Review of The Passing Bells

"Passing Bells" is The Great War seen as a fifth form project. It's undoubtedly a good thing to try to engage children's interest in the Conflict that destroyed the flower of Europe's youth and changed the map of that benighted continent for ever,but at least have the courage to present it as something other than a pastel - shaded commercial for a TV special about the below - stairs staff of Downton Abbey. If you're going to tell young people about the war do them the courtesy of treating them as intelligent beings. "War is hell" isn't just a phrase uttered by a General during the American Civil War - it is a statement of fact. I was waiting for Biggles or Bulldog Drummond to make an appearance. Children aren't spared the sight of hideously wounded soldiers coming back from Afghanistan - they know the cost of war today. Don't hold back from showing it multiplied a thousand - fold. The ending of "Passing bells" was telegraphed in the first ten minutes of the first episode,I doubt if it came as a surprise to any viewer over the age of eleven. Sadly,despite all the media coverage given to the centenary of the start of the war,there was only one person under 70 at the Remembrance Service in my local church yesterday.