Testament of Youth

1979
Testament of Youth

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1

EP1 Buxton 1913 Nov 04, 1979

In 1913, eighteen year old Vera Brittain tries to convince her stuffy, Conservative parents to allow her to attend Oxford, while war looms on the horizon.

EP2 Buxton 1914 Nov 11, 1979

Working hard at Oxford, Vera decides to contribute to the war effort by becoming a nurse, while Roland heads abroad to fight for his country.

EP3 1915 Nov 18, 1979

As the war continues to rage, Vera receives devastating news from all sides, which forces her to reconsider her future.

EP4 1917 Nov 25, 1979

After another loss, Vera retreats into nursing, but the demands of her parents, and yet more tragedy, begin to overwhelm her.

EP5 1918 Dec 02, 1979

Vera returns to Oxford, where she strikes up a friendship with a fellow student, before beginning to concentrate on writing.
8.4| 0h30m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 04 November 1979 Ended
Producted By: BBC
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

A dramatization of Vera Brittain's 1933 autobiography Testament of Youth—a memorial to a generation devastated by WWI—chronicles her experiences as a nurse in London and Malta and at the front lines in France. It opens with 18-year-old Vera, the genteel daughter of a paper-mill owner, nurturing 'hopes of escaping from provincial young ladyhood.' Her plan is to attend Oxford.

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Reviews

Ian Jones (icj-1) Vera Brittain is a bright young woman growing up in a middle class Derbyshire family in 1914. Her world seems to be a constant fight with her father to be allowed to go to University like her brother.Suddenly (this is doubly true) the Great War starts and throws the whole of society into turmoil. Vera goes to University but all her menfolk, brothers and friends join up to fight the Boche.By 1916 they are ALL dead including her dear brother and fiancé. Vera gives up University and signs up as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) aka a nurse working just behind the front lines in a Field Hospitals in France and Belgium. The suffering of the men - both British and German (Vera gets to be one of the few nurses who look after German casualties) is well represented.Vera Brittain was the mother of the British politician Shirley Williams. We owe her a lot for showing us the pain and heartache of that now almost vanished generation.This TV adaptation is a very good representation of the book of the same name. It was for me, as a young man when I first saw it - one unmissable show while it was on.Watch it - you may learn something of those terrible times