Secret Army (1977–1979)

In this series, inspired by real events during World War II, the kind, intelligent and worrisome Albert Foiret runs both a café, which is the only notable public house in a small Belgian ... See full summary »

Stars:

Bernard Hepton, Angela Richards, Clifford Rose

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Bernard Hepton	...	Albert Foiret (43 episodes, 1977-1979)
Angela Richards	...	Monique Duchamps (41 episodes, 1977-1979)
Clifford Rose	...	Sturmbannführer Ludwig Kessler (38 episodes, 1977-1979)
Juliet Hammond	...	Natalie Chantrens (37 episodes, 1977-1979)
Ron Pember	...	Alain Muny (28 episodes, 1977-1979)
Valentine Dyall	...	Dr. Pascal Keldermans (23 episodes, 1977-1979)
Michael Culver	...	Major Erwin Brandt (22 episodes, 1977-1978)

Storyline

In this series, inspired by real events during World War II, the kind, intelligent and worrisome Albert Foiret runs both a café, which is the only notable public house in a small Belgian town, where locals therefore naturally mix with the Nazi occupation forces, and a just as publicity-shy (even his bed-ridden wife knows nothing) network of the Belgian resistance, devoted to the evacuation of shot-down Allied pilots to Britain. He and his secret 'army' (including some of his staff and the Brussels Dr. Pascal Keldermans), taking orders by illegal radio from London, constantly risk their lives -and if caught by the professionally torturing Gestapo, possibly everyone else's- to find the pilots, hide, nurse and prepare them for the long, dangerous journey out of the Reich under the Nazis' noses, a never ending cat-and-mouse game against specialized German hunters, run by the gentleman Luftwaffe (Air Force)- Major Erwin Brandt and the ruthless Nazi 'secret state police' run by the cunning,...

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Plot Keywords:

world war two | escape

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 September 1977 (UK)

Also Known As:

El ejército secreto

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Brussels-Capital, Belgium

Company Credits

Production Co:

Belgische Radio en Televisie (BRT), British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min 50 min (42 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The BBC was dissatisfied with the final (43rd) episode, possibly due to its polemical tone, and claimed it had been unable to complete the editing due to ongoing disputes with the broadcasting unions. According to the BBC documentary Shelved, broadcast by Radio 4 on 12-12-09, this was at best disingenuous and in fact the script's leaden anti-communist theme was felt to be at odds with the series' previously subtle characterization. None of the cast members interviewed for that programme were now in favor of it being released.

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Connections

Followed by Kessler (1981)

User Reviews

Classic Drama At Its Best!

I wasn't even born when this series was first made. It was my mother who introduced me to the series on uk drama. She insisted that I 'give it a chance.'I am glad that I did!

During the first series the show showed little potential, the characters were stereotypical and shallow, such as Kessler, with his robotic like ways and constant determination to get one over on life line. The melodramatic content was so bad you could almost hear him shouting: 'I'll get you next time!' at the end of every episode. However somebody waved their magic wand at the start of the second series, because the show changed it's angle completely. With the dramatic exit of Yvette, (one of my favourite scenes in television)and the introduction of the Candide. We saw alot of changes for the characters. Kessler gained a love interest, and at last we could see his human side.Life line too showed it had some weak human traits, more often then not Albert's greed resulted in him ordering command just so that he could keep his precious restaurant. And when Monique was left in charge at the end of series two she turned into a bit of a boozer! More importantly, as the storylines developed and conspiracies got more complicated, life line didn't always end up on top, usually at the expense of poor Natalie or Monique.

The show came to prove that it was more about humans fight for survival. And less about the adventurous action man enthusiasm sometimes given to war in american films. What a shame that somebody made a spoof in the form of 'allo, 'allo. This became more famous than the original classic and now shadows it's brilliance. As my Mother insisted to me, I would insist to you: 'give it a chance, please!'