Private Peaceful – Episode 9
Private Peaceful - Episode 9: synopsis
Tommo regrets falling asleep and the precious lost time. He finds himself singing ‘Oranges and lemons’ like Big Joe to stay awake...
Tommo recalls leaving Etaples to move up to the front line. The soldiers begin to see the evidence of war for the first time: shattered villages, field hospitals and empty coffins. Captain Wilkes, once a choir master, is kind and considerate and treats the men well. Letters arrive from home for Tommo. At a final night in the local pub Tommo meets Anna - the daughter of the proprietor - and she reminds him of home and Molly.
The next night they march to the trenches seeing soldiers returning the other way. Together Charlie and Tommo are on sentry duty and are disappointed to not see any enemy. Tommo recounts patrols in no-man’s-land and their mission in to enemy trenches to capture a prisoner. The Captain - ‘Wilkie’ - is shot and carried by Charlie to safety, despite the shells falling on them.
Later Tommo and Charlie go to visit Wilkie in hospital but discover he has been sent back to Britain to recuperate. He has left his gold wrist watch for Charlie as a gift for saving his life.
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