OTs feature in new film adaptation ‘Journey’s End’

OTs Nick Denton (WW 08-13) and Theo Dodds (WW 08-13) re-enact life in the trenches in new film adaptation of R. C. Sherriff’s play Journey’s End, in cinemas on Friday 2 February.

This is the second high-profile World War One production the boys have been involved in since working as extras with a consultancy that provides historical military services for the film and television industries.

The pair featured in Sainsbury’s 2014 Christmas advert, made in partnership with the Official Royal British Legion, and inspired by the extraordinary Christmas truce of 1914.

Following the success of the advert, Nick and Theo were recruited as extras in Journeys End, and appear in scenes together, including a dramatic battle at the end of the film. “We’d wait around on set, just slightly out of view, and wait to be called in as extras and be placed in part of the trench or fill out a scene,” Nick explains.

Nick later became a continuity extra, regularly featuring in shots alongside the film’s main actors. “It’s kind of strange because you’re in the presence of people that you love, that you watched on telly, or that you’ve seen in other films,” he said. “Just to work with those kinds of people in such close proximity and watch them at work as well, it’s just great to be honest.”

Set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War in 1918, the film gives a glimpse into the conditions soldiers faced. “There was something very humbling about putting on the uniform and actually going out to these trenches,” Nick added. “It’s remarkable to think what men my age and younger would have gone through.”

Journey’s End will be released in cinemas this February, 100 years after the events of the Spring Offensive.