To Serve Them All My Days (complete BBC series, 4 DVD set)

2002 Dutch release from the Netherlands

Packaging is in Dutch, the series in English (with optional Dutch subtitles only).

4 discs, over 670 minutes.

Excellent condition

Invalided out of the army during the First World War, David Powlett-Jones attends an interview for a position at a large public school in Devon. He has serious doubts about his ability to cope with the rigors of teaching but the affable headmaster, Algy Herries, has other ideas. This 13 part series adapted from RF Delderfield s novel by Andrew Davies unveils the heartache and joy of life at Bamfylde School its masters, boys and their lives.

A review of this classic series:

Classic BBC drama from 1979 and 1980, as gripping today as it was 40 years ago when first broadcast. To serve them all my days tells the story of a shell-shocked soldier invalided from the Front in WW1 who arrives at a public school in the south west of England to take up his first teaching post and is slowly rehabilitated over the years, culminating in becoming Headmaster a couple of years before WWII. R F Delderfield wrote the original story and, although it has resonances with Goodbye Mr Chips, it is well worth buying for the strong narrative, excellent casting,including John Duttine as the reluctant hero (a Welsh socialist - very much at odds with the world of the provincial public school) and Frank Middlemass as the eccentric Headmaster who mentors the young teacher and the excellent production values of the BBC Drama Department.

The series was filmed at Milton Abbey School in Dorset, and the school, Abbey and surrounding countryside are a fantastic backdrop to the drama.