Masterpiece war drama you’ve probably never heard of | UK News

A drama sequence you might never have heard of is hailed by followers as “masterpiece” that strikes audiences more than 40 years after it first appeared on the small screen. Tenko tells the story of a group of British, Australian and Dutch ladies captured and imprisoned by Japanese forces following the Fall of Singapore in early 1942.

The sequence, a BBC and Australian Broadcasting Corporation co-production, featured an ensemble solid including a quantity of British stars from Stephanie Cole to Elizabeth Chambers. Tenko, which takes its named from the fictional camp where the characters are trapped, was created by Lavinia Warner and impressed by real-life tales of Allied ladies held prisoner as Japanese POWs during World War 2.

It confronts every thing from class divides, racism, and the emotional struggles confronted by internees. It ran for three sequence and concluded in 1985 with a double-length reunion particular.

And while these days it is not often talked about among the great sequence and dramas about World War 2, followers who watched it at the time say it stayed with to this day.

One, writing on IMDb, hailed it as a “masterpiece”, calling Tenko “the single most memorable series I have ever watched on television”.

Another wrote: “Tenko is a series I first watched at the tender age of 13 years back in 1981. From the word go it gripped.

“The performing is supreme: Ann Bell, Stephanie Cole, Stephanie Beacham are great. The viewer lives and breathes the ordeal of the characters in a method that no other TV sequence has ever managed. It is head and shoulders clear of the remainder.”

A Google Reviewer wrote: “Great sequence watched it first spherical with my mum. But now previous enough to perceive what those ladies went through. Very effectively acted.”

Another wrote: “Excellent from start to end could not transfer until I’d watched all. Would positively advocate 10 out of 10.”

Episodes vary from PG to 15 certificates and the sequence offers with some upsetting themes, including the mistreatment of prisoners and suicide, so will not be for everybody.

Tenko is streaming now on U.