World on Fire...WW2 drama series

[Neilster]

Apologies if it's already been mentioned but I've just started watching it and it's quite good. The research looks way better than average, even if I think they got a few details wrong.

The acting is good and the female characters very attractive (can't speak for how handsome the male ones are...sorry [;)] )

All in all, worth a watch. 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. Here's the trailer...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttVQ_C8 ... BCTrailers

[warspite1]

This was a perfectly watchable WWII yarn with some great characters, some fine acting, and some decent storylines but.....

.... just make sure you don't expect too much in the historically accurate dept.

The biggest problem with it is that it is WWII for the millennial generation, a generation where everything is immediate and at your fingertips.

So one of the characters joins the navy after the war starts and after about 15 mins of basic training, he jets down to the South Atlantic so he can serve on HMS Exeter in time for River Plate. While the Allies try and find Graf Spee, SSSSEEAAANNNN BEEAAANNNNN!!!!!! (the dad) listens to the wireless and is informed - along with everyone else including the Germans - the names of the ships in the South Atlantic. Listeners are also given practically a running commentary on the battle and the fate of Exeter.......

.....Yep, its erm.... trying to cater for the those who are used to having their mobile at their fingers 24/7. In fact I was surprised that SSSEAAAANNN BEEAANNNNNNNN didn't whip out a smart phone to find out if his son survived the battle.

I can't recall the details but there was some similar nonsense surrounding Dunkirk and the T4 program which Helen Hunt gets to the bottom of.....

Also, those who remember Helen Hunt when she had a normal face will be disappointed - if not shocked when they see her appearance. Grow old gracefully love.

But that said, the performances and interplay between BEEAANNNN and Lesley Manville in particular are absolutely delightful.

Despite the more silly goings on, I'm defo looking forward to season 2.


I would.....

[Neilster]

Yeah, I thought it was funny how the son magically completed recruit and gunnery training in a few weeks. I've only watched up to episode 3 so far. Another thing is that after the defeat of Poland, everybody seems to think France is doomed. This is completely ahistorical. Most people thought the war would basically be a re-run of WW1, with a naval blockade of Germany etc.

The Helen Hunt thing about the Nazi Eugenics program is ridiculous and wow, she looks old and weird around the mouth.

In general, everybody seems to be acting a bit too modern and there seems to be a politically correct excess of diversity for 1939, but you can't make anything without that these days I suppose. I'm amazed they couldn't work a differently-abled, left-handed, transexual Eskimo into it somehow.

Julia Brown and Zophia Wichlacz are rather lovely and talented.

[bomccarthy]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Despite the more silly goings on, I'm defo looking forward to season 2.

In which two new characters are introduced, American pilots named Rafe and Danny ....

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Despite the more silly goings on, I'm defo looking forward to season 2.

In which two new characters are introduced, American pilots named Rafe and Danny ....

warspite1

Excellent, some realism at last. Dany and Rafe are here, the Battle of Britain is won!! Hussah!!

[Neilster]

OK. Just watched episode 4. I thought the two Polish resistance fighters, Grzegorz and Konrad, who escaped from Danzig, were in Eastern Poland (somehow) because they escaped from the Russians, and then they must have crossed back into German occupied Poland because there are German soldiers around.

So how do they stumble on a British Army column and join them? Who are these British soldiers and what are they doing in occupied Poland in May 1940? Unless I'm missing something, this is completely ridiculous.

[warspite1]

I think you are referring to the "similar nonsense surrounding Dunkirk" I mentioned previously. If I recall correctly - and it was a while ago so may be wrong - these two Polish soldiers are no longer in Poland, but have somehow managed to get from Poland, across Germany, to the Western Front (as you do) and the British troops you refer to are heading for Dunkirk.

Meanwhile back at the ranch......

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

I think you are referring to the "similar nonsense surrounding Dunkirk" I mentioned previously. If I recall correctly - and it was a while ago so may be wrong - these two Polish soldiers are no longer in Poland, but have somehow managed to get from Poland, across Germany, to the Western Front (as you do) and the British troops you refer to are heading for Dunkirk.

Meanwhile back at the ranch......

Yes. The Russian thing looks like a clumsy attempt to show that the Red Army occupied Eastern Poland but requires them to have travelled hundreds of kilometres East for some reason. And I know there was a potential escape route through Romania but this requires another long journey through occupied Poland and in that case these two would be part of the Polish Army in France under Sikorski. Instead, they're still wandering around in civvies. Very shoddily done.

