such a disappointment.

    During the war, my grandfather used to send lots of letters home to his two older sisters which they kept. At one point my grandmother was very ill and had to stay in bed for a long time. One day a big parcel came to her from the two sisters. Inside it was all the letters sent to them, as they thought she would like to have them to read while she was in bed. She was really annoyed about it and destroyed them all. That was another thing I could never understand. I suppose in those days people had no idea that things like that would be a much wanted item in the future and perhaps thought that no one would be interested in them.

    It's very sad to have lost all of that.
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