Nine has now locked Gallipoli in for Monday nights.
Gallipoli, a landmark television event, tells the story of 17-year-old Thomas “Tolly” Johnson (rising international star Kodi Smit-McPhee) who lies about his age to join his brother Bevan in the Great War.
The eight part series which covers the entire eight-month campaign kicks off with a double episode.
The First Day begins as dawn breaks on April 25, 1915, and Anzac troops go into battle on the beaches of the Gallipoli peninsula. Landing in the dark, Tolly, Bevan and their mates are thrust into the chaos, heartbreak and despair of the doomed campaign that embodied the courage and mateship that forged the Anzac legend.
One month later, in My Friend, The Enemy, we find the young soldiers dug in, struggling to hold their position against unrelenting Turkish attacks. But amidst all the fighting both sides agree to an armistice to bury their dead. They trade gifts, cigarettes and broken conversation, and the Anzacs are confronted with the realisation that the Turkish soldiers are just like them.
Gallipoli also features a massive Australian cast along with Smit -McPhee are Harry Greenwood, Lachy Hulme, Matt Nable, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor,Lincoln Lewis, James Callis, Grant Bowler, Anthony Hayes, Justine Clarke, Damon Gameau, Ashleigh Cummings, Gracie Gilbert, Dan Wyllie, Sam Parsonson, Tom Budge,John Bach, Nicholas Hope and James Stewart, as well as a host of Australia’s most exciting young actors.
Gallipoli is produced for the Nine Network by John Edwards, Imogen Banks and Rob Connolly from Endemol. , Gallipoli is inspired by Les Carlyon’s best-selling book of the same name.
Having seen the first episodes the show needs to develop the characters a little more to match the high production values but overall it’s a must see television event of 2015.
Gallipoli begins 8:30PM Monday on Nine