Colditz. The series.
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Discussion

Morningside

Original Poster:

24,147 posts

259 months

Sunday 7th November 2010
quotequote all
Is anyone else watching this classic TV series on 'yesterday'?

Fantastic stuff. No silly music over the top of everything. No artyfarty camera work or post editing. Actors saying more than three lines.

Good proper TV. thumbup
(and I still have the boardgame in the loft).

ritmo

607 posts

201 months

Sunday 7th November 2010
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yeah. I'd forgotten how grim it was - much darker than the film

tank slapper

7,949 posts

313 months

Sunday 7th November 2010
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I've been watching this, having not seen it before. I think it's a pretty good adaptation, far better than the film which I thought was a bit piecemeal, trying to cover too much and ending up showing very small snippets of things and jumping between them without much explanation of anything.

Pat Reid's two books are a great read, and I have just finished "Colditz: The German Story" by Reinhold Eggers, the camp security officer, which is also very interesting.

jjones

4,490 posts

223 months

Monday 8th November 2010
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tank slapper said:
Pat Reid's two books are a great read, and I have just finished "Colditz: The German Story" by Reinhold Eggers, the camp security officer, which is also very interesting.
Reid's books are excellent, fascinating stuff.


madcyril

323 posts

192 months

Tuesday 9th November 2010
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great stuff

Langweilig

4,503 posts

241 months

Tuesday 9th November 2010
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Many of the scenes were shot at Stirling Castle in Scotland.

Morningside

Original Poster:

24,147 posts

259 months

Monday 15th November 2010
quotequote all
Langweilig said:
Many of the scenes were shot at Stirling Castle in Scotland.
I wondered where it was. You can see the courtyard is a stage set.

continues tonight at 10pm.

Morningside

Original Poster:

24,147 posts

259 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
Finished last night and it was absolutely fking brilliant. I enjoyed watching every episode.

Superb telly from the 1970s.

Lurking Lawyer

4,535 posts

255 months

Saturday 4th December 2010
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I Sky +-ed and have only got around to watching 6-7 episodes so far but I've enjoyed what I've seen. Doesn't David MacCallum look young?! Still, it IS nearly 40 years old, I suppose!

ritmo

607 posts

201 months

Saturday 4th December 2010
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Top telly !

i'm now hoping they'll re show Secret Army

Langweilig

4,503 posts

241 months

Saturday 4th December 2010
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Morningside said:
Langweilig said:
Many of the scenes were shot at Stirling Castle in Scotland.
I wondered where it was. You can see the courtyard is a stage set.

continues tonight at 10pm.
I think, from a school trip to Stirling Castle in 1974 that the courtyard wasn't a stage set apart from the fact that it had been dressed up.

tank slapper

7,949 posts

313 months

Saturday 4th December 2010
quotequote all
It's a good series - I really enjoyed it. It doesn't really feel like a dated production, despite being nearly 40 years old. Jack Hedley is great as Colonel Preston.

tr7v8

7,623 posts

258 months

Saturday 4th December 2010
quotequote all
I remember watching it when it was first on. Some of the story lines are very deep. The whole thing is pretty accurate & well written. I have watched a few of them this time round & as others have said it still holds up well 40 years on.

jas xjr

11,309 posts

269 months

Saturday 4th December 2010
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I remember watching as a kid and being scared of the germans

Larry Dickman

3,762 posts

248 months

Sunday 5th December 2010
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^^ Everybody's scared of Germans.

What I found a sobering thought was that when it was made in 1972 the war had only been over for 27 years, but it has been 38 years since the programme was made.

Morningside

Original Poster:

24,147 posts

259 months

Sunday 5th December 2010
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Yes. In only a 27 year gap I expect there were some very raw emotions when that was screened from ex WW2 members.

Edited by Morningside on Sunday 5th December 11:21

Northern Munkee

5,354 posts

230 months

Sunday 5th December 2010
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Ive really enjoyed watching, although Im not sure they were any americans in colditz? The rob wagner part seems like an early attempt at US sales device.

As to the raw emotion, I doubt it, you are transposing modern emotional intelligence/incontinence attitudes on to the WW2 generation, who were generally (for want of a better phrase) more stiff upper lipped, just got on with it. I mean I was watching Fawlty Towers reopened 1973-4, the Germans, episode "don't mention the war..."'last night, I think we've changed an awful lot, and become a lot more "sensitive", because we have that luxury, the WW2 generation didn't, for a lot of them it was about life and death. For better or worse... Anyone born post 1970 I don't think we realise how lucky we are.

tank slapper

7,949 posts

313 months

Sunday 5th December 2010
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Northern Munkee said:
Ive really enjoyed watching, although Im not sure they were any americans in colditz? The rob wagner part seems like an early attempt at US sales device.
There were American prisoners in Colditz, but only a few of them. I don't know if the Phil Carrington storyline is accurate in that there being an American who had joined the RAF held there. The part about 3 Americans parachuting into Hungary is true, though I don't think any of them had previously been in Colditz.

Pat Reid, who the Pat Grant character was based on escaped and reached Switzerland with Hank Wardle who was a Canadian, but he never returned to Colditz. In the series Pat Grant escaped with Carrington, who did return. A bit of artistic licence I expect.

isuk

1,526 posts

246 months

Sunday 5th December 2010
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ritmo said:
Top telly !

i'm now hoping they'll re show Secret Army
They showed Secret Army last year followed by the 3 part special "Kessler".

Edited by isuk on Sunday 5th December 19:11

cazzer

8,883 posts

278 months

Sunday 5th December 2010
quotequote all
isuk said:
ritmo said:
Top telly !

i'm now hoping they'll re show Secret Army
They showed Secret Army last year followed the 3 part special "Kessler".
The trouble with secret army, is it's such a blatent rip off of Ello Ello smile