6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
The Narrow Road to The Deep North: Is the mini series based on a true story?
Over the weekend the BBC quietly dropped a new historical drama series The Narrow Road to The Deep North and it's going straight to the top of our watchlist. Set over various timelines and featuring an A-List cast (including Jacob Elordi), the series tells the story of one young Australian man's journey in World War II and the love he harbours for his uncle's much younger wife.
With so many scenes depicting the 1940s and subsequently 1980s in the other timeline of the show, it's led us to wonder what is fact and what is fiction in this new historical drama, and crucially, is the show based on a true story? Well this is everything you need to know.
The new BBC series is an adaptation of the 2013 novel of the same name by Richard Flanagan. The novel won the Booker Prize in 2014 and tells the story of an Australian doctor, Dorrigo Evans, who is haunted by his memories in WWII, including being a prisoner of war in Burma and his long-lost love affair with his uncle's wife.
Richard was inspired by his father's own experience of World War II, including his time being a Japanese prisoner of war. He was also partly inspired to create the character of Dorrigo by the real historical figure Edward 'Weary' Dunlop, who was known for helping to heal men while they were working on the Burma railway construction.
The Burma railway or 'death railway' as it was also known during WWII, and was constructed by Empire of Japan, who used Allied POWs and Asian civilians to create the railway. It earned it's nickname due to the dangerous conditions workers had to endure while working on it.
The actual character of Dorrigo is purely fictional, as is his romance with his uncle's wife Amy. However, Richard did take some inspiration from a story he heard about a Latvian soldier who had been separated from his wife during the War, and after believing she was dead, started a new life and family. Years later the pair ended up meeting again, with the solider's wife also believing him to be dead and having a new family of her own.
The Narrow Road to The Deep North is available on BBC iPlayer now
