To Serve Them All My Days

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.

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!

This was my favorite of the BBC serials that played on "Masterpiece Theatre," and 25 years later I find it just as charming and touching as I remembered. It's one of many variants (others are "Shogun, "All Creatures Great and Small," etc.) of the idyll some of us yearn for and, never finding, regard as irresistibly poignant: the story of a person who finds his perfect place in the world. In watching it again I discovered I practically didn't have to; I'd seen it so many times, and absorbed myself in it so thoroughly, that it had become part of my mental furniture. John Duttine was an unusual, compelling actor who gave what I think were splendid performances in this, the "Day of the Triffids" serial, and an episode of a BBC ghost series, and then seemed more or less to have vanished, to the viewers' loss.

The one big thing which strikes me now about this series is the bounciness of the supporting cast. There can never have been any more exuberant actors than Frank Middlemass, Belinda Lang, etc.; even Alan MacNaughtan, whose character is written as world-weary and cynical, comes across as lively and cheerful. Into the midst of this exuberant crowd enters a disillusioned war veteran--Duttine, an intense, introspective, melancholic performer--and the effect is as if he were brought out of himself by being caught up in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta (and indeed, at one point the school stages "The Mikado"). Though the story is filled with anxiety and sorrow, the whole thing seems somehow like a party, and as such a sort of litmus test for one's capacity to enjoy life. Those who have it will have a grand time; those who don't won't understand why, and will probably leave early. For my part, I loved it, and feel grateful to have been invited.

Possibly the finest mini series ever produced.John Duttine gave the performance of his life in this series,as did the whole cast. How I wish I could see it again,yet have been unable to obtain it anywhere,and never has it been repeated on the BBC. So caught up in the life of these characters was I,that it has stayed with me,and brings such fond memories of a time gone by. If only all television was THIS good.

I saw this film when it appeared on Masterpiece Theater in the 80's and was enthralled by it. After 20 years it has been released on DVD by Acorn Media and BBC. I purchased a copy, and it is just as great today as it was originally on Masterpiece Theater. The characters of Headmaster Algy Herres and Teacher Ian Howarth are particularly appealing. I thought the only weak spot in the entire film was the portrayal of Christine, Powlett-Jones second wife. I would recommend this movie to any family without hesitation.