The Great Escape: An Exciting Plan
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PD James: The Murder Room
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History is full of surprises. One example: I didn’t expect to see The Great Escape (C5) described as ‘the most outstanding example of Anglo–German cooperation since the marriage Queen Victoria to Prince Albert”.
The film of the exact same title starring Steve McQueen shows how the Germans were not pleased with 76 prisoners of war tunneling their way to Stalag Luft 3 in 1944.
The sympathetic captors helped the prisoner on their way, however.
Some guards were anti-Nazi, and worked in secret for an Allied win. Others could be bribed by chocolate or cigarettes.
Although television has many tools at its disposal to create compelling documentaries, sometimes you only need a story. One of these was this.
The Great Escape: A Daring Plan (C5) – This is an engaging documentary that tells a compelling story.
The facts you know are the following: Three tunnels beneath the camp were built by three ingenious airmen. Prisoners acted as sandbaggers, rubbing sand from their legs to cover the dig results. This episode was filled with amazing detail.
The camp was relatively well-equipped. You could get letters, food packages, and even food parcels from your home. There was also a cinema, library, and film screenings. Photographs of the camp showed ice hockey, and skinny-dipping in a makeshift pool.
It was like living in a small public school. A second expert stated that life could be quite pleasant if you were to live your whole life at a vacation camp.
This could explain why the escapees were not interested in two-thirds of their subjects.
Some even said that the escape committee was an absurdity. Escape was in essence a sport. Your goal was not to perish. You would run through Germany and give the Hun a hard time. Your plans could be great and you might do something exciting and daring.
The end result was horrific, but there was some truth to the ‘lark theory’ at the beginning.
The camp commandant gave two Americans whisky to celebrate their bravery and entrepreneurial spirit when they escaped.
Martin Shaw played PD James’s poet-detective Adam Dalgliesh. His movements were remarkable: Every look or raised eyebrow compelled his attention
We could just twiddle the thumbs while we waited for Michael Maloney’s death in the Murder Room (Drama).
He was playing Dr Neville Dupayne, a psychiatrist who managed to make himself so unpopular that he may as well have had a target stitched into his suit.
His brother and sister wanted him to sign a new lease so the family museum — with its famous Murder Room — could continue. He would have to sign a new lease or the employees will be unemployed. Others would become homeless.
Additionally, Dr Dupayne had left his husband and was in a fight with his daughter. His car was ultimately burned to the ground by Dr Dupayne, an act that is reminiscent of one of the Museum Murders.
The first episode ends with a corpse in a trunk. It is the same as another museum murder.
Although this whodunnit was a BBC BBC production, it is well worth returning to. The cast featured Sian Phillips, Jack Shepherd and Samantha Bond.
Martin Shaw was PD James’s Poet-Detective Adam Dalgliesh. His movements were remarkable: Every glance, every raised eyebrow, drew attention.
But there is one question. Did Dalgliesh appear to Scotland Yard as a ready-made commander one day?
Because there’s no way — unlike Channel 5’s Dalgliesh, Bertie Carvel — I can imagine him as a constable, pounding the beat down the Old Kent Road.