Island at War - The Complete Series

This fictional story based on real events was shown on ITV as a six-part drama series following the events of the German occupation during WW2 on the Channel Islands, in this case the fictional island of St. Gregory.

Although the main plot gets more complex as the series goes on, the unfolding events primarily focus on three families being the working class Jonases, the middle class Mahys and the upper crust Dorrs. Furthermore we are introduced to some German soldiers and officers, most notably ‘Oberst Heinrich Baron Von Rheingarten’ (there’s a mouthful!) who is played by Philip Glenister and yes, he looks and talks about as German as Charlton Heston’s Mexican character in Touch Of Evil. This reviewer is furthermore at a loss as to why all the German characters in this mini-drama sport blond hair (in Glenister’s case bleached), seeing how there are considerably more blondes amongst the Dutch and the Swedes than the Germans.

When local PC and fisherman Wilf Jonas (Owen Teale) is out lobster-fishing one fine day, a fleeing British patrol asks for help and Wilf agrees to help them to safety. Just as the lads are swimming towards his boat those vile Germans open fire and massacre the patrol members. Back on the island, Wilf informs his wife Kathleen (Julia Ford) about what happened. Understandably, the couple who live on a farm together with their young daughter and son get somewhat nervous, although Senator James Dorr (James Wilby) is assured by his naïve to the point of half-witted Bailiff Francis La Palotte (Benjamin Whitrow) that the 'Gerries' won’t occupy the tiny island. The old fogey even attempts to make a public address to the islanders, fortunately Dorr is standing next to him and prevents him from making an even bigger fool of himself. However, a number of people on the island are aware that the German occupation will be no idyll, in particular local photographer Mr. Isaaks (David de Keyser) who is Jewish. The kindly Mr. Isaaks knows what's in store for him and simply gives his business to Urban Mahy (David Wadham) who gratefully accepts. Sadly, Mahy has little time to indulge himself in the photography business as the Germans mistake some lorries filled with tomatoes for troop carriers and bomb the harbor… The poor man's life is nipped in the bud, leaving his wife Cassie and daughters Angelique (Joanne Frogatt) and June (Samantha Robinson) to fend for themselves. Angelique takes over Isaak’s shop and is assisted by another young girl called Zelda Kay (Louisa Clein) who has a dangerous secret: she is Jewish and thus in disguise! The Germans arrive and requisition the island headed by the Oberst Heinrich Baron Von Rheingarten. Obviously, not all of the 'invaders' are ghastly creatures (bear in mind Germans were simply NOT allowed to conscientious objectors and if you did not enlist you would be shot). Von Rheingarten is initially not an intrinsically bad man and strives to be as fair but has his military position to consider. Perhaps his behavioral patterns are a little colored by his attraction to the happily married Mrs. Dorr (Claire Holman). The Dorr’s son Philip (Sam Heughan) arrives a little later on the island by means of a late night dingy with a confederate called Eugene La Salle (Richard Dempsey). Their mission is to spy on the Germans and it will result in dire consequences.

Meanwhile, the German soldiers are all obviously quite sex starved and it is just a matter of time before fraternization begins. The most unlikely but inevitable is the love that blossoms between German airman Bernhardt Tellemann (Laurence Fox) and Angelique, although it’s more than a rocky start to the romance… as a bomber pilot he’s responsible for her father's death. No wonder Angelique keeps her romance a secret! Younger sister June earns some extra money as a nightclub singer for the Krauts and gets a pretty hard time for it, while embittered mama Cassie, who runs a food store, is forced to wise up quick and starts intimate business dealings with Oberwachtmeister Wimmel (Colin Tierney). If all this appears a little dark we have some pretty sick comic relief supplied by Oberleutnant Walker (Conor Millen) - a German whose granddad was English. He turns out to be an out and out anti-Semitic bastard who gets the hots for Zelda… at first not knowing there is Jewish blood in her. He also has a number of appalling lines like the one when he compares the beak of a pet parrot to Jewish noses… and invites Zelda to the cinema, if only to introduce her to the controversial anti-Jewish propaganda flick ‘Jud Süss’.

Just how true to how things were on an occupied channel island can only be left to conjecture. One assumes that writer Stephen Mallatratt, who by the way plays the small part of the local vicar, must have researched the series with persons who had personal experience of such matters. On the whole it does seem fair inasmuch as the German's are written up as not altogether inhuman monsters and the odious Walker had an English grandfather.
Island at War is a polished production made on location in The Isle of Man (a paradox, that) and would appear to catch the atmosphere rather well (but you'd need to be around 80 to write that with any authenticity). There are some good performances here all round though it does take a while for action to get going.