The great war The people's story : Episode two: Hallie, Kate, Reg and Alan.

This accessible series resumes the dramatisation of the diaries, letters and memoires of people directly involved in WWI either as serving military personnel or civillians. Resuming Alan's story from episode one; officers based at Ypres were dying in larger numbers than privates. Hallie Miles was married to an Olympic sportsman and owned a vegetarian restaurant in London. She observes the militarisation of the local community. Kate Frye, a suffragette, lived in genteel poverty in Pimlico and her fiancee, John an out-of-work actor, was in the territorial army. They had been engaged for 10 years. Her suffragette society ran a workroom making uniforms for the army; she was asked to manage it. Other women are also involved in war-work. In February 1916, Reg lost his upper lip which was shot away by rifle fire. He was transferred back to Britain for further treatment. By 1916, wounded soldiers started arriving in large numbers which Hallie observes. Captain Harold Gillies of the Royal Army Medical Corps wrote about the terrible injuries he saw. He was a surgeon and he opened a specialist unit treating men with severe facial injuries - he treats Reg. Kate and John get married - there was a huge spike in the number of marriages registered. Reg struggles with recovering after his surgery both mentally and physically. Meanwhile, Alan had been posted at Ypres for over a year. He is then moved to the Somme. Kate's husband John is called up in 1916. Hallie organises a choir (The Loyal Choir) and a series of patriotic lunches. The first day of the Somme saw the most casualties ever seen before. In a moving letter Alan tells his wife how much he loves her - very soon after, he is killed in action. Reg had been in hospital over a year; he spends another Christmas away from home but he finds out that he will be leaving hospital - he writes about the King and Queen who pay a visit the hospital. In later life, Reg became a newsagent and married. Kate's husband served for two years and was promoted; they never had children.