BBC 1 - 12th  November, 2006

A documentarty-drama presented by Griff Rhys Jones that tells the tragic story of Jungle Book author Rudyard Kipling.

Although fantastically famous in his lifetime for both novels and poems such as If, Kipling’s life was scarred by the loss of his only son Jack in the First World War, a war which he had publicly promoted.

Re tracing Kipling’s extraordinary background, Griff visits the writers’ boyhood homes in India and Pakistan as well as Bateman’s his elegant home in Britain.

Rebuilding an image of Kipling’s Edwardian, colonial world Griff uncovers the gruelling and tragic details of Jack’s enrolment in the Irish guards and the horror of his untimely death at the Battle of Loos.

Meanwhile Peter Guinness brings the complex character of Kipling vividly to life.