Episode 3

This episode shifts its focus to a changing Britain, and the lives of those left behind at home. Claire Foy plays Helen Bentwich, a clever young woman who chafed against the restrictions placed on her sex – and seized the chance to work in the arms factories at Woolwich Arsenal, before becoming appalled by the conditions there and joining a trade union. Brian Cox plays the country vicar Andrew Clark, whose wry and funny diary is marked by increasing sadness as more and more men leave his village for war, never to return. The fighting is entering its darkest phase – with all hopes for a quick end dashed – but still life and love goes on… Emily Chitticks (Amy Morgan) is a servant girl whose fallen in love with Will Martin (James Norton), a soldier at a local barracks. But soon the call will come for him to go to France too…