'Magical' is the word. What a fabulous video. I watched this from '77 to '79 from the age of 11 to 13 and was spellbound. Now at the age of 56, I still watch this regularly and am still gripped. The title sequences are fantastic. You caught the essence of the series perfectly; is it the best TV series ever made? For me, yes. With the partial exception of 'Vikings' (lost interest after Ragnar left) I never again got this absorbed with a set of characters. Many thanks for this. It was a treat to watch.
I watched it as a child as well when it first came out and have watched now multiple times. It never gets old and the quality of the acting surpasses most modern dramas. Kessler the sequel is also very good.
I agree, I watched it from Sweden (where it also had a big fanbase) and found it great tV too, with very good writing and performances - peaking in the third season which is partly set after D-Day, in the late summer/early autumn of 1944, and where the chaos, pressures and score-settling between different resistance groups are vividily brought alive. And yes, the title sequences were outstanding and felt very meaningful: the long road home (ending at the seaside)
Good job. I'm obsessed. I stumbled onto it as an American around Christmas of 2021 while looking for French Resistance movies. I've watched each series 3 times. Alas, I must now wait 5 years or so to forget everything before I can rewatch.
What a brilliant review of Secret Army & I totally agree with your conclusion. I love the mention at the end of the late Ron Pember, who made his professional acting debut just a short distance from where I am now! He was really good as Alain. Secret Army made a huge impression on me as a kid in the late 1970's that has never left me. Just seeing the title sequence & hearing that haunting theme tune takes me right back. I've been fortunate enough to visit all of the filming locations in Brussels. Little Cyclone Airey Neave's book about Andree De Jongh the leader of The Comete line on which Lifeline is loosely based is well worth reading. Airey Neave was of course one of the few people to escape from Colditz. Bernard Hepton, was brilliant as Albert Foiret as was Angela Richards as Monique. The LP of her songs from Secret Army is very good I think.
Great video Andrew - agreed with everything you said. IMHO, Secret Army was the best drama the BBC ever made. Small budget meant they had to rely on top quality intelligent scripts (always with an unpedictable twist at the end) & fine acting. As you say, it was only 30 years after the war's end and the confidence of Belgian resistance veterans was gained for the research - only to be mocked by Allo Allo which was crass and sadly eclipsed SA. I must admit a connection - my father was the senior set designer on the series (he also 'did' Dr Who: Face of Evil) - I will show him your video. Keep up the good work.
I would say "Edge of Darkness" and "I, Claudius" are the top Brit TV dramas of all time - but Secret Army and The Onedin Line are arguably the best *ongoing* -mode UK tv drama series (the kind that's unified by setting and cast, rather than by just one single plot or story)
Fantastic review summary. Thanks for making this. It really is one of the most superb pieces of television ever put together. Mackems. Mackems, everywhere.
This is truly wonderful stuff... watch to the VERY end.. I've got tears in my eyes. Watching this a few hours after the news of the passing of Terrence Hardiman. Sir. You nail this. thankyou. I watched SA S3 as a 10 year old - back in 1980 something.. then re-watched it all last year in one massive binge. Incredible TV. Up their with the very best of any TV series made anywhere at any time.
Don't it's awful, the set up is around a documentary a tv channel is making aiming to reunite lifeline members to talk about their experience, Monique doesn't want in but is persuaded by an insufferable son, Alain now wheelchair bound is bitter and hates Albert who has since become a local bigwig and conned him out of his land, Natalie is now a dreadfully hardnosed freedom fighter devoid of all her previous charm and sparkle, it's a really hokey production ending on a truly low note with a shabby greenscreen group shot of the four, it's small wonder that they pulled it, it's a world away from the brilliance of the series, it even makes Kessler look half decent
I watched this as a teenager when it first came out and I've watched many times since. Great acting and story lines. The only other series that compares to it Is I Claudius. audiences were not talked down to and there was no need for special affects.
Wonderful overview. More people should watch Secret Army, definitely! Also the best series is The Sandbaggers. Or Tenko. Or Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Or Secret Army.
Cheers, Steven! I've just finished watching The Sandbaggers for the first time. They make people standing around in beige offices more exciting than anyone else!
I'm currently watching The Sandbaggers & it's absolutely excellent. They don't make television as good as that these days. John Alkin is in an episode of Secret Army & a couple of episodes of The Sandbaggers.
