The Promise - C4 (UK) Drama Set In Israel

[Ulysses31]

Just saw the first part ( 4 parts 100 mins each) last night and thought it was brilliant. I normally don't have the patience to watch dramas but as this was set in both modern day and post WW2 Israel I'd never seen any dramas covering these periods before. The story revolves around a young British girl travelling to Israel with her friend who is Jewish and has to do her 2 year stint in the army, she takes her recently discovered grandfathers diary with her and she reads about his exploits as a British soldier serving in British mandate Palestine following WW2, this is shown in flashbacks so the whole show alternates between modern Israel and post WW2 Israel in fascinating detail, a great way of showing how modern Israel is shaped by that post WW2 period. It can be watched for free on Channel 4 On Demand but I don't know if that's viewable by non UK users, the links are here anyway and so are some articles on the series. Enjoy :hatsoff:

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The Promise, Channel 4


Michael Hogan preview The Promise, Peter Kosminsky's new four-part drama about the British peacekeeping ***** in 1940s Palestine.

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Occupied territory: British troops in a historical drama set in Palestine


Provocative writer/director Peter Kosminsky is the ***** of hard-hitting “event drama”. He’s the man responsible for controversial films about the police in Northern Ireland (Shoot to ****), British Muslim suicide bombers (Britz) and the death of Dr David Kelly (The Government Inspector). Now comes this four-part epic about Israel.

It follows feisty 18-year-old Londoner Erin (Little Dorrit’s Claire Foy) who finds her terminally ill grandfather Len’s diary in his dusty Leeds home and learns of his role as a sergeant in the postwar British ***** instructed to keep the peace in Palestine. Visiting Tel Aviv for her gap year, she retraces his steps to uncover a heartbreaking secret.

Set in two time-frames to tell the pair’s parallel stories against the backdrop of this complex conflict, it boasts an impressive cast that includes Christian Cooke (Cemetery Junction) as Len and much-admired Israeli actor Itay Tiran. It’s been a decade in the making and is fearsomely well-researched, though it wears this attention to detail lightly to create an exciting, powerful and exquisitely crafted drama. Bafta judges will be watching. I recommend you do too.

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