Tenko - Series 1 Complete [1981]

Customer Reviews:

Unmissable.......2003-06-28

Tenko is simply one of the best productions that the BBC has ever come up with. The intelligence and complexity of the script shines over the course of the three series and follow-up, Tenko Reunion. The three-dimensional characters, the depth of emotion and the amazing horrors and tragedies suffered in Japanese prison camps shown, are completely gripping. The ten episodes included on these discs comprise the first series, and are a great start. Life before the war, in the lazy expat community of Singapore, turning through invasion and disaster into the misery of prison. The series ends with a big cliffhanger, leading into series two (released soon, please!), and should be seen by everyone. Don't just dismiss it because it has an almost all-female cast. It's a masterpiece. The "special features", though, are lazy and feeble.

Quality BBC drama.......2003-05-03

This quality BBC drama which ran into several series and a finale was highly popular in the early 1980s and presented a fictionalised story based on fact followed the lives of a number of women taken prisoner during the Second World War in the Far East and kept in prison camps by the Japanese and what the effect of the deprivation had on them.

This is BBC drama at its best. Unlike other fictionlised presentations of this subject eg the film version with Virginia MacKenna of 'A Town Like Alice', the hardships faced by these women, from dealing with amputations without any medical help, day to day living on a limited diet, infections and disease, death itself, the loneliness and the suffering, is dealt with realistically and sensitively. The characters are superbly presented by a fine cast; it could be argued that for many of these actors 'Tenko' was their finest hour. The viewer is made to reflect on how they would have coped in a similar situation and are drawn into the story.

Although ostensibly a 'women's' drama, my whole family were hooked from the first episode - it is just so well done - and the next generation (both sexes and now aged in their late teens/early 20s) are just as interested!

The opportunity to purchase this compelling drama on DVD should not to be missed and is a story that can be returned to time and time again. I warn you though, you will want to purchase the whole set of DVDs to know what happened to Marion, Bea, Sister Ulrika etc!

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