Walter's War - Sat 9pm Freeview 20

[Alan24]

Saturday 30 Oct 9pm channel 20 Freeview (Drama).

Based on the story of Walter Tull, being shown as part of Black History Month. 

Not sure if this is new or a repeat. 

 

Edited 29 October , 2021 by Alan24

[jonbem]

originally 2008

Walter's War (TV Movie 2008) - IMDb

 

[maxi]

1 hour ago, Alan24 said:

Based on the story of Walter Tull.

Complete bunkum in my opinion.

[jonbem]

If you can't wait

 

[Gunner Bailey]

Regarded as a local hero in Folkestone. Modern memorial plaque on the Lees, close to the Lees Lift.

[Coldstreamer]

Channel 143 on Sky

[MikB]

On 29/10/2021 at 20:49, maxi said:

Complete bunkum in my opinion.

Why?

[Moonraker]

The programme was much discussed in this 2008 thread.

[maxi]

2 hours ago, MikB said:

Why?

The supposed romance between Walter Tull and a local young woman was too contrived for me together with the inclusion of some well worn clichés of the Great War.

I accept that my use of the word 'bunkum' may have been somewhat heavy handed, and perhaps 'disappointing' would be more appropriate

 

 

[MikB]

10 minutes ago, maxi said:

The supposed romance between Walter Tull and a local young woman was too contrived for me together with the inclusion of some well worn clichés of the Great War.

I accept that my use of the word 'bunkum' may have been somewhat heavy handed, and perhaps 'disappointing' would be more appropriate

 

 

Well, it's difficult to tell whether there's any real evidence of the relationship in this case - there was a big disclaimer at the start, indicating many invented incidents - so I just put that one in the 'reserve judgement' category. How could you signal invented incidents as distinct from documented ones?

However, my suspicion was that the piece was aimed at a target audience in their 20s-30s, and though the old 'well-worn cliches' were certainly clanked through again, they have to be revisited every so often for the sake of audiences who might not've been through their previous airings - OWALW, Aces High, Blue Max, Blackadder Forth etc.

That said, I thought they were well-handled - from the CO who read out the regulations to emphasise that they represented the background against which he had to do his job, to the gradual, grudging acceptance of classmates (some of them, most of the time), to Tull's own forebearance, without which he couldn't've completed the course. 

I suspect there could be a whole supercargo of 'woke' political correctness that some might think to be carried by this piece, but I thought it was a decent effort as what it was. Not to try to dramatise an unusual story might be mistaken for pretence it never happened, and that would be disappointing in other ways.

[PhilB]

What a pity Tull was not able to write his autobiography. Has anything ever been written by anyone who served with him?