General Erinmore: [quoting Rudyard Kipling] Down to Gehenna, or up to the Throne, He travels the fastest who travels alone.

Colonel MacKenzie: I hoped today might be a good day. Hope is a dangerous thing. That's it for now, then next week, Command will send a different message. Attack at dawn. There is only one way this war ends. Last man standing.

Lance Corporal Blake: You'll be wanking again in no time!

Lance Corporal Schofield: Wrong hand.

Lance Corporal Schofield: [talking about his medal] I swapped it with a French captain.

Lance Corporal Blake: You swapped it? For what?

Lance Corporal Schofield: A bottle of wine.

Lance Corporal Blake: What did you do that for?

Lance Corporal Schofield: I was thirsty.

General Erinmore: They're walking into a trap. Your orders are to deliver a message calling off tomorrow morning's attack. If you fail, it will be a massacre.

Lance Corporal Blake: Am I dying?

Lance Corporal Schofield: Yes... yes, I think you are.

Lance Corporal Blake: Sir, the General is sure the enemy have withdrawn. There are aerials of the new line...

Lieutenant Leslie: Shut up. We've fought and died over every inch of this fucking place, now they suddenly give us miles? It's a trap.

[Leans in to Schofield]

Lieutenant Leslie: But, chin up. There's a medal in it for sure. Nothing like a scrap of ribbon to cheer up a widow.

Lieutenant Leslie: Settle a bet. What day is it?

Lance Corporal Schofield: Friday.

Lieutenant Leslie: Friday, well, well, well. None of us were right. This idiot thought it was Tuesday.

Captain Smith: I'm sorry about your friend. May I tell you something you probably already know. It doesn't do to dwell on it.

Lance Corporal Schofield: No, sir.

Lance Corporal Blake: [Schofield and Blake are in the underground German billet] Bloody hell! Even their rats are bigger than ours.

[first lines]

Sergeant Sanders: Blake. Blake!

Lance Corporal Blake: [waking] Sorry, Sarge.

Sergeant Sanders: Pick a man. Bring your kit.

Lance Corporal Blake: Yes, Sarge.

[walks over to Schofield and wakes him]

Title Card: For Lance Corporal Alfred H. Mendes, 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, who told us the stories.

Lance Corporal Blake: Will you write to my Mum for me?

Lance Corporal Schofield: I will.

Lance Corporal Blake: Tell her I wasn't scared.

Lance Corporal Schofield: Anything else.

Lance Corporal Blake: I love them. I wish that... I wish...

Lance Corporal Schofield: Well, that's your medal sort of day.

Lance Corporal Blake: What do you mean?

Lance Corporal Schofield: Lance Corporal Blake, showed unusual valor, rescuing a comrade from certain death, blah, blah, blah.

Lance Corporal Blake: You reckon?

Lance Corporal Schofield: I do.

Lance Corporal Schofield: Heading back home. I wonder what they saw?

Lieutenant Leslie: Straight ahead to the left, past the dead horses, there's a gap directly behind them. Useful, because if its dark you follow the stench. When you get to the second wire, look out for the bowing chap. There's a small break beside him. The German line is 150 odd yards after that. Watch out for the craters. They're deeper than they look. If you fall in, there's no getting out.

Lauri: [frightened] There is nothing here. There is nothing for you. Please.

Lance Corporal Schofield: Anglais. Not German. Friend. I'm a friend.

Lance Corporal Blake: You should have taken it home with you. You should have given it to your family. Men have died for that. If I've got a medal, I'd take it back home. Why didn't you just take it home?

Lance Corporal Schofield: Look, its just a bit of bloody tin. It doesn't make you special. It doesn't make any difference to anyone.

Lance Corporal Blake: Yes, it does. And its not just a bit of tin. Its got a ribbon on it.

Lance Corporal Blake: Tommy, you know the way?

Lance Corporal Schofield: I know the way.

Lauri: Where are the others?

Lance Corporal Schofield: Others? No. Just me. No. Only me.

Lieutenant Leslie: Are they out of their fucking minds? One slow night, the Bosch and the Hun have just gone home?

Lance Corporal Schofield: Do you think they're wrong sir?

Lieutenant Leslie: We lost an officer and three men, two nights ago. They were shot to bits patching up wire. We dragged two of them back here.

Lieutenant Leslie: Any cover sir? Any where to jump off from?

Lieutenant Leslie: No. The sub-trench was blown to hell weeks ago. Its full of bodies anyway. Your best bet is to pop over here. If you do get shot, try to make it back to the wire. We won't come after you until its dark. If by some fucking miracle you do make it, send up a flare.

Lieutenant Leslie: Are you our relief?

Lance Corporal Blake: No, sir.

Lieutenant Leslie: Well, when the fucking hell are they due?