Gritty role for Potter star
Daniel Radcliffe's lastest role is a far cry from the antics of a boy wizard, seeing him endure the brutally violent conditions of war.
Jack Kipling's poor eyesight ruled him unfit to serve in World War I, but his father, The Jungle Book author Rudyard Kipling, pulled strings to ensure he got a commission in the Irish Guards.
It was a commission that would eventually cost Jack his life in France at the Battle of Loos.
The story of Lieutenant John "Jack" Kipling will soon be told in an ITV1 drama My Boy Jack, starring the 18-year-old Harry Potter lead as well as Four Weddings and a Funeral actor David Haig and Sex And The City star Kim Cattrall.
Radcliffe said that he wanted young Potter fans to watch the two-hour film.
He said: "I hope people are moved. "The thought of forgetting all those people who fought is terrible. We are lucky not to have to endure those conditions now."
The £10 million film will be screened on Sunday, November 11 at 9pm, as part of the channel's Armistice Day commemorations. An accompanying exhibition is already under way at the Imperial War Museum in London.
More than 700,000 British men serving in the Army were killed in the Great War. More than half, including John, had no known grave.
© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
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