UNWANTED GUESTS! THE "ENEMY AT THE DOOR"

A time of terror! Simon Cadell is SS officer Reinicke in the classic ENEMY AT THE DOOR. All images: YESTERDAY. Copyright: LWT/ITV. The series is showing weekdays on YESTERDAY at 4pm from April 1st. 

The always reliable UK TV channel devoted to examining and celebrating the classic British heritage and its rich history, YESTERDAY, has once more come up with some fine TV series screening goods starting today (and 4pm weekdays from next week), with regards to the World War II drama genre. First they had the brilliant, and much appreciated return of the classic BBC series COLDITZ last year, unseen on British television after so long, followed by the equally memorable WE'LL MEET AGAIN series from LWT (starring the late Susannah York, about the impact of the arrival of American GI's in a small country village), and now we get to see another aspect of the War, one just as dangerous and dramatic that will surely be as gripping and intriguing viewing as it was when it originally aired: the classic re-run of the two season series ENEMY AT THE DOOR, which, originally watched by up to 15 million viewers on its original screenings, recalled the frightening June 1940 onwards occupation of the British Channel Islands by the Nazi forces, who were thankfully stopped from reaching their next stepping stone, mainland England, by, thank goodness, the very bad weather and sea conditions of which our British Isles have been remembered and recognised for since time began! But as the Germans made their unsuccessful preparations to invade, their iron glove of tyranny and evil was hard at work against our subjugated British subjects on those captured islands, and life for them under the Nazi flag was certainly never going to be the same again. LWT's 1979-80 series zeros in on the island of Guernsey during that period, headed by an all-star list of British acting talent, including such Cult TV stalwarts as Bernard Horsfall as the island's respected Doctor, Philip Martel, Antonia Pemberton as his loyal wife, Olive, Emily Richard as Martel's defiant daughter, Claire (who, by the end of Season One/beginning of Season Two pays an emotional price for her resistance to the island invaders), COLDITZ's always likable Richard Heffer as young islander/resistor Peter Porteous, PUBLIC EYE'S subtle Alfred Burke (who sadly passed away earlier this year) as the German Wehrmacht commandant, Major Dieter Richter, an intelligent man keeping a close eye on things and trying to keep the peace and order between the his people and the islanders, assisted by Simon Lack as Major Fridel and John Malcolm as the dedicated ex-policeman Oberleutnant Kluge, and, before launching a comedy career as the good natured but slightly wet Maplin's Holiday Camp boss, Jeffrey Fairbrother, in the ever popular HI-DE-HI comedy series, there's a noteworthy, thoroughly creepy performance from the late, great Simon Cadell, playing a rather unpleasant, newly arrived SS officer, Klaus Reinicke, determined to make sure the islanders know and remember just who is now in control of their lives and destinies-he's the ultimate obnoxious school bully, but with the power to kill people. Watch out, too, for one of the first acting roles from a very young, pre-BUFFY Anthony Head, playing Martell's son Clive, an island resistance fighter, and quality guest stars the likes of Richard Hurndall, Alun Armstrong, John Nettles, John Rhys-Davis, Clive Francis, Martin Jarvis, Cassandra Harris, Eugene Lipinski and David Calder.

A very young Anthony Head in one of of his first TV appearances.

Series One opening titles: YouTube - Enemy at Door TV series start

Devised by Michael Chapman for LONDON WEEKEND TELEVISION, alongside DEMPSEY AND MAKEPEACE producer/director Tony Wharmby, the subtle grim reality of the series, which also included some real-life black and white news footage, would feature many of the top writers who had worked on both the BBC's COLDITZ and SECRET ARMY series, including N. J. Crisp and John Bryson, whilst well known directors of the time bringing their visual style to the ambitious project would include Bill Bain and Jonathan Alwyn.

Other noted guest stars for the series would include EASTENDERS Pam St. Clement and STAR COPS David Calder.

The series, filmed in Jersey rather than Guernsey (a fact that apparently angered the Guernsey populace at the time it was made), would ultimately last two series (the second being much harder edged and darker in its plot lines as it veered more towards the German officers (with several new additions joining the series), and their internal powerplays, whose army presence now totalled 4,000 on the small island), and would be well remembered by UK audiences, though, in its mid-evening 1978-1980 weekend time slots some of the brutality shown by the Germans towards the island resistance forces was either trimmed down or not shown, some of it ultimately being mentioned or presented off camera. The real core of the series drama was in the relationships between the main conflicted characters trying to carve out a way of living with one another that didn't resort to violence, and the emotional difficulties and hard-ships that they'd all have to overcome if they were to survive the war. Season Two would also see intriguing one-off stories focusing beyond the islanders, including an episode mainly concentrating on a British commando raid to steal/sabotage German radar tracking equipment, and a chess tournament between the Germans and select Channel Island players which soon goes beyond being a mere diversion from the war and turns into something far more serious and brutal.

Sadly, a third series, which would likely have shown us what would have happened to everybody by the end of the war, was never to materialize. ENEMY does ends on a conclusion of sorts, though, but it is one which is both bittersweet and laced with tragedy...

US promotional art for the series on DVD showing Alfred Burke as Major Dieter Richter and Bernard Horsfall as Dr. Martel. Images: ITV.

Having not watched the series for so long, previously existing only in my mind as a vague memory, it was nice to see how well ENEMY AT THE DOOR held up as a piece of eighties television drama. Re-discovering it, it may not be in the same league as the BBC's COLDITZ, but I certainly consider it far superior to ITV's more recent dramatisation of the invasion, with the also well received by the public Philip Glenister starring ISLAND AT WAR...

ENEMY AT THE DOOR: THE COMPLETE SERIES is also available on DVD from NETWORK.