A real classic series based on true events,Tenko was a powerful series on the suffering of a group of civilian women during World War 2 when Singapore falls to the Japanese in 1942. Ann Bell plays Marion Jefferson,the bored army wife,tired of all the endless tea parties and receptions then when she is evacuated with the other women,the first real shock is her best friend Vicky(Wendy Williams)drowning,Tenko certainly got shock you with the death of a popular character when you least expected it. In the first series we met elderly but defiant Slyvia Ashburton(Renee Asherburn)who refuses initially to sleep beside Eurasian girl Christina Campbell(Emily Bolton) but gradually the woman start to see each other as people and strong friendships are formed particularly when the women build a new hut,much to the surprise of camp commandant Yamauchi(Burt Kwouk) When Cockney prostitute Blanche(one of my favourite characters)is caught escaping with Debbie(Karin Foley)whose mother has just died,the whole camp is punished with a real feud developing between the English and the Dutch,headed by the formidable Sister Ulrica(great performance by Patrica Lawrence)and the selfish Mrs Van Meyer (Elizabeth Chambers) the feud is resolved as the women work towards Blanche's release. Stephanie Beacham is great as the seemingly selfish Rose Millar with flashes of kindness underneath and her friendship with Blanche is one of the joys of the series,the aborted escape causing a real rift between the two,this is resolved when Blanche is sent back to her friends in the 2nd series after being sent to another camp at the start of series 2 along with Nurse Nellie Keane(who falls in love with Sally(Joanna Hole)in series 1,and Slyvia,Blanche informs them,that Slyvia died a month after arriving in the new camp,Nellie dies a few months before the end of the war in series 3. Series 2 to me,is the best,we meet evil Miss Hasan,(Josephine Welcome)the evil administrator at their new camp and corrupt leader Verna Johnson(Rosemary Martin)we learn at the end of series2,they both sold their red cross parcels,causing a lot of unnecessary deaths for Doctor Mason(great performance throughout by Stephanie Cole as tortured soul,Dr.Beatrice Mason) Veronica Roberts as Dorothy Bennett excels,she goes from widowed young mother to seeing her baby die,then becomes emotionally dead as she has sex with guards to get by but forms an unlikely friendship with Shinya,a Japanese guard,who has to shot Rose when she meets boyfriend Bernard,Dorothy eventually forgives him only for him to die in an allied raid. Rose dies at the end of series 2 and is very moving,as is Sally's suicide but the woman who survive carry grimly on but there are laughs too amongst the horror like putting a rat in Miss Hasan's room. Louise Jameson sadly wasn't available for series 3,so Blanche was killed off between series 2 and 3. Series 3 deals with the women adjusting to freedom and Beatrice has to cope with blindness and the end of her practising as a Doctor. The shock at the end of series 3 is the death of Joss Holbrook(wonderful Jean Anderson)worn out by 3 years of bashings and under nourishment combined with a recent mugging and the flu,she is simply worn out. Tenko Reunion deals with the women meeting up in 1950 and discovering old friend Christina is a communist traitor and they narrowly come away with their lives. A great series,very fondly remembered.