To Serve Them All My Days

To Serve Them All My Days is a British television drama series, adapted by Andrew Davies from R. F. Delderfield's 1972 novel To Serve Them All My Days. It was first broadcast by the BBC over 13 episodes in 1980 and 1981. It was broadcast in Australia in 1981 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, and in 1982 by PBS in the United States as part of their Masterpiece Theatre anthology series. Plot David Powlett-Jones, a coal miner's son from South Wales, has risen from the ranks and been commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the First World War. In 1918, after being injured and shell-shocked, he is hired to teach modern history at Bamfylde School, a fictional public school in North Devon, in the southwest of England, where he wins the respect and acclaim of colleagues and pupils. He serves under headmaster Algy Herries, forms a friendship with Ian Howarth and marries Beth. He engages in a long bitter rivalry with the jingoistic science master Carter but the two of them later become friends. Powlett-Jones is eventually appointed headmaster. Production The series was filmed over 11 months in 1980, with Devon and Dorset locations including Milton Abbey School in Dorset. Besides the exterior filming, indoor scenes were filmed on a soundstage. Cast John Duttine as David Powlett-Jones Frank Middlemass as Algy Herries Alan MacNaughtan as Howarth Patricia Lawrence as Ellie Herries Neil Stacy as Carter Susan Jameson as Christine Forster Charles Kay as Alcock Kim Braden as Julia John Welsh as Cordwainer Cyril Luckham as Sir Rufus Creighton Simon Gipps-Kent as Chad Boyer Belinda Lang as Beth Nicholas Lyndhurst as Dobson David King as Barnaby Phillip Joseph as Emrys Powlett-Jones Michael Turner as Brigadier Cooper Norman Bird as Alderman Blunt