Suggestions for TV series or films set during war

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DD (17) is really enjoying All the Light we Cannot See (yes not nearly as good as book etc) and it’s set her on a train of wanting to watch wartime dramas.

So not battle heavy war films, more dramas set during the war. And I say war, either WW1 or WW2.

I’ve thought of Schindlers List which may be a bit much - and am stuck. Suggestions appreciated.

She didn’t do History GCSE so is finding it an interesting learning too.

Joyeux Noel. It's about the 2014 Christmas Day truce and is incredible. It's deeply sad at the end though- I had to pull myself together to get up to switch it off.

Testament of Youth is on BBC iplayer, I watched yesterday, great for a young woman's perspective on war - as a nurse, as a sister/girlfriend.

I came on to mention A Small Light - it’s the story of Miep Gies and the Frank family.

Band of Brothers is absolutely the best

Das Boot is remarkable

Went the Day Well. A 1942 film
36 Hours. a 1964 war film

Das boot
The great escape- based on true events
Escape to victory
Cockleshell heroes- based on true events
The Eagle has landed
Where eagles dare
Wish me luck
Bridge over the river Kwai
Colditz
Schedulers list
A shining light
battle of Britain
Tobruk

Most of the above suggestions From pp.

And not on TV but great little gem of a podcast with Helena Bonham Carter - includes story of a young Jewish woman resistance worker.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0fqnm9h

Might be repeating here but

Goodnight Mr Tom
Schindler's List
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
War Horse

There was also a film with Anna Friel as a GI Bride trying to adjust to her new life in America or Canada. That was pretty good. Forgot what its called.

Not to mention Major Charity Adams and her fearless postal sorting battalion!

Look on IMDB for SIR JOHN MILLS and/or LORD RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH and you will find so many brilliant war films

So many choices on there to keep you busy for weeks

I see Dad's Army has been recommended. Some might ask how a comedy series such as that can be included and what can be learnt from it?
Fact is, the basis of the series is all based on truth and the real-life experiences of the writers Perry and Croft.

At that time (1940 - Dunkirk), Britain really was fighting with its back to the wall and invasion looked to be a matter of only hours or days away.
After Dunkirk, the country really was unprepared but the (earlier) formation of the LDV (later Home Guard) meant there were hundreds of thousands of (mostly) armed "troops" to repel the invader (by this time there were more arms available than at the start) and the HG was an effective fighting force with its own duties. Later, this allowed "proper" troops to be used elsewhere (training, overseas deployment etc).

Cleverly written, in amongst all the comedy situations the platoon found itself in, the real aspects of the war on the home front are there:- rationing, lack of coal, petrol, make do and mend, blackout, compulsory war work for women, civil defence or HG for those men too young/old for conscription, reserved occupations, lack of sleep, dig for victory etc etc.

Don't know if it's been mentioned but Enemy At The Door, about life in the channel Islands during occupation.
Pathfinders, about the RAF pathfinder.
Danger UXB, about bomb disposal during the war.

The Malta Story film based on the battle for Malta.

Danger UXB, how did I forget that one! 😖

Remember watching it at the time, Anthony Andrews and the (greatly under-rated) Maurice Roeves.
Dramatised drama but all based on real situations and scenarios (just didn't all happen to one section). Gritty with no CGI, just good effects and real locations.

Good job OH and I have similar tastes in history and TV! 😍

OMG Danger UXB is a blast from the past!!!

The Last Czars about the Romanovs during WWI/Civil War in Russia

Gone with the Wind - American Civil War

It’s not actual wartime, set in Berlin in the run up to WW2, but IMO the original Cabaret film (a musical) with Liza Minnelli, is utterly brilliant. There are some decidedly chilling scenes regarding the growing prevalence of the Nazis.

Sainsbury's Christmas ad (2014) 1914

Almost shot-for-shot rip-off of Paul McCartney's video for Pipes of Peace, which I much prefer. Available on YouTube.

The original Upstairs Downstairs was very good on the First World War, showing many different experiences of civilians.

And the original Testament of Youth, with Cheryl Campbell.

I see Dad's Army has been recommended. Some might ask how a comedy series such as that can be included and what can be learnt from it?

When Dad's Army was first shown, in the 1960s, there were still many people alive who remembered the war, and the general consensus was that the show was very successful in capturing the general atmosphere of the time.

IMO Bedknobs and Broomsticks is worth watching purely for the scene at the end, when the Germans trying to invade are driven off, scared shitless, by all the suits of armour brought to ‘life’ by the ‘good witch’ character, who finally gets the spell right!

How about anime?

Howl's Moving Castle
Grave of Fireflies ( not for the faint hearted)

Wings - a series about the Royal Flying Corps (WW1)

I’ve just watched “Transatlantic”. It’s based on the true story of an American civil servant and a socialite who teamed up to get Jewish people out of France and over to the USA.

Fortunes of War with young Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson portraying a married couple in Bucharest in 1939.

Hastings, not Folkestone, and my parents were of an age to remember the period and find it fitted their experience of Sussex. (One passerby could have been my granny.)

The Anna Friel film is called The War Bride.

I'd recommend everything on this thread so far except The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas. (Sorry to anyone who recommend it, but it's totally shit)

The Winds of War, a miniseries focusing on an American military family in the lead-up to Pearl Harbour, and then War and Remembrance, about the rest of the war and the Holocaust.

A Family at War. It's a tv series about a family in Liverpool during WW2.