To Serve Them All My Days

I'm so thrilled to see such glowing words from fans of "To Serve Them All My Days." I was quite taken with this mini-series when I saw it on PBS in 1984. Seeing that it had become available on DVD recently, I revisited it, wondering if my fond memories from 20 years ago would prove accurate or had taken on an unrealistic glow over time. Not to fear: I found the show's quality *surpassed* my memory of it. The series scarcely ever strikes a false note, and is bursting with extremely poignant, funny, insightful, compelling and honest moments and characterizations.

As others have commented, the story follows David Powlett-Jones, a shell-shocked veteran of WWI. As we learn in the first of 13 episodes, David was the youngest son of a coal-miner. Unlike his three older brothers, two of whom died in a mining accident along with their father, David was "kept out of the pit" to attend the local grammar school. At age 18, instead of heading to Oxford as planned, he was shipped to France, where he spent three years fighting in "the Great War." His arrival at Bamfylde school in what appears to be early 1918 is part of a recovery program prescribed by an army neurologist: a closed community in a rural setting to help mend both the physical and the mental wounds David endured in the war.

At first David is skeptical that someone of his limited formal education and lack of social standing will be accepted at Bamfylde, a public school where the boys "have an unconscious assumption of privilege." But the gentle yet insistent persuasion of headmaster Algy Herries convinces him to give it a try. His first day in the classroom provides an immediate challenge as the schoolboys test his mettle. But despite David's outwardly shy and soft-spoken ways, he soon shows that he can be as tough as any situation demands.

The series follows the intertwining of David's personal and professional growth, and the recurring conflicts between these two facets of his life. Along the way, there are loves, friendships, triumphs, and tragedy. Through it all, John Duttine is a marvel of sensitive and compelling acting, as are many of his cast-mates.

Be forewarned that the series was produced in 1980 on videotape and with a limited budget (reportedly less than $2 million -- in comparison, "The Blue and the Gray," a 1982 Civil War saga about 2/3 as long, cost between $16 and $18 million). Hence, the production often has the look of a filmed play, with few outdoor scenes and no special effects. But what it lacks in "gloss," it more than makes up for in substance.

I would love to discuss aspects of this series with other fans, but rather than go into more detail here (and risk "spoiling" it for newcomers), I suggest we meet in the Message Board area. Please post about any aspect of the show -- I'll be sure to respond!

Even before the television adaptation, "To Serve Them All My Days" was one of my favourite books - like Robert Goddard's "In Pale Batallions", it's one of those books that I keep coming back to time after time. Having been to a public school myself for four years, I can identify with many of the traditions and rituals, and the rather pathetic life both of the boarders and the staff: what was true in the 1920s at Bamfylde was largely still true in the 1970s at my school.

With a few minor exceptions, the television version does great justice to the book. John Duttine is exactly as I imagined David Powlett-Jones: diffident and shell-shocked to begin with, but gradually growing in confidence to become eventually a well-respected and much-loved teacher and headmaster. I cannot imagine anyone else except Frank Middlemass as Algy Herries - his fruity voice and bumbling manner are perfect. Charles Kay's portrayal of the soul-less, embittered killjoy Alcock is utterly menacing. And Alan MacNaughtan manages to capture the irascible and yet ultimately very pathetic nature of Howarth, the teacher who has devoted his whole life to the school.

The three women - Beth, Julia and Christine - in David's life are very different from one another. Belinda Lang is heart-meltingly gorgeous as Beth, the elfin, nineteen-year-old "catalyst in a beret" who quite literally sets her cap at David while he is on holiday in Colwyn Bay. After the tragic death of her and the twins, David has a brief affair with Julia Darbyshire (Kim Braden) who is winsome and yet strangely matter-of-fact: definitely mistress material rather than a wife in the making! Sadly, Susan Jameson's portrayal of David's third love, Christine, lacks a certain something - I am left wondering what (apart from her politics) David could find remotely attractive about her.