An excellent tribute and appraisal of a brilliant series. Thank you. As a teenager, I remember watching it every week. So many remarkable performances. Unmissable as you say, Andrew. David Butterworth
I’ve subscribed on the basis of this video, as I adore Secret Army. There’s a wonderful scene in one of the Mansfield Park adaptations in which Bernard Hepton and Gordon Kaye act opposite each other.
A great TV show that still retains its power all these years later. Your video sums it up perfectly. The only bit that annoys me is Monique and the drippy British army officer that she marries, that relationship was too rushed and too facile when compared to all the depths and complexities of pretty much every other story line. I think in terms of British TV only Callan comes close - another dark drama that developed across its 4 series run to a gripping finale.
Kessler was recently repeated (for the very first time ever in the UK) on Talking Pictures TV. It was a good show but seemed to have more action and less nail biting tension than Secret Army. Sometimes less is more?
When watched first time round loved it. Totally destroyed by 'Allo Allo'. Couldn't take it seriously after that. Kept waiting for the woman in the mac' to say "Listen carefully, I shall say this only once".
It's amazing how true and lasting brilliance is so very dormant most of the times. Who, even nowadays, would think that youngsters could outdo grown people at crises? Just ask anyone who Andrée De Jongh, or for that matter Airey Neave was. There's so much in this particular television series that was great. One, like Hannah Arendt pointed to, was the banality of pure evil. Kessler was indeed a great creation but his own war aims were so very banal nevertheless. The Kesselr sequel showed that up too painfully. "We're closed. Can't you read?" is something that is so very Belgian. The Belgian countryside with the music at the start of every episode, and Alain coming into the café just now and then were so very poignant for me. A distant family member of mine was in the resistance back then as an young man but was caught and tortured. He was only a courier and survived, but not mentally, and thus perhaps committed suicide right after the war was ended. I loved how the character of Albert was acted, so much so as the German kommandant in the BBC tv series on Colditz. It reminded me of men at an older generation who bit off more than I ever could chew and never complained. War brings out both the worst and best out of everyone. One particular Colditz episode called Odd man in pointed to the imposibility of staying sane at times as an operator, being run from London and doing hellish dangerous work, so leave behind any judgement you might have till you know that
Colditz (1972-74) set in WW2 German POW camp (best show ever, stick with it up to ep.5 when you meet Col. Preston, that's when all are assembled and it gets going, you'll be hooked from there-on) Enemy At The Door (1978-80) set in German-occupied Guernsey during WW2 Wings (1977-78) set in WW1 around the early flying corps (you'll love Capt. Triggers) Raffles (1975-77) set in Victorian period about a gentleman cracksman all of them brilliant and on UA-cam, thank me later hehe
I remember watching this as a child aged around 10 and it had me completely hooked. I don't remember anything getting it's hooks into me as much as this did, it's the title theme tune and tunnelling intro just as much as the story that stayed with me, but I clearly remember the very physical feeling of the suffocating threat posed by the German occupiers, epitomised by Kessler. I also give a nod to Danger UXB which also had me similarly hooked around that time.
Certainly a very good serial, I'm currently rewatching it for the third time after watching the more comic strip studio bound 'Manhunt' again, though it's not without its faults. Christopher Neame wildly overacts imo, his character would have needed a cool head & pragmatic attitude, Neame's performance is far too theatrical, thankfully he went after series 1. The Albert/Monique/Andree love triangle I find implausible & distracting & some of the supporting cast are weak. As series 2 began & incidental music was introduced I feared the worst first time I watched the show, from memory it ceased after a few episodes or was used sparingly. The serial certainly got better as it progressed, much like 'Manhunt'. Rose & Culver are excellent but I've never really taken to Hepton's character, he is an unlikeable curmudgeon & his relationship with the much younger Monique is not at all convincing imo. Stephen Yardley & Paul Shelley are excellent. Another plausibility issue that bothers me about the show, though I think this was rectified in later episodes, is the absence of a rear entrance at Cafe Candide. The British airmen & resistance members using the front entrance & sneaking into the lounge as the Nazis backs are turned strikes me as stagey & unrealistic. I think the show works best when action takes place outside of the Cafe, as together with the use of Angela Richards songs it gives a cosy 'Rovers Return' aspect & of course is too close to 'Allo Allo' for comfort. If I could pick one tv drama series/serial above all others it would be LWT's 'The Guardians', an extraordinary & barely known serial.
