Gallipoli 2015 Mini Series - Episodes 1 - 7

Gallipoli centres on 17-year-old Thomas “Tolly” Johnson who puts his age up so he can enlist with his brother Bevan and ends up fighting at Gallipoli in the campaign that helped create the Anzac legend.

The story depicts the ten month campaign in Turkey highlighting the landing on 25 April 1915, by ANZAC troops who go into battle on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Landing in the dark, Tolly, Bevan and their fellow soldiers endeavour to establish a defensible foothold beneath the treacherous slopes of the peninsula. The series follows both the battle and its aftermath.

The soldiers spend eight months learning combat skills while trying to survive in the most difficult of circumstances. By the time of their final evacuation they have learnt much about themselves and their mates.




One month after the botched dawn landing, the Australians and New Zealanders continue to consolidate their position in the hills above Anzac Cove. Despite his growing fear that he will be killed at Gallipoli, when the Turks mount a massive attack Tolly risks his life by charging a machine gun to protect his brother Bevan. A truce is negotiated and Anzacs and Turks meet in No Man’s Land to bury their dead.




British journalist Ashmead-Bartlett finds an opportunity to outwit the military censor. When Tolly’s platoon engages in a surprise midnight attack against the Turks in the hills, Tolly is shot in the chest and evacuated to the beach in a critical condition.



Tolly recovers from his injuries and returns to Gallipoli. He carries the bullet that almost killed him, given to him by a nursing sister in Cairo. Tolly thinks it might be a good omen, despite Two Bob’s warning it will bring nothing but bad luck.



In August, to break the stalemate at Gallipoli, General Hamilton coordinates a complicated series of feints and attacks against the Turks. As rumours of an attack circulate, Tolly quits his post as a sniper to fight side-by-side with his brother Bevan in the Battle of Lone Pine.




Ashmead-Bartlett urges the newly arrived Australian correspondent Keith Murdoch to break censorship agreements and deliver a letter criticising Hamilton’s campaign to the British Prime Minister. Together, the two men set in motion a series of events forcing London to finally intervene in the Gallipoli campaign.



British commanders race the clock to withdraw troops before the arrival of massive German howitzers headed for the front line. Tolly volunteers to stay behind and guard the near-empty trenches as tens of thousands of troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.