Journey’s End was the first play about the Great War to be a commercial success, and enabled Sheriff to go to Hollywood, where he wrote the screenplays for Goodbye Mr Chips, The Invisible Man and The Dambusters. His other plays, less well known, include Badger’s Green, St Helena, Home at Seven and The White Carnation.

The play tells the story of a group of officers behind British lines in St. Quentin, France, as they contemplate an impending attack.

Journey’s End will open on January 21, the 75th anniversary of the play’s West End opening in 1929.