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'''Colditz''' is a British television series, made as a co-production between the BBC and Universal Studios and screened between 1972 and 1974.
The series dealt with Allied prisoners of war interned at the supposedly impregnable Colditz Castle during World War II, and their many attempts to escape captivity, as well as the relationships formed between the various nationalities and their German captors.
One memorable episode portrayed the attempts of a prisoner, Wing Commander Marsh (Michael Bryant), to get out of Colditz by feigning insanity. He succeeds, but is actually driven insane in the process.
''Colditz'' was created by Brian Degas working with the producer Gerard Glaister, who went on to devise another successful BBC series dealing with the Second World War — ''Secret Army''. Technical Consultant for the series was Major Pat Reid, the real British Escape Officer at Colditz.

Contents

Cast

The Internees

The Germans

Episode summaries

Season 1

Season 2

External links

Cast

The Internees

★ Lieutenant Colonel John Preston - Jack Hedley
Colonel Preston is the very embodiment of British stiff upper lip. He is mostly emotionless, highly intelligent (i.e. able to get his way with the Germans and remain the voice of reason in his own contingent), and normally rigid in his application of principles. He gets along quite well with the accomodating Kommandant, whom he respects but is adept at manipulating. His only real sources of passion are recollections of his time in the trenches in WWI and his wife, whom he married late and had to leave behind to go to war.

★ Captain Pat Grant - Edward Hardwicke
Captain Grant is the first British escape officer in Colditz. He is mild-mannered and mostly level-headed. He often serves as an arbiter between his fellow officers' passion and enthusiasm and Colonel Preston's cold reserve.

★ Flight Lieutenant/Major Phil Carrington - Robert Wagner
Flight Lieutenant Carrington is an American officer who volunteered to serve with the British early in the war. He served as a journalist in Berlin before the war, so has an intimate knowledge of Germany and German politics. He appears to be sensible at first, but he is prone to bouts of rage if his sense of justice is offended, which gets him in trouble with the Germans and the British alike.

★ Flight Lieutenant Simon Carter - David McCallum
Flight Lieutenant Carter is a young, upstart, hot-headed young RAF officer who enjoys goon-baiting and is very impatient to escape. He misses his young wife, Cathy, very much, and seeks to return to her. He finds himself frequently in solitary confinement. In the second season, he mellows a bit as he accepts the post of escape officer, and is tempered by that responsibility.

★ Lieutenant Dick Player - Christopher Neame
Lieutenant Player is a quiet but determined officer from the Royal Navy. His perfect German and history of living in Germany cause the Germans to suspect he is a spy at first, which causes him a great deal of trouble. Once in Colditz, though, he is a keen and cool escaper, and participates in some of the most daring and fantastic escape attempts of the series.

★ Captain Tim Downing - Richard Heffer
Captain Downing is generally the devil's advocate of the group. While he seems to be the most pessimistic of the British contingent, his criticisms are often insightful and valid. He is ambitious, views himself as the second-in-command, and seeks the post of escape officer. He is often at odds with Colonel Preston, whom he challenges quite frequently. He rarely participates in escape attempts himself, but provides reliable support for escapers.

The Germans

★ Kommandant - Bernard Hepton
The Kommandant, known only by his Christian name Karl, is a moderate, honourable, and soft-hearted Oberst (Colonel) of the Wehrmacht. He holds to the Old Army ways of respecting enemy officers, and adheres to the Geneva Convention to the best of his ability. He has difficulty believing that any authority but the OKW is legitimate, and often finds himself in dilemmas over orders he gets from the Waffen-SS or Reich Security. Fortunately, he has an ally in General Schaetzel, a respected figure in the OKW. With the help of Schaetzel, and Colonel Preston's cooperation, he constantly works to prevent the SS from taking control of the camp. He has a young son, Erich, in the Luftwaffe and a wife named Lise.

★ Major Horst Mohn - Anthony Valentine
A Luftwaffe hero with the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Major Mohn was wounded severely at Stalingrad by a Russian bayonet, and served on Hitler's personal staff before coming to Colditz. He is a NSDAP Party Member in good standing, and very highly connected (although the series does not mention to whom). He constantly finds himself in conflict with the Kommandant, for he holds the philosophy that war is still going on at Colditz and is frustrated by what he perceives as the treating of prisoners with "kid gloves". The prisoners loathe him, and do whatever they can to foil him or antagonise him at every turn. Unfortunately for them, he is ruthlessly intelligent and occasionally pulls off a devastating capture.
Contrary to what is said on most websites on the series, Major Mohn is not part of the SS. He is clearly part of the Luftwaffe, and his relationship with the SS appears to be fairly chilly. He is visibly upset with the SD orders given at the end of the episode "The Guests" and seems nervous around the Gruppenführer and Haupsturmführer in "Very Important Person." It appears that the reason why Major Mohn would prefer to take SS orders unquestioningly than risk SS reprisals is that he knows, apparently better than the Kommandant, what the SS is capable of.

