Charley’s War

Charley Bourne enters the British army as an underage volunteer and encounters trench life, bombardment and the battle of the Somme. The serial stays close to ordinary soldiers rather than presenting war as a sequence of grand victories.

Its long running format makes exhaustion and survival part of the story’s rhythm. Mills and Colquhoun keep individual lives visible inside enormous historical events.

Historical war drama dominates, with a strong anti-war current. Courage appears alongside fear, confusion and institutional failure.

Colquhoun packs the trenches with equipment, mud and crowded bodies. The detail gives both large battles and moments of waiting a hard physical reality.