Beyond the Roundels

I said I'd made a post about Enemy at the Door, and here it is. (I'm thinking of doing some more fandom manifesto type posts for old TV I've watched, because they're fun and possibly even useful, if only to inform people of things to avoid. :-D)

So, what is it? Enemy at the Door is a 1978-80 UK drama series about the German Occupation of the (British) Channel Islands in WWII, focusing on Guernsey (and the fictional Martel family). It stars Alfred Burke, Bernard Horsfall and Simon Cadell with Antonia Pemberton, Emily Richard, Simon Lack, John Malcolm, Richard Heffer, Helen Shingler and David Waller. It was created and script-edited by Michael Chapman, produced by Tony Wharmby and written by Michael Chapman, James Doran, NJ Crisp, Kenneth Clark and John Kershaw. There are 2 series of 13x 50 min episodes (26 in all). It is out on DVD (definitely in Regions 1 &2); it is not on YouTube at the moment, though. (It was repeated on Yesterday, a freeview channel here in the UK last year, so it may get another turn.)

If you're not keen on old UK TV, then this obviously isn't for you. If, however, you are, and you are interested in well-written, well-played, low-key drama, WWII generally, or what happened to the Channel Islands in particular, then it may well be. Sadly, it was cancelled before they reached the end of the War, but what there is of it is well worth watching. Also, while it was shown pre-Watershed over 30 years ago (so there's very little they can actually show in terms of blood, violence etc.), it does deal with a lot of difficult subjects (very well generally): execution, imprisonment, depression, multiple suicide attempts, shooting, murder, possible rape, and beatings/interrogations.

Why, you may ask, especially after that cheery list of warnings? Well, it depends. If you want a lot of action and battles and other such fast-moving set-pieces, again, it's not going to deliver. But it explores its historical subject pretty accurately and also takes advantage of that situation to explore the ethical dilemmas of occupation from both sides with subtlety and intelligence and three-dimensional characters, and that's what's so great about it.

( You chaps have commandeered my kitchen! )

1. Here's an offer!! (It's very exciting...) Since I now have my very own copy of Enemy at the Door, this means I have the TV-recorded set that Liadt gave me going spare! I am willing to post anywhere, if you think you can watch them. (I'm not sure how these things work with recorded DVDs, but at least they shouldn't be region-coded...)

It was made 1978-80 by ITV, so dull, slow-paced TV of the time (though with more location filming than was average). It focuses on small, mundane incidents, mostly and there is much angst/death/people committing suicide/having their lives ruined every episode, so you don't want to ask for it lightly.

However, it is also very well-written, thought-provoking and covers the German Occupation of the Channel and has a really good cast (Bernard Horsfall, Simon Cadell, Alfred Burke & John Malcolm are some of the leads). With an equally starry (for 1978-80 UK, obv.) guest cast each week. There is a young Anthony Head (in eps 4&5, in his first TV appearance), John Nettles*, Peter Woodward, John Normington, Martin Jarvis, Gary Waldhorn, Joss Ackland, James Maxwell and more. And there are many, many more women in it than I just made that sound. (The world is sexist and they are less famous to me, that's all. Also there are a lot of soldiers.) I would be very happy to post it to the first person on this post who would like to have it. (It also has an awesome and brave Librarian in episode 2, though I realise that's a thing that probably impresses me more than other people.)

It is very good, though. Honest.

* John Nettles is a Channel Island policeman from Hampshire called Sergeant Lewis. You can have fun working out what relation he must be to Bergerac or Barnaby. Or maybe he's a Time Lord who's got into the habit of being in the British police force, or some other Immortal Police being.)


2. I went to leave a comment on the proper Yuletide post about why Blake's 7 was eligible, went back to the Hermit Library and confirmed to myself that it was in fact ineligible. I have now fired myself from the task. (The theoretical overlap from looking at authors on both sites was 200-400 fics, but I managed to find the alphabetical title list on it this time and in practice, while they're many of the same authors, the fics are different, so we're over on two counts and the age of the fandom isn't relevant any more.) So, no Blake's 7 in Yuletide! Tragic. I can't decide whether to wistfully leave my nomination in just in case or change it. I might go change it now. Or possibly blow up the Hermit Library, of course... The moral of this being, don't ever ask me to argue in favour of anything.

I'm sure other Classic DW fans will be sorry to hear that Bernard Horsfall has died (1930-2013). (Gulliver, Taron in Planet of the Daleks, Goth and another Time Lord, or Goth unnamed, who knows?)

:-(

And I'm sad, because, as I said a couple of posts ago, I can't get Enemy at the Door (1978-1980) out of my head and he played the main character among the Islanders, Dr Philip Martel. He was every bit as good and reliable and real as he always seemed in his guest Doctor Who roles and it was great to see him in a major part. And he really was exceptional in the storyline that bridged S1 and S2. (I can't explain properly without spoiling that bit. And Enemy at the Door really is worth watching, and worth watching relatively unspoiled, so I won't do that.) But he was great. It was hard to come back down to episode-of-the-week after watching the way he and Alfred Burke (and others, but particularly those two) played that out between them.

*salutes sadly*