This is the sort of series where you get invested in the plots and characters and if you watch one episode, you want to see the next until you've gone through the series! It focuses mainly on British soldiers plotting to escape from the almost escape-proof Colditz prison in Germany in WW 2. I've seen Series 1 which seems to be 1940-1941. The United States has not yet entered the war (to my shame) at the time the story is unfolding. Maybe in Series 2 I'll hear about the Yanks joining in.....
anyway, it is riveting. How on earth can these men keep coming up with new plans, new devices, new tools for escape? But they do. And you mostly want them to escape, yet if your favorite characters DO escape, they will not show up in the next episodes so you have mixed feelings! There is one American who has joined the RAF, and he's played very well by Robert Wagner. I thought he was an average actor, but with the right director he can be really good.
Aside from the plots, the different personality types that coexist in a prison environment make for great psychological drama. One of the best episodes has British actor Michael Bryant feigning madness in order to be sent back to England. It's the "Tweedledum" episode and it is haunting.
I think it is hard to find this series on Region 1 DVD but I found a copy so maybe others can. You won't be sorry!
anyway, it is riveting. How on earth can these men keep coming up with new plans, new devices, new tools for escape? But they do. And you mostly want them to escape, yet if your favorite characters DO escape, they will not show up in the next episodes so you have mixed feelings! There is one American who has joined the RAF, and he's played very well by Robert Wagner. I thought he was an average actor, but with the right director he can be really good.
Aside from the plots, the different personality types that coexist in a prison environment make for great psychological drama. One of the best episodes has British actor Michael Bryant feigning madness in order to be sent back to England. It's the "Tweedledum" episode and it is haunting.
I think it is hard to find this series on Region 1 DVD but I found a copy so maybe others can. You won't be sorry!