After months of brutal occupation, the sexy Polish resistance girl is shocked that the Germans take harsh reprisals when she murders an SS officer? Really?

Also, Helen Hunt's character miraculously knows that the Germans invade in the West with 136 divisions (close but incorrect) and the Germans let her broadcast this for some reason. Then she says that the Allies can only reply with half as many! What!? The Allies had basically exactly the same number of divisions. Who writes this garbage?

I'm going off this series fast.

[JamesM]

ORIGINAL: Neilster

OK. Just watched episode 4. I thought the two Polish resistance fighters, Grzegorz and Konrad, who escaped from Danzig, were in Eastern Poland (somehow) because they escaped from the Russians, and then they must have crossed back into German occupied Poland because there are German soldiers around.

So how do they stumble on a British Army column and join them? Who are these British soldiers and what are they doing in occupied Poland in May 1940? Unless I'm missing something, this is completely ridiculous.

When I first saw this thread this was the first thing I thought about. That plot line was a bit over the top.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Neilster

I'm going off this series fast.

warspite1

Well yes but there's always.....

[Neilster]

She and Zophia are the only reason I'm still watching

[Neilster]

I've had enough. The enforced "inclusiveness" is ridiculous. I suspect it's impossible to get funding for a series now without completely ahistorical diversity quotas.

Yes, I know there were gay people in WW2 and there were colonial soldiers and black people in Britain etc etc but this appears to be a WW2 that occurred in some parallel universe where almost every possible minority is represented in the same story arc.

The behaviour of the characters and speech patterns bear no relation to the period. A heavily pregnant woman wouldn't be wearing tight-fitting dresses and doing nightclub singing. The men are basically all pathetic and the women are all strong and capable. The latter was often the case but the former wasn't. The B.E.F. are portrayed as a rabble with no idea what they're doing when in fact they were a professional army who fought well. Most of the characters are unlikable and most of the acting is ordinary.

I may watch the last episode because it looks like Harry is going to be parachuted into occupied Poland. Like the (annoying and moronic sailor) he appears to have completed secret agent training in a miraculously short time. I'm pretty sure that the British only had a very foggy idea about Polish resistance in mid 1940, but somehow there's a reception party organised to meet him. Also, what aircraft had the range to fly to Poland and back at that time?

Gee, I wonder if he's going to bump into his Polish wife during this mission in yet another ludicrous coincidence?

Honestly, if you haven't seen this bilge yet, don't bother.

[Toby42]

I still can't get over how the Poles ended up at Dunkirk? Unless I missed something?

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: Toby42

I still can't get over how the Poles ended up at Dunkirk? Unless I missed something?

See my post above.

How about the black musician in civvies who just wanders up to a boat at Dunkerque and rather than question who the hell he is, they just help in in? How did a toff like Harry with English parents learn fluent Polish? Why are people in Warsaw apparently unaware of the German invasion several hours after it started and when Warsaw was bombed on the morning of Sep 1?

This is clearly written by people with a PC obsession, a hazy knowledge of the period and even if they got something right, it was probably changed by some delicate "genius" for artistic/inclusiveness reasons. A quick glance at Wikipedia every now and again would have improved it. Bah! [:@]

[Zorch]

I have not seen this series but will avoid it after reading this. Somehow 3,924 IMDB viewers gave it a rating of 7.2. Ah, the wisdom of crowds...

Helen Hunt has 2 speeds: annoying and more annoying. She is tolerable in a half hour sitcom, but that's all.
Zofia Wichlacz was in the excellent Warsaw '44, about the Home Army Uprising.

Julia Brown I am not familiar with; maybe she will break out of the BBC TV mold?
I understand that Sean Bean can't die anymore because he refuses to accept such roles. So much for suspense if he goes on a dangerous mission.

[Neilster]

Zophia, Sean Bean and the lady who plays Harry's mum are good in it.

As for the IMDB reviews, if you didn't know much about WW2 or the period, and especially if you'd reviewed after the first episode, you'd probably think it was good. There are many, many very low ratings from people expressing similar views to mine.

[Toby42]

ORIGINAL: Neilster

Zophia, Sean Bean and the lady who plays Harry's mum are good in it.

As for the IMDB reviews, if you didn't know much about WW2 or the period, and especially if you'd reviewed after the first episode, you'd probably think it was good. There are many, many very low ratings from people expressing similar views to mine.

The story part about His Mother and the Polish boy was a good one!

[RFalvo69]

ORIGINAL: Neilster

Zophia, Sean Bean and the lady who plays Harry's mum are good in it.

Does Sean Bean survive? [:'(]