Britain, 1978. The most popular television programme is a long-running wartime soap opera, An Englishman’s Castle, written with many autobiographical touches by Peter Ingram (Kenneth More). The twist here is that this is a Britain under the almost invisible but all-pervasive yolk of the Nazis, Britain having lost the Second World War shortly after the events being portrayed in Ingram’s drama. Ingram, a former member of the British resistance and now, like most Brits, almost oblivious to the German influence which is kept covert and discrete, comes increasingly to question his role in the current status quo. As he slowly comes to realise that his show is nothing more than a vehicle for German-approved social commentary and his lover Jill (Isla Blair) reveals that she is secretly Jewish and a member of the still-active resistance, as is his own son Mark (Nigel Havers), he begins making a stand against his bosses and finds himself slowly drawn back into the struggle against the invaders.
It’s a well-worn trope in that strand of science fiction that deals with alternate realities – the Nazis triumphant. What immediately marks An Englishman’s Castle as being different is that there are no visible signs of occupation. Although entirely studio bound, we get enough glimpses of the outside world to understand that there are no jackbooted troops goose-stepping down Whitehall, no Nazi flags festooning town halls and other civic buildings, no tanks on the streets. Superficially, life in Britain appears to be little different to that familiar to contemporary audiences. But there are glimpses behind the facade – Ingram’s boss clashes with him over portraying a new, brave and decent character as overtly Jewish; there’s whispered talk of death camps and torture cells; “terrorists” – the resistance movement – attack clubs frequented by the ruling elite.
It’s easy to see why the once rebellious Ingram has come to accept the situation. Over three decades after his youthful acts of dissent, he’s reached a comfortable middle age, his show is a hit – compromised but hugely popular – and with no outward sign of the German occupation, the situation has become entirely normal. So much so that An Englishman’s Castle takes its time even revealing that what we’re watching is set in an alternate timeline. For Ingram and so many like him, the seeming normality – shattered only when the terribly polite forces of the invaders, represented by Philip Bond’s quietly chilling “Inspector”, turn up looking for subversive family members – has become seductive. He wants a quiet life, arguing that he’s a realist, and is willing to almost completely block out the truth in order to achieve it. His cosy acceptance is shattered only when Jill draws him back into the armed struggle.
Philip Mackie’s script is full of subtleties and unexpected turns that keep the three-part drama thrumming along nicely, little touches of dark humour, satire and full-on anger peppering Ingram’s late-in-the-day political reawakening. It’s wordy, at times almost glacial, but the subjects under discussion are always compelling and the top drawer performances from More (in his final television role), Blair and Anthony Bate (as his quisling executive producer) among others ensure that the interest never flags even during the more verbose moments. It becomes increasingly hard-hitting as Ingram becomes more and more involved in the struggle to restore the country to its people and the climax, as downbeat and despairing as it is optimistic, is inevitable but nonetheless powerful. The scripts are lean, free from the padding that would have been necessary to push the series to the more usual six or seven episodes, which also goes some way to smooth the way past the chattier moments.
Produced by Innes Lloyd and superbly directed by Paul Ciappessoni, An Englishman’s Castle is fascinating and gripping viewing. It’s certainly up there with Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s It Happened Here (1965), still the best filmed version of the Britain-under-the-Nazi’s theme, and head and shoulders above the BBC’s disappointing adaptation of Len Deighton’s novel SS-GB broadcast in 2017.
The theme tune to An Englishman’s Castle was Chi mai, the Ennio Morricone composition originally written for the film Maddalena (1971) and a UK chart hit in 1982 (reaching number 2 in the singles charts) when it was used again as the title music for the TV series The Life and Times of David Lloyd George.
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