Reinhardt should never have told Kessler he'd surrendered, he should have said he was about to kill Albert and then the Communist Resistance burst in and attacked them both.
Thank you Andrew for bringing this great drama to the attention of those in 2022 who may not have have seen it yet.
Thanks, Tom! Glad you enjoyed it. :)
'Magical' is the word. What a fabulous video. I watched this from '77 to '79 from the age of 11 to 13 and was spellbound. Now at the age of 56, I still watch this regularly and am still gripped. The title sequences are fantastic. You caught the essence of the series perfectly; is it the best TV series ever made? For me, yes. With the partial exception of 'Vikings' (lost interest after Ragnar left) I never again got this absorbed with a set of characters. Many thanks for this. It was a treat to watch.
I watched it as a child as well when it first came out and have watched now multiple times.
It never gets old and the quality of the acting surpasses most modern dramas.
Kessler the sequel is also very good.
I agree, I watched it from Sweden (where it also had a big fanbase) and found it great tV too, with very good writing and performances - peaking in the third season which is partly set after D-Day, in the late summer/early autumn of 1944, and where the chaos, pressures and score-settling between different resistance groups are vividily brought alive. And yes, the title sequences were outstanding and felt very meaningful: the long road home (ending at the seaside)
I missed those days of watching "The Secret Army." and the soundtrack👍👍👍👍
Good job. I'm obsessed. I stumbled onto it as an American around Christmas of 2021 while looking for French Resistance movies. I've watched each series 3 times. Alas, I must now wait 5 years or so to forget everything before I can rewatch.
There is a spin of called kessler, it's about him in hiding 6 episodes
What a brilliant review of Secret Army & I totally agree with your conclusion. I love the mention at the end of the late Ron Pember, who made his professional acting debut just a short distance from where I am now! He was really good as Alain. Secret Army made a huge impression on me as a kid in the late 1970's that has never left me. Just seeing the title sequence & hearing that haunting theme tune takes me right back. I've been fortunate enough to visit all of the filming locations in Brussels. Little Cyclone Airey Neave's book about Andree De Jongh the leader of The Comete line on which Lifeline is loosely based is well worth reading. Airey Neave was of course one of the few people to escape from Colditz. Bernard Hepton, was brilliant as Albert Foiret as was Angela Richards as Monique. The LP of her songs from Secret Army is very good I think.
Great video Andrew - agreed with everything you said. IMHO, Secret Army was the best drama the BBC ever made. Small budget meant they had to rely on top quality intelligent scripts (always with an unpedictable twist at the end) & fine acting. As you say, it was only 30 years after the war's end and the confidence of Belgian resistance veterans was gained for the research - only to be mocked by Allo Allo which was crass and sadly eclipsed SA. I must admit a connection - my father was the senior set designer on the series (he also 'did' Dr Who: Face of Evil) - I will show him your video. Keep up the good work.
I loved watching Secret Army as a child. Without doubt the best British TV drama ever made.
I would say "Edge of Darkness" and "I, Claudius" are the top Brit TV dramas of all time - but Secret Army and The Onedin Line are arguably the best *ongoing* -mode UK tv drama series (the kind that's unified by setting and cast, rather than by just one single plot or story)
It is superb, writing based on actual events, I watch the series every 10 years or so and find it every time as thrilling as ever!
Fantastic review summary. Thanks for making this. It really is one of the most superb pieces of television ever put together.
Mackems.
Mackems, everywhere.
This is truly wonderful stuff... watch to the VERY end.. I've got tears in my eyes. Watching this a few hours after the news of the passing of Terrence Hardiman. Sir. You nail this. thankyou. I watched SA S3 as a 10 year old - back in 1980 something.. then re-watched it all last year in one massive binge. Incredible TV. Up their with the very best of any TV series made anywhere at any time.
I await the day when ‘What Did you Do in the War Daddy’ releases
Don't it's awful, the set up is around a documentary a tv channel is making aiming to reunite lifeline members to talk about their experience, Monique doesn't want in but is persuaded by an insufferable son, Alain now wheelchair bound is bitter and hates Albert who has since become a local bigwig and conned him out of his land, Natalie is now a dreadfully hardnosed freedom fighter devoid of all her previous charm and sparkle, it's a really hokey production ending on a truly low note with a shabby greenscreen group shot of the four, it's small wonder that they pulled it, it's a world away from the brilliance of the series, it even makes Kessler look half decent
I watched it again recently. Absolutely wonderful!