★ Hauptmann Ullmann - Hans Meyer
Hauptmann Ulmann is the Security Officer at Colditz. A calculating and rather robotic individual most of the time, he takes his job of preventing escapes seriously and is sometimes ill at ease with the Kommandant's lax attitude. He took over early from Oberleutnant Lehr, a young and easygoing officer who was drafted to the front lines, and was appalled at the lack of discipline among the security forces. Due to his careful planning and sharp eyes and mind, he is able to avert many escape attempts as well as many attempts of the SS to take over the camp. He seems to have been sent by General Schaetzel to help the Kommandant in these matters.

Episode summaries

Season 1

★ The Undefeated

★ Missing, Presumed Dead

★ Name, Rank, and Number
Dick Player finds himself in trouble when he tries to escape from Reich Security detention and is recaptured without any prisoner ID. The Gestapo suspect he is a spy, and he must find some way to convince them that his perfect German and intimate knowledge of the countryside is the result of his German schooling before the war.

★ Welcome to Colditz
Phil Carrington finds himself chased down in the countryside by Reich Security, and Colonel Preston arrives at Colditz to find everything in disarray. The Colonel is initially unpopular as Senior British Officer as he cracks the whip to get everyone in line. He attempts initially to have his way with the Kommandant by lying about the rules of the Geneva Convention and entering into a gentleman's agreement that no Poles will be allowed in the British quarters.

★ Maximum Security
The new Security Officer, Hauptmann Ulmann, arrives to replace the drafted Oberleutnant Lehr. The prisoners are wary of their new opponent, who seems much more skilled than his predecessor. Ulmann is aghast at the drunkenness of the second-in-command, the Kommandant's friend Willi, and this is a source of tension between him and the Kommandant. Suddenly, the SS arrive for a conference, much to the Kommandant's consternation, and the Standartenführer makes a bid to take over the camp.

★ The Spirit of Freedom
Carrington makes himself unpopular with the other prisoners by revealing his admiration for Nazi politics, which he apparently cultivated during his service as a journalist in Berlin before the war. After much harassment is directed at him, the Kommandant allows him his own separate room in which to write a book on Nazi politics. He intends to publish it in America, with Gestapo permission. Unfortunately, before it is sent off, something makes the Gestapo change their minds.

★ Lord, Didn't It Rain

★ The Traitor

★ Bribery and Corruption

★ Tweedledum
Arguably the best episode of the series, and winner of several awards. Wing Commander Marsh, an assistant to the British Medical Officer, decides to use his extensive knowledge of mental illness for an escape. He proposes to "go insane" and be repatriated. Colonel Preston agrees to let him, so long as he follows through with it to the bitter end. He does a remarkable job, to the point of annoying his fellow officers (unaware of the scheme) without relent. The Germans are not convinced, and Ulmann sets a Corporal on Marsh's trail. This Corporal has a brother who is insane, so Ulmann believes he is a better judge, even than the doctors, of Marsh's condition. The Kommandant initially refuses to allow the Swiss authority to examine Marsh, but relents when Marsh's madness embarrasses him in front of an important visitor. By the time the Germans are willing to consider repatriation, no one, not even the MO, is sure whether or not Marsh has actually gone mad.

★ Court Martial

★ Murder?

★ The Way Out

★ Gone Away Part I

★ Gone Away Part II

Season 2

★ Arrival of a Hero
Ulmann is still seething over the "home-run" by Pat Grant and Phil Carrington, and interrogates Dick Player ceaselessly, without success. Meanwhile, the Kommandant is advised that he will have a new second-in-command, Major Horst Mohn, who arrives amidst the prisoners' jubilation over the success of their two colleagues. Mohn informs the Kommandant that he has been sent from the Führer's personal staff after having received both decorations for his aviation exploits and a severe wound in the stomach from a Russian bayonet. He also indicates that Hitler was informed of the successful escape attempt and insists that security be tightened up. Mohn then proceeds to antagonise the prisoners one by one, particularly Carter, whose intimate letters to Cathy he reads with great interest. Due to the friction created, the Kommandant becomes determined that Mohn should be removed from Colditz.

★ Ghosts

★ Odd Man In

★ The Guests

★ Frogs in the Well

★ Ace in the Hole

★ French Leave

★ The Gambler

★ Senior American Officer

★ Very Important Person

★ Chameleon

★ Death Sentence

★ Liberation

External links

★ VirtualColditz.com — Videos and photos of Colditz Castle as it is today.

★ British Film Institute Screen Online

★ ''Colditz'' at the Television Heaven website

★ ''Colditz'' at the Internet Movie Database.