There is an utterly familiar plot line in To Serve Them All My Days (TV mini series, 1980-1981, 11 hours, 13 minutes): a Welsh coal miner’s son survives World War I, and becomes a teacher at a boys’ school in England south of Wales, and grows in his role to become the beloved avuncular headmaster.
John Duttine energetically plays the protagonist, David Powlett-Jones. Everyone calls him “P.J.” or “Pow-Wow,” with love and respect.
P.J. quite remarkably discovers that his calling, his life’s work, is with the faculty and boys at Bamfylde School. He judges everything from this perspective.
Much of the tale is an unfamiliarly rich creation of manifestly human characters who deal with the slings and arrows of life, and make the best of their worlds to give willing, deserving boys a good education and a glimpse of how to live a decent life.
The dialogue is above average in many scenes, and you will get inside the minds of the key players. There is enough reflection and imagination and longing and joy/despair for any discerning viewer.
No spoiler alert needed here. You can’t possibly be in doubt about how the story ends. In this story, getting there is the point of the journey.
Based on the 1973 novel To Serve Them All My Days by R. F. Delderfield.
Watch To Serve Them All My Days on DVD
Read the novel To Serve Them All My Days
Download the ebook To Serve Them All My Days through Hoopla
Listen to the original television soundtrack recordings of To Serve Them All My Days on CD
