Non-stereotyping

It just seems that too many programs lately are "ticking the boxes" with characters. (The three new volunteers who came over together were a set of character types, were they not?) I don't disagree with your point: "With more than a century of screen dramas, it must be pretty difficult to avoid stereotyping." But there needs to be more to a character than that. The officer who sent the broken man back to the front was too much of a caricature, too underdeveloped.


Actually, I quite liked it!

I think most of us here did, too! (We're being cautious, because we've had our hopes dashed before, lol.) We've noted the stereotypes, but we think the program looks promising (I hope you read the comments about that). For example, I suspect the embittered older Sister will be much more fleshed out in weeks to come (especially with Kerry Fox playing her).

The trouble with stereotypes is that they more often than not have a basis in fact. Myself, I think that writers can't win. As you say, if they wrote untypical characters they'd be accused of being unrealistic. As to the really derisive criticism, I've read it too, and some of it is just knocking for the sake of it. Some of the criticism is, however, quite fair and justified, from people who know the subject inside out, but only people with that depth of knowledge of a subject will pick up the points of detail that you mention. On any subject - occupational/specialist's hazard, if you like. I'm a UN interpreter. Years ago, my colleagues and I watched Nicole Kidman in the film 'The Interpreter'. Almost every professional detail was wrong (incorrect UN official languages, type of interpretation used) and the interpreter herself was so unlike any interpreter any of us had ever met that we left the cinema crying with laughter. We'd have probably just enjoyed it as a good film had we not had that insider, specialist knowledge.

Fortunately, I know something about the Great War but not enough to be able to criticise errors of detail, which, I think, makes me rather fortunate. Provided the acting is good (and I think it is, so far, very good) and the show is a reasonable attempt to reflect a time and place of which I believe there are now no remaining eyewitnesses, I'm happy to give it the benefit of the doubt. :)