There are a few differences between the book and the TV adaptation. In the book, Grace, one of the twins, survives the car crash that kills her mother and sister. In the TV version, both sisters are killed. This is no great problem: I've always felt that the character of Grace was rather insipid and a bit too perfect. It would also have made for great difficulties in the filming, requiring a series of actresses to portray her as she gradually grows from a baby into a young woman.

My only regret about the TV adaptation is the ending. The final episode is rather rushed and many important scenes from the book are missing. The most notable is the poignant scene as Howarth is dying of cancer and begs David to let him die at the school rather than in hospital; in the TV version, Howarth simply dies in his sleep while watching a school cricket match. We don't see the scene where an old boy of the school recounts that many years before, after the death of his father, Howarth had offered to pay the boy's fees - a sizable portion of his own salary - because he did not want the boy's talents to go to waste. And we don't see the final scene where, during World War II, a young soldier comes to teach at the school after being invalided out the army, and David recognises all the parallels between this man's beginnings and that of himself twenty years before. He even uses the same phrases that Herries used to him. But none of this makes it to the TV adaptation, which is a great shame.

When this series played on Masterpiece Theatre in the early 80s, I was fortunate enough to live in an area with two PBS stations, each of which played the show twice a week at different times, so was able to watch the series four times through. Several years ago, it was shown again, and my father video-taped it for me, so that when I get the urge, I plunk in my videos and fall in love all over again.

I have seen a number of Masterpiece Theatres over the years, but this one has to be my favorite. The characters are well acted, especially PJ, played by John Duttine (isn't he gorgeous!)--sensitive, passionate, and above all, a survivor. The cynical Howarth is a perfect foil (he reminds me of an old Latin teacher I once had), and the perfect best friend. Then there's the interplay between Algy Herries and his wife (a comfortable couple if I ever saw one). And can anybody help but cringe when the "Noble" Alcock comes aboard? (Hissss)

Although I have my own homemade tapes of this program, I would be happier with a professional set and agree with others who have posted that this one ought to be released. Masterpiece Theatre at its finest.

Wonderfully moving miniseries that comes awfully close to the classic GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS in many ways, but this one has a life and spirit all its own.

John Duttine stars as a Welsh veteran of the First World War who has been invalided out of service with a bad leg and shell shock. He arrives at a remote boys' school for a job as a teacher. He has no experience and no degree, but the headmaster (a towering performance by Frank Middlemass) knows instantly that the young man has the makings of a good teacher.

The series follows his years at the school, his marriage, his disappointments, and the many boys who pass through his life. The English settings are beautiful and the school is perfect.

One of the joys of this series is the acting. Duttine and Middlesmass are perfect as Powlett-Jones and Herries. They are joined by Alan MacNaughtan as Howerth, the older English teacher who's always ready with a sardonic jab and a glass of gin, and Belinda Lang as life-loving Beth. There's a nice turn by Neil Stacy as Carter, the very picture of pomposity, Patricia Lawrence as the ever-wise Mrs. Herries, and Tim Wylton as Griff.

Belinda Lang, Frank Middlemass, and Tim Wylton starred together in another terrific series, THE BRETTS in the late 1980s. Middlemass and Wylton also appeared on Judi Dench's long-running series AS TIME GOES BY.

Wonderful series may be kind of hard to find now. Not sure if it's ever been released on DVD.

John Duttine makes a thoroughly engaging hero, from the first time we see him with the shakes to the last as the dynamic and compassionate head master he has become. Frank Middlemass and Alan MacNaughton are superb, the first as the head master who hires and guides Powlett-Jones, and the second as the ascerbic but rather lonely teacher who befriends him. I do think that the last woman in Powlett-Jones' life is so utterly upper-crust as to be a bit off-putting. And as wonderful a school as Bamfylde is, it's worth remembering that it has been all the public schools like Bamfylde that have helped make Britain one the most rigidly class conscious countries it continues to be. But even recognizing that the Delderfield book and this production very much extoll the establishment's view of itself, it still is a very satisfying piece of work. Just keep a grain of salt handy. If you like things British, this is a literate, well-told tale,