I watched this as a teenager when it first came out and I've watched many times since.
Great acting and story lines.
The only other series that compares to it Is I Claudius.
audiences were not talked down to and there was no need for special affects.
Wonderful overview. More people should watch Secret Army, definitely! Also the best series is The Sandbaggers. Or Tenko. Or Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Or Secret Army.
Cheers, Steven! I've just finished watching The Sandbaggers for the first time. They make people standing around in beige offices more exciting than anyone else!
@@solidbronze heavens yes. The cheapness and sleaziness makes it feel so real
I'm currently watching The Sandbaggers & it's absolutely excellent. They don't make television as good as that these days. John Alkin is in an episode of Secret Army & a couple of episodes of The Sandbaggers.
Brilliantly made ,totally agree it’s amazing.
Loved it when I was 12-13. Acting superb and Kessler was great too
Great TV - the Kessler spin-off series was a canard though.
An excellent tribute and appraisal of a brilliant series. Thank you. As a teenager, I remember watching it every week. So many remarkable performances. Unmissable as you say, Andrew. David Butterworth
Love the Secret Army It is a great series.
An intelligent and fascinating Doc about a very special TV Series. Keep up the Good work.
Bernard Hepton was a very great actor.
I watched the series recently, and absolutely loved it. Started off as a bit slow, but quickly gained pace
An absolutely brilliant review of the series. Well done.
Superb series. Still watching today.
I’ve subscribed on the basis of this video, as I adore Secret Army. There’s a wonderful scene in one of the Mansfield Park adaptations in which Bernard Hepton and Gordon Kaye act opposite each other.
A great TV show that still retains its power all these years later. Your video sums it up perfectly. The only bit that annoys me is Monique and the drippy British army officer that she marries, that relationship was too rushed and too facile when compared to all the depths and complexities of pretty much every other story line. I think in terms of British TV only Callan comes close - another dark drama that developed across its 4 series run to a gripping finale.
I agree. Angela Richards didn't like it either. She described Monique's marriage in an interview as 'too rushed, too fairy tale'.
Absolutely brilliant series
Excellent series; watching it on UA-cam just now!
It is the best British television ❤❤
It beats current offerings
I am in my 60s, and I would say it’s the best. No doubt. Upstairs, Downstairs second place and I would proffer that DXB is third.
It is indeed
Loved the series, very well acted..a bit upsetting at times...
On talking pictures on Monday at 11pm
Have been watching (for the very first time!). 3 episodes to go and left on a major cliffhanger this week 😮
Just been rewatching the 2nd and 3rd series on UA-cam , what a pearless drama
A drama without pears 😂
You nail it. Also worth catching the making of book The Complete Secret Army by Andy Priestner.
The great era of TV, also there was a Kessler series after and an interview with Clifford Rose is on youtube too.
Kessler was recently repeated (for the very first time ever in the UK) on Talking Pictures TV. It was a good show but seemed to have more action and less nail biting tension than Secret Army. Sometimes less is more?
Yes!!!
Love this show and have all the seasons on DVD.
When watched first time round loved it. Totally destroyed by 'Allo Allo'. Couldn't take it seriously after that. Kept waiting for the woman in the mac' to say "Listen carefully, I shall say this only once".
It's amazing how true and lasting brilliance is so very dormant most of the times. Who, even nowadays, would think that youngsters could outdo grown people at crises? Just ask anyone who Andrée De Jongh, or for that matter Airey Neave was. There's so much in this particular television series that was great. One, like Hannah Arendt pointed to, was the banality of pure evil. Kessler was indeed a great creation but his own war aims were so very banal nevertheless. The Kesselr sequel showed that up too painfully. "We're closed. Can't you read?" is something that is so very Belgian. The Belgian countryside with the music at the start of every episode, and Alain coming into the café just now and then were so very poignant for me. A distant family member of mine was in the resistance back then as an young man but was caught and tortured. He was only a courier and survived, but not mentally, and thus perhaps committed suicide right after the war was ended. I loved how the character of Albert was acted, so much so as the German kommandant in the BBC tv series on Colditz. It reminded me of men at an older generation who bit off more than I ever could chew and never complained. War brings out both the worst and best out of everyone. One particular Colditz episode called Odd man in pointed to the imposibility of staying sane at times as an operator, being run from London and doing hellish dangerous work, so leave behind any judgement you might have till you know that
it was and is fantastic
Ha ha - I was thinking you'd done Ron Pember dirty!
