1 9 7 2 – 1 9 7 3 (UK)
23 x 50 minute episodes
Debuting in February 1972, this BBC1 drama series featured British regimental life at the turn of the 20th century from the view of two families – the Gaunts and the Brights.
The first series related the Cotswold Regiment’s time in South Africa, fighting in the Boer War – including the disastrous fight for Magersfontein Hill – while the second series followed the regiment on a posting to British India.
The use of multiple different writers (over 15 of them) was noticeable with key characters changing personalities and importance to the plot: For example, the original series hero, Lieutenant Gaunt, was eventually upstaged in the writers’ affections by Captain Willoughby – whose stiff upper lip penetrated as far as his brain causing him to say things like “It was Cowardice but I called it Honour”.
Lt/Captain Richard Gaunt
Christopher Cazenove
Captain/Major Alfred Slingsby
Denis Lill
Charlotte Gaunt
Wendy Allnutt
Captain/Major Rupert Saunders
Bernard Brown
Dorothy Saunders
Maria Aitken
RSM William Bright
Michael Brennan
Cpl. Ernest Bright
James Bate
Hon Alice Gaunt
Wendy Williams
Mrs Cranleigh-Osborne
Virginia Balfour
Col. Cranleigh-Osborne
Frederick Treves
Lt James Willoughby
John Hallam
Lt/Captain Jeffrey Sissons
Roy Herrick
Maud Slingsby
Shirley Dixon
Lt. Henry Percival
Michael Elwyn
Cecil Rhodes
Leon Sinden
Pvt. Hodge
John Hallet
Dr Mary Mitcheson/Gaunt
Penelope Lee
Lt Col Gaunt-Seymour
Richard Wordsworth
Oliver Gaunt
Richard Cornish