Synopsis
The Sword of Honour books, which were inspired by Evelyn Waugh's experiences in North Africa and Yugoslavia, were adapted by William Boyd, award-winning novelist, into this two-part television series.
Sword of Honour is the story of Guy Crouchback's heroic quest to fight for a deep moral cause ('to fight a just fight') and to reclaim his manhood after a shattering divorce from the society beauty, Virginia Troy (played by American actress, Megan Dodds-Ever After). His encounters with the absurd reality of life in the British Army, strewn with bureaucratic blunders, military debacles and indelibly funny characters, prove to be more of a challenge than facing the enemy itself. With the stories of Ludovic, a mess sergeant so desperate for a commission and gone mad from the heat of Crete that he ends up kidnapping and killing the toad-like Major Hound, and of the Canuis, an Italian Jewish couple betrayed - inadvertently by Crouchback - in the name of keeping good relations with the Yugoslav partisans, Crouchback discovers honor has its price - and that, ultimately, the British army seems to value only cowards and liars. In contrast to the bleakly farcical nature of Guy's military experience, a passionate affair with his beautiful ex-wife provokes a personal and moral crisis that tests to the limit both his undying love for Virginia and his profound sense of duty...
