My Boy Jack

In the same Remembrance Day vein, I watched ITV's drama My Boy Jack yesterday evening. Originally a stage play, it told the story of Rudyard Kipling and his son Jack, who joined the army when he was seventeen and died at Loos on the day after his eighteenth birthday. Ironically, Jack had been turned down by both the navy and the army because of his poor eyesight, but Kipling had used his influence to win him a commission despite his disability. Jack was played by Harry Potter actor Daniel Ratcliffe, who did a good enough job that I completely forgot his HP role, despite a pair of glasses being an integral part of the plot. All-in-all well acted, believable, and a salutary reminder of the human cost of the War.