SS-GB (TV series)

SS-GB
Series title over a swastika and a leaden sky of fighter planes
Genre
Created by Len Deighton
Based on SS-GB
by Len Deighton
Written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade
Directed by Philipp Kadelbach
Starring
Composer(s) Dan Jones
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 1
No. of episodes 5
Production
Executive producer(s)
Producer(s) Patrick Schweitzer
Location(s) London, England, UK
Cinematography Stuart Bentley
Editor(s) David Blackmoore
Running time 60 minutes
Production company(s) Sid Gentle Films Ltd
Distributor BBC Worldwide
Release
Original network BBC One
Picture format 16:9 1080i
Audio format Stereo
Original release 19 February (2017-02-19) – 19 March 2017 (2017-03-19)
External links
BBC website www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ghxqb

SS-GB is a 2017 British drama series produced for the BBC[1] and based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Len Deighton. It is set in a 1941 alternative timeline in which the United Kingdom is occupied by Nazi Germany, having lost the Battle of Britain.

Plot

In this alternative world, it is November 1941, nine months after a successful German invasion of Britain. Douglas Archer, a highly successful Scotland Yard detective, is working under a German superior. As a homicide detective, Archer avoids involvement in political crime. He views resistance as pointless and hopes the German occupation will end soon.[2]

A routine murder investigation becomes political when it turns out that the victim had data on British efforts to produce an atomic bomb. The resistance appear to have killed the man. (In actual history, it was two refugee Jewish scientists in Britain who made the key breakthrough. The Frisch–Peierls memorandum of March 1940 revealed that a nuclear weapon could be made with about a kilogram of material, rather than several tons as most people believed then.[3])

Archer also finds himself working under an SS man sent from Berlin. He is valued because he speaks fluent German, though he does not sympathise with Nazism. He had volunteered to fight in the war, but was in a reserved occupation. His wife was killed by a German bombing raid. His son is being cared for by his landlady, whose husband was a soldier and is still a prisoner of war. His secretary and girlfriend Sylvia Manning is a member of the resistance and has to flee early in the first episode.

Winston Churchill has been executed. King George is a prisoner and has not been seen in public for some time. His wife and his daughters Elizabeth and Margaret escaped, while the Duke of Windsor, who had earlier abdicated as Edward VIII, is in exile. A British government in exile exists but is not recognised by the USA.

Nazi Germany has also maintained friendly relationships with the Soviet Union. Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov has just flown in to oversee the removal of the body of Karl Marx to the Soviet Union.

The fate of British Jews is not mentioned, except for one scene in which a man passes by, wearing a yellow star. Historically, plans for the deportation of Jews from Germany and the occupied countries began taking shape before the Fall of France.

Production

In November 2014, it was announced that the BBC had commissioned writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade to adapt Len Deighton's novel SS-GB.[4]

In August 2015, it was announced that Sam Riley was in talks to star in the lead role of Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer of Scotland Yard.[5] Riley's casting was confirmed in late September 2015.[6]

Production began in October 2015 and ended in January 2016. The series was produced by Sid Gentle Films Ltd. It was broadcast on BBC One in five one-hour episodes, between 19 February 2017 and 19 March 2017.

Cast

Allied and Resistance characters

German characters

Episodes

Series 1 (2017)

No.
overall		No. in
series		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUK viewers
(millions) [9]
11"Episode 1"Philipp KadelbachNeal Purvis and Robert Wade19 February 2017 (2017-02-19)8.68
22"Episode 2"Philipp KadelbachNeal Purvis and Robert Wade26 February 2017 (2017-02-26)5.54
33"Episode 3"Philipp KadelbachNeal Purvis and Robert Wade5 March 2017 (2017-03-05)4.30
44"Episode 4"Philipp KadelbachNeal Purvis and Robert Wade12 March 2017 (2017-03-12)3.79
55"Episode 5"Philipp KadelbachNeal Purvis and Robert Wade19 March 2017 (2017-03-19)3.54

Reception

The series received highly positive reviews[10] with the Telegraph giving the series 4 out of 5 and saying that the "alt-history thriller deserves a follow-up series".[11] The main criticisms were predominantly regarding the sound quality and reportedly inaudible dialogue for some viewers in the first episode, which the BBC pledged to "look at" for future episodes.[12] The first episode attracts a number of complaints from viewers unable to hear the dialogue, which is blamed on actors mumbling. The BBC says it will look at the sound quality before the next episode is transmitted.[13]

See also

References

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