OMG, I am still watching this series and learned more about WW1 than I thought I already knew. Just rent out Series Four if you want to see some fine acting and reliving history through ordinary people.
Here's a link to what in tonight's episodes turns out to be a true story
http://www.history.co.uk/study-topic...town-explosion
The scullery maid took a job a few months ago at a munitions factory taking home a substantial income. During dinner one night, a huge explosion rocked the house at Eaton Place. They thought a Zepplin might have crashed on the river. The maid came back to the house around 3 a.m. the next day. She'd been at the plant when it blew. A huge order of TNT was sitting on the trains waiting to be taken out. The rooming house she lived in was blown to bits. She had nowhere to live. This was January 1917. She did a great acting job conveying what happened. This explosion is enormous. This is the cost of war to ordinary people. This is one of the reasons I became a pacifist, portrayals like these show me what happens to people trying to live through such times.
The footman had also returned from the front with serious shell shock. What an acting job here too. The look in this guys eyes when he was able to speak about what was happening. The guy had been at the front for 2 years by now. He went from a cheeky, fun, young man with everything to live for to a crazed, anxious state. I realize it's only a story but it's helped me understand why war is always a bad choice IMHO. I've never celebrated any war nor wanted one to happen. I always feel I cannot express these thoughts. I would guess there cannot be much living history left. This is what good story telling can do, in a film or book, remind us what's important and why we come to certain beliefs.