The Monocled Mutineer

Posted on June 24, 2023 by

13 Comments

In 1986 the BBC Drama ‘The Monocled Mutineer’ was released, starring Paul McGann who plays Percy Toplis. In this episode, we look at the series and ask what is the truth behind Toplis and the claim that he dressed as an officer and took part in the Etaples Mutiny? We also ask how realistic the series was in depicting various aspects of the Great War.

SUGGESTED READING:

PODCAST EXTRAS:

Category: Podcast Episode, WW1 Film, WW1 History

13 Comments on “The Monocled Mutineer”

  2. Great episode….Good mention of the men shot for mutiny as I had a discussion on tour about those shot at dawn and apart from the murderers a number as you now had already had a death sentence commuted or even twice….But top episode…..

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. I agree, another good episode. The accuracy of dramatised events is so important. I recall watching the first episode of Our World War and noticing that the actor playing Lcpl Jarvis VC of the Royal Engineers was wearing two stripes and that his sapper constantly called him ‘Sir’. It became an unnecessary distraction, detracted from the storyline and, in some ways, showed a lack of respect for this incredibly brave man

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. Thanks Paul, another fascinating episode. All the more interesting for me as a few years back I was asked to research someone’s Gt Uncle. All he knew was that he was a professional British champion boxer and was, ‘in the war where he accidentally shot someone and ended up in prison’. Turned out to be Private Harry Reeve, the Camp MP who fired the fatal shot at Etaples. Needless to say it was a fascinating story. The FGCM found him guilty of a Civil Offence (manslaughter) for which he got his years hard labour. Released early, got a Blighty in 1918, sent back home and ended up deserting from the hospital, taking with him the hospital clothes and bedding!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. An interesting story, well told. As much as anything else it reflects the political polarisation of Britain in the 80s. Given the disparity between fact and fiction, I would agree with your unspoken impolite assessment!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Growing up in mid wales in the 1980s my parents owned a nursing home in a small village called Glasbury on Wye. In the early 80s we had a new resident arrive, Norman Charles de Courcy Parry or ‘Bay’ as he was known.

    Bay was the son of the Chief Constable of Cumberland Charles de Courcy Parry and a real character. Before I left home to join the army I would sit with Bay, himself a WW1 veteran in the Seaforth Highlanders (his elder brother was killed in WW1) and talk about his life, from cattle rustling in Australia, Boxing in S America, stowing away on a steam ship – all of them wonderful yarns (he wrote a superb book called ‘Here lies my story’ about his life, and would thoroughly recommend it).
    All of this was at the time that the original Paul McGann series ‘The Monocled Mutineer’ was on TV and the press soon got wind of Bays presence at our house and decided to decamp for an interview. My mum, robust as ever told them where to go and leave an old man alone.

    Bay was well into his 80s at this stage and suffered with mild dementia. Sometimes he would call bme ‘Boatswain’ thinking he was on a ship (his window looked out onto the glorious River Wye that ran beside our house), other times however he was completely lucid and you could have very coherent conversations with him.

    Cut to the chase however, I went to sit with him in his room one day and he said to me in a perfect ‘Bay’ way “Those f*ckers want to know my secret” I asked him who and he told me the press who had again been at the house earlier in the day. He went on to say ” but theyll never know”. Intrigued I pushed him further and he went into a wonderful story of how he had chased Percy Toplis on his motorbike before he had ran into a wood. Bay gave chase and in his own words “I shot the little f”cker in the woods” He told me that they (him and a police car passing which he had flagged down) had dragged the body of Toplis out of the wood, the presumption being that his father was not aware he was riding around on his motorbike with a service revolver he had brought home at the end of the war, and that if the Ch. Constables son had shot him, it would have brought embarrassment to his father.

    Sorry this is longwinded, but he was a wonderful man, like many of his generation and worthy of a decent yarn. No doubt the truth went to his grave with him when he passed, however knowing him as well as I did it was fairly easy to judge when he was lucid and when his memory was in a different place with dementia.

    A lovely old chap who I have very fond memories of. One day Ill set out his stories of service in ww1 with the Seaforth Highlanders, another great yarn!

    Great episode Paul, as always!
    Many thanks

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Another fascinating podcast. Thanks Paul. My younger brother Jeremy was a junior member of the BBC crew. The trench scenes were filmed on the Somerset Levels and the Etaples scenes at Machynlleth. Later in his career Jeremy filmed some of the “War Walks” programmes with the great, late Richard Holmes.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to Matt Weston Cancel reply

Enter your email address to follow the Old Front Line and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,360 other subscribers
Paul Reed on Twitter