The Crimson Field

Just a few miles short of the bloodiest battlefront in history, the genteel ladies of the Home Counties have gathered to perform good deeds on the Western Front in 1915 (The Crimson Field, BBC One, Sunday at 9pm). The volunteer nurses of the Voluntary Aid Detachment – or Very Adorable Darlings as the men call them – have the best of intentions, if limited skills, to do their bit for king and country. Writer Sally Phelps’s sprawling six-part drama provides a uniquely female perspective on the war, featuring a fabulous multi-tiered cast.

Oona Chaplin’s Kitty is the most intriguing newcomer to the military hospital – uncommonly modern, with a liking for cigarettes and a loathing for the rules. She’s flanked by straightlaced Rosalie, and Flora, who arrives bearing a fruit cake and a fixed grin and is bound for an unsettling getting of wisdom.

Matron (Hermione Norris) and Sister (Kerry Fox) rule with plenty of disapproval and little patience for these untrained interlopers who have little time to learn and make themselves useful among the wounded and dying.

There are gruesome moments, yet justified enough as the story shows the bloody toll of war but also looks back towards the women’s lives back home, hinting at secrets to be revealed, and the drama soon exerts an irresistible grip. Only the scene-stealing arrival of Suranne Jones on a motorbike at the end of the opening episode breaks the spell, but it’s the incandescent Chaplin who’s the star.

---

NOT TO BE MISSED

THE TRIP TO ITALY, BBC Two, Friday, 10pm
Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan sample the cuisine of Italy, giving a picturesque backdrop to their banter as we feast on laughter.

UNDENIABLE, ITV, Monday, 9pm
A young woman recognises her mother’s killer. Claire Goose and Peter Firth star in this two-part nail-biter.

IAN HISLOP’S OLDEN DAYS, BBC Two, Wed, 9pm
Things ain’t what they used to be: Ian Hislop reveals, in a refreshing and witty examination, the nation’s relationship with the past.