ABC - The War that Changed Us (2014) Part 2 Coming Together (1915-16)

Especially commissioned by the ABC to mark the centenary of the First World War, “The War That Changed Us” is history on a grand scale. Wrought from the fine grain detail of the vivid and evocative personal testimonies of six Australians - revealed in letters, diaries, speeches and newspaper articles the events of the war unfold at home and on the frontline. Driven by human stories, rather than the detail of military history, the series offers an opportunity to get close to the actual experience of war, and to learn how it changed the lives of those involved. As a result the political becomes personal and the epic everyday. We watch the series protagonists struggle with the opposing influences of imperialism and independence, militarism and pacifism, Old World enmities and New World utopian ideals. The War That Changed Us uses dramatic reconstruction, location filming, expert analysis and colourised black and white archive to tell a gripping tale spanning three continents over four brutal years. The events of 1914-18 not only change the course of human history, but would also test the mettle of one of the worlds newest nations Australia. The six key characters Foot soldier Archie Barwick (Myles Pollard) from Tasmania; army nurse Kit McNaughton (Jane Watt) from southwest Victoria; Boer war veteran Harold 'Pompey' Elliott (Luke Hewitt) from Melbourne; English born, farm labourer's son Tom Barker (Tom Milton); peace campaigner, Vida Goldstein (Virginia Gay) and pro-war crusader Eva Hughes (Alexandra Jones).

Part 2 Coming Together (1915-16)

Australian soldiers Pompey Elliott and Archie Barwick, and nurse Kit McNaughton, retreat from Gallipoli and prepare to go to war on European soil for the first time. By the middle of 1916, the Great War has been raging for nearly two years. After the failed Gallipoli campaign, Nurse Kit McNaughton is evacuated from the Dardanelles with the defeated troops and is sent to work in a hospital in Northern France. At home, anti-war activist Tom Barker is jailed and pacifist Vida Goldstein is banned from speaking in public halls, as conservative crusader Eva Hughes persuades more men to go to the front.

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