the audience applauded

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I really am enjoying this show and while I am not sure if it is meant to continue I hope it gets another season. I love history especially if there is a military aspect to it. This show is one of the more realistic dramas of any kind that I have seen with a military backdrop. We have all seen shows where something happens that is such a huge gaffe or unrealistic thing or often an over the top portrayal of a stereotypical military member that you realize it is a show and it ruins the moment. I am about 20 minutes from the end and so far I haven't seen anything that makes me think OK that is garbage can't happen, wouldn't happen or that person wouldn't really be like that. Unfortunately on many occasions shows that are pretty accurate can also be a bit boring. This one isn'tAnother reviewer used the word sympathetic and I think for me that is right on the money. Even some of the less likable characters are at least a bit sympathetic. You may not like the person but you get where they are coming from. Anyhow, great cast, great topic, great story line and thoroughly enjoyable and great to watch. I only wish US made shows would tackle things like this instead of oversexed lawyers or horrible housewives of some godawful place. I feel like these kinds of shows really help us understand at least a bit the life and times of those before us. A small example of that is most of history's shows put Germans of WW1 and WW2 in Grey uniforms. This is the first show in my memory that correctly shows the color of a German field uniform. Small think but it shows they did their homework. Whoever produced, directed, and played in this show I hope it continues but even if it doesn't I hope you know you did an amazing job and I was totally engrossed in the movie and I thank you. If a grouchy Marine can enjoy a show with a bit of smooching and a couple character arcs that make you sad and still enjoy it, I think it should certainly be a great show for some of you more cultured folks. Give it a shot I am absolutely certain that if this topic intrigues you, you will enjoy Crimson Field.

God what a lot of cream puff reviews have been published here. I think the Crimson Field drama comprises modern carbon cut out characters. They are not believable. The script produces a WWW/Facebook/Twitter version of the 1914-14 war.I think it is important we look at what people were writing and actually saying back which 'acclaimed' writer Sara Phelps singularly failed to do. Has she read a single book from that era? Sadly you can tell a mile off the woman involved in this modern look at WW1 has been deeply involved in 50 Episodes of EastEnders.Why has the BBC 'modernised' historic dramas instead of using genuinely used phrases and words? We have been writing endless films/dramas since the end of that war and recently the lion's share of BBC dramas have been pretty crappy knock about scripts like this.The way they speak is nothing like and I mean nothing like the way people wrote and spoke during that period. So this modern UK drama is a slap in the face to even the simple use of English of that era. If you want to actually read and hear what they wrote find a way to watch ITV's The Great War: The People's Story. This is way, way better and will move you to tears. Just don't believe they spoke then like the way they do in this drama. Read a few diaries. And to think the BBC has asked Phelps to 'adapt' Agatha Christie. I can't wait.

I am living in the UK on a professional assignment (Jan.-June 2014). I have watched the first five episodes of this show. I like it very much! The photography and production values -- the props, the costuming, the vehicles, the built environment, the scenery -- are outstanding, not just for television, but rival excellent film productions...really wonderful. The acting is just about first-rate...Ms. St. Clair (Marshall) is perhaps a cut below, Ms. Norris (the Matron) a cut above. The show is sort of like M*A*S*H set in The Great War, although (a) the hospital is not "mobile," as it is in M*A*S*H, (b) the show revolves around drama and melodrama, instead of situation comedy plus some drama and (c ) horse-drawn wagons and rickety trucks, instead of "choppers," bring in the casualties! LtCol. Brett (?), the commanding officer of the hospital, even has a bit of Henry Morgan's character in M*A*S*H in him...although not folksy like the M*A*S*H C.O. (I can't think of the character's name), Brett goes to the mat for his people just as the M*A*S*H colonel did.I am impressed by how each of the prominent female characters--Kitty, Joan, Flora, the Matron, Quayle--have distinctive bios ... my favorite back-story is Joan's. Each of the characters is notably different from the others. The women have all followed various paths in their life-courses and end up together in this hospital, in a stew of stress, human relations, intrigue, yearning, passion, professionalism, fear and courage...and each of those emotions and conditions is given at least some special attention across any couple of episodes. The men in the show seem to me to be characterized in less detail and with less nuance ... but this is a show that focused most on the experiences of the female characters.The writing is for the most part high in quality. I occasionally would pick up some phrases, quips or comments that seem anachronistic, although not blindingly. The narrative lines are clear and the stories are compelling. A few of the subplots or plot lines are more or less traditional or predictable for a melodrama of this sort, but several come across as very original, and some (such as Joan's narrative arc, in which her recent past and its ramifications are unpacked) are quite surprising and gripping. Some of the content is a bit soapy and unduly melodramatic but for the most part I enjoy the stories and the main narrative line of the show.

Sarah Phelps has written a new perspective on WWI that is intelligent, humorous, compassionate and poignant. While it is from the point of view of nurses and VAD's in WWI, the experiences of the soldiers who are their patients, and that of the other men on staff, are given equal attention. Each major character has a depth of storyline that still has not been fully revealed (writing this review after viewing S1Ep5). I've been counting the days until the next episode airs, eager to learn more about what past events has shaped each of these very well drawn, fully realized people. Above all, this is where the uncommon strength of this series lies. I hope that we get to see these wonderful characters proceed through to 1918.All of the actors are very talented and a joy to watch, but most especially newcomer Richard Rankin. His character, the Scottish surgeon Capt. Thomas Gillan, is explosive, passionate and conflicted.I completely agree with previous reviewers that favored director Richard Clark's episodes, his vision is truly beautiful.