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Before Eddie Redmayne won his Academy Award for Best Actor in 2015, he starred in an "underrated" BBC war series, which landed on our screens in 2012. Based on the acclaimed war novel by Sebastian Faulks, the two-part drama is called Birdsong, and it's now available to stream on Netflix. Eddie Redmayne takes on the lead role as an English soldier fighting in the trenches in Northern France, who is also haunted by his secret love affair with a French woman. Set during the First World War, the series received critical acclaim and was nominated for several TV Awards that year, including Best Writer and Best Supporting Actor.

The series was widely praised for its depiction of love and war, emotional storytelling, and emotional depth. Birdsong also starred and Gossip Girl actress Clémence Poésy as the female love interest.

Fans who watched the series have left plenty of glowing reviews on , with one fan saying, "I was glued to my TV for both nights that it was on. I found the story gripping and moving. I didn't want to get out of my chair."

A second person also commented, "Just beautiful. Tugs at your heart from the opening scenes till the last, with some lovely performances from Posey, Madden & Croze amongst many."

A third also echoed on the same website, "Beautiful, underrated. I rarely review unless I love a movie and feel something has been unfairly rated due to some anomaly."

The television adaptation also depicts horrifying scenes of the Battle of the Somme, but differs slightly from the novel in one aspect. In the book, the lead soldier, Stephen, is terrified of birds, but this is not explored in the series, although birdsong is frequently heard.

On , the drama has a score of 75 per cent from critics. One person who wrote a review for the said, "The BBC, then, have done something important - they have made an elegiac, lyrical film (that is better than Spielberg's War Horse) with which the next generation can associate the war. It aspires to the sentiments of the war poets."

Birdsong can be streamed on Netflix.