Love this series
It's neck and neck with Colditz (1972-1974). I watched them both and there's nothing to separate them.
Gerat series, great doc. Cheers.
Yes I can agree with that.
Excellent Andrew. Agreed with your every word. By the way have you watched Une Village Française?
Yeah, Une was pretty good, though not quite as good as Secret. Cheers.
Thanks. I really enjoyed this video.
I have DVD Box
So have I. I watch the entire series a couple of times every year. It was compulsive viewing and so very well acted. I had a crush on Jan Francis!
TRES Heavy Series!!! BBC at its Finest Effort
Neither the subject itself: escape lines for allied servicemen, or the TV series itself deserved to be sent up by the arse Jeremy Lloyd.
I love this series, and I've heard that a lot of 70s bbc dramas were equally amazing. Are there any others that people would recommend?
Colditz (1972-74) set in WW2 German POW camp (best show ever, stick with it up to ep.5 when you meet Col. Preston, that's when all are assembled and it gets going, you'll be hooked from there-on)
Enemy At The Door (1978-80) set in German-occupied Guernsey during WW2
Wings (1977-78) set in WW1 around the early flying corps (you'll love Capt. Triggers)
Raffles (1975-77) set in Victorian period about a gentleman cracksman
all of them brilliant and on UA-cam, thank me later hehe
I agree with the title
yes it is...!!!
I remember watching this as a child aged around 10 and it had me completely hooked. I don't remember anything getting it's hooks into me as much as this did, it's the title theme tune and tunnelling intro just as much as the story that stayed with me, but I clearly remember the very physical feeling of the suffocating threat posed by the German occupiers, epitomised by Kessler. I also give a nod to Danger UXB which also had me similarly hooked around that time.
Correct!
And look what’s happened to the BBC now, I’ve not paid the licence fee for over 12 yrs
Certainly a very good serial, I'm currently rewatching it for the third time after watching the more comic strip studio bound 'Manhunt' again, though it's not without its faults.
Christopher Neame wildly overacts imo, his character would have needed a cool head & pragmatic attitude, Neame's performance is far too theatrical, thankfully he went after series 1.
The Albert/Monique/Andree love triangle I find implausible & distracting & some of the supporting cast are weak.
As series 2 began & incidental music was introduced I feared the worst first time I watched the show, from memory it ceased after a few episodes or was used sparingly.
The serial certainly got better as it progressed, much like 'Manhunt'.
Rose & Culver are excellent but I've never really taken to Hepton's character, he is an unlikeable curmudgeon & his relationship with the much younger Monique is not at all convincing imo. Stephen Yardley & Paul Shelley are excellent.
Another plausibility issue that bothers me about the show, though I think this was rectified in later episodes, is the absence of a rear entrance at Cafe Candide. The British airmen & resistance members using the front entrance & sneaking into the lounge as the Nazis backs are turned strikes me as stagey & unrealistic. I think the show works best when action takes place outside of the Cafe, as together with the use of Angela Richards songs it gives a cosy 'Rovers Return' aspect & of course is too close to 'Allo Allo' for comfort.
If I could pick one tv drama series/serial above all others it would be LWT's 'The Guardians', an extraordinary & barely known serial.
i got so disappointed for my English !
😬 p♥r♥o♥m♥o♥s♥m
No. The worlds best TV-series is Danish. Called MATADOR. Look it up! Secret Army is up there, close behind, but behind.
Reinhardt should never have told Kessler he'd surrendered, he should have said he was about to kill Albert and then the Communist Resistance burst in and attacked them both.
Monique couldn't sing 😁
Not true.
Oh yes she could!! Catch her singing I'm Still here utube
@@atwigg8184
I stand chastised, I think she sounds awful others may disagree 😐
Brilliant description
Some of the actors in Secret Army went on to star in Allo Allo
Which ones? I wasn't aware of that
@@jonmaycroft Not the main cast, some of the guest actors.