This was part of Channel 4's Lost Generation First World War season, and it was a huge mistake to show this so soon after their own very good drama-doc about the Somme. It was a mistake to show it at all. Novelist William Boyd is a terrible film director and screenwriter who has no real grip on his subject. Instead of taking a fresh look at the run up to the battle, he uses every old cliché you've seen before in the lips of every old stereotype you've seen before. Most of the cast are so bad I've forgotten their names. Only Daniel Craig and Julian Rhind Tutt come out with any credit. Very badly photographed too, with the trench clearly an interior and far too clean. Just terrible. Channel 4 should have shown something like ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, which hasn't been on telly in years.