Radio Times cover marking the first episode.

The story of Colditz Castle and the valiant Allied Forces who executed daring escapes from its confines has been particularly well-documented over the years. Yet tales of derring-do, audacious escape plans and the endless fight against villainous German soldiers had always found strong favour with British audiences, and Gerard Glaister and Brian Degas sought to capitalise on this with their proposed series Colditz, which would be co-produced by BBC Television and Universal Television.


Arrival Of A Hero.

The series itself boasted strong performances from British and American actors alike (Robert Wagner, David McCallum, Bernard Hepton, Edward Hardwicke, Michael Sheard, Anthony Valentine and Christopher Neame prominent amongst an extensive cast list), and featured writing contributions from the most reliable quarters in the business (N J Crisp, Ian Kennedy Martin, Troy Kennedy Martin, John Brason and Arden Winch).


Death Sentence.

Germans were portrayed as cunning yet compassionate; Allied soldiers were reflected as determined and resolute with an unwavering never-say-die attitude to escaping their captors at every available opportunity. The second series, which featured control of the castle being handed over to the dreaded SS, heightened the possibility of dramatic tension within the storylines, and produced some of the best performances the programme was ever capable to generating from its wide array of guest and resident performers.


French Leave.

But one factor remains inescapable (to forgive the pun): the series was a hackneyed reworking of elements of the film The Great Escape, and whilst the series boasted a variety of ingenious escape plans deftly executed by a glittering array of performers, the basic fundamental drawback of the series was that all it had to offer audiences were escape plans, and more escape plans. Within the limitations of soldiers held captive in a seemingly inescapable castle, the programme was hamstrung by its own premise.


Ghosts.

The programme was occasionally insightful in its portrayal of the strain placed upon soldiers as they feigned insanity or risk everything in order to escape captivity, but on the whole remains as standard fare for the period. Certainly, the programme is highly regarded in hindsight as a strong drama serial which earned the BBC great kudos. Yet Peter Graham Scott's observation of the series as "a typically soft series showing how British officer prisoners-of-war joked and tunnelled while the Russian people fought and bled" (British Television: An Insider's History - Peter Graham Scott) is perhaps the best assessment of the programme.


The Gambler.

The series reflected a clichéd view of the German officers unlike The Great Escape, which whilst reflecting the German officers as cunning and occasionally brutal, still managed to portray some of the Germans as like-minded officers who could compassionately understand the desire for escape and treated their captives with a level of respect deserved upon them.


Very Important Person.

The series have often been mooted for a potential DVD release, but as yet nothing has come of these rumours. The series was a commercial success in Britain and Australia in particular, yet only appeared in the USA in a truncated form of the final two episodes, and was transmitted as a film-length special entitled Escape From Colditz in 1974.


Liberation.