Tenko (TV series)

Last updated

Tenko
Tenko.jpg
Title caption that was seen throughout the series.
Created by Lavinia Warner
Written by Jill Hyem
Anne Valery
Paul Wheeler
Directed by Pennant Roberts
David Askey
David Tucker
Jeremy Summers
Michael Owen Morris
Starring Ann Bell
Stephanie Cole
Stephanie Beacham
Louise Jameson
Patricia Lawrence
Veronica Roberts
Emily Bolton
Jeananne Crowley
Elizabeth Chambers
Claire Oberman
Jean Anderson
Burt Kwouk
Rosemary Martin
Elizabeth Mickery
Theme music composerJames Harpham
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3, plus 1 feature length reunion special
No. of episodes31
Production
Producers Ken Riddington
Vere Lorrimer
Running time50 minutes
Original release
Network BBC1
Release22 October 1981 (1981-10-22) 
16 December 1984 (1984-12-16) 26 December 1985

Tenko is a television drama series co-produced by the BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which was broadcast between 1981 and 1985.

Contents

The series dealt with the experiences of British, Australian and Dutch women who were captured after the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, after the Japanese invasion, and held in a fictional Japanese internment camp on a Japanese-occupied island in the Dutch East Indies in modern day Indonesia between Singapore and Australia (the actual location of the island is not revealed in the series but it is assumed that the fictitious locations are set in south east Sumatra). Having been separated from their husbands, herded into makeshift holding camps and largely forgotten by the British War Office, the women had to learn to cope with appalling living conditions, malnutrition, disease, sexual violence and death.

Background

Tenko was created by Lavinia Warner after she had conducted research into the internment of nursing corps officer Margot Turner (1910–1993) for an edition of This Is Your Life and was convinced of the dramatic potential of the stories of women prisoners of the Japanese. [1] Aside from the first two episodes, set in Singapore, which were written by Paul Wheeler, the series was written by Jill Hyem and Anne Valery. War hero and prisoner of war Margaret Thomson was consulted about the series but she did not like to talk about her experiences and never watched the programmes. [2]

Owing to high production costs, only the first two episodes of the first series were filmed on location in Singapore, together with the post series reunion extended episode. For the majority of series 1 and 2, set in the camp, the programme was filmed in a specially constructed set in Dorset. Hankley Common was also used. [3]

The series takes its name from the Japanese word "tenko" (点呼/てんこ) which means "roll-call". POWs and internees in Japanese-run camps had regular roll-calls, where they had to line up and number off or were counted in Japanese. [4]

A total of thirty episodes were produced over three series between 1981 and 1984, followed by a one-off special (which was twice the length of the other episodes), Tenko Reunion, in 1985. Only Ann Bell, Stephanie Cole and Claire Oberman appeared in all thirty episodes plus the reunion.

Series One (1981)

Ten fifty-minute episodes broadcast between 22 October-24 December 1981.

The first series depicts the events leading up to the fall of Singapore to the invading Japanese forces in 1942, and the abortive evacuation of civilians from the city. As the war in Europe suddenly erupts into a world war, a group of British and Dutch women find themselves forced to cope with captivity in a Japanese internment camp. They also must find a way to live together as a community, breaking down the barriers of class and race between them, if they are to survive.

Marion Jefferson is enlisted as the leader of the women due to her husband being a colonel. Sylvia Ashburton learns to see past race when she begins to bond with Christina Campbell. Dorothy Bennet suffers the loss of her infant daughter, Violet, due to malnutrition. A pregnant Sally Markham suffers the tragedy of stillbirth. Sally then grows close to nurse Nellie Keane, and rumours begin to circulate about their intimacy.

In the last episode of the series, the women celebrate Christmas before being marched through the jungle to another camp.

Series Two (1982)

Ten fifty-minute episodes broadcast between 21 October-23 December 1982.

The second series continues with the women marching through the jungle and being split up before they arrive at a new camp, an old mission school, on New Year's Day 1943. Tensions arise as the internees are forced to adhere to the new regime implemented by the strict and fierce official interpreter, Miss Hasan.

After a joyous reunion with old friend, Lillian, Marion is forced to take a backseat as the women's official leader in favour of the overbearing wolf in sheep's clothing, Verna Johnson. Sally sinks into depression following the death of her husband and vows to take her own life. Dorothy continues to trade favours with the guards, teaching English to Shinya in exchange for cigarettes and later discovers that she is pregnant. Sister Ulrica vows to not speak in order to repent for her feelings of hate towards the Japanese. Blanche returns later in the series, as does Yamauchi, as he is promoted to Major and becomes the new commander. Rose escapes to meet Bernard but they are caught when one of the women informs Yamauchi.

As conditions in the camp worsen, the women take a stand against Verna and Miss Hasan but they are prevented from exposing them when an allied plane bombs the camp.

Series Three (1984)

Ten fifty-minute episodes broadcast between 7 October-16 December 1984.

The third series is set during 1945. The Second World War is over as the Japanese have surrendered. The series starts just before the end of the war in early August 1945 and the internees are in their third camp and are living under appalling and harsh conditions with Mrs Jefferson once again being leader of the group and the remaining prisoners of the camps are told by Yamauchi that the war has ended. They are later liberated by Allied troops and travel to Singapore. Billeted at Raffles, the women are free. However, peacetime only brings further dilemmas for the women as they struggle to forge new futures in an uncertain new world.

Marion struggles as she assumes the role of the "colonel's wife" which causes friction between Clifford and herself. Joss strikes up a relationship with Stephen. Maggie and Dorothy become embroiled in a love triangle with the handsome rogue, Jake.

Tenko Reunion (1985)

A double-length special was broadcast on 26 December 1985.

Set in 1950, Marion organises for the women to reunite in Singapore five years after their liberation from the camp. After an evening at Raffles Hotel, the women plan to continue their celebrations the following day at the residence of 'Metro Goldwyn' van Meyer but they are interrupted by the infiltration from mercenaries in search of weapons and ammunition, leading to a shocking revelation about one of the women.

Main cast list

CharacterActorSeries
Series 1Series 2Series 3Reunion
Marion Jefferson Ann Bell
Dr. Beatrice Mason Stephanie Cole
Rose Millar Stephanie Beacham
Sister Ulrica Patricia Lawrence
Christina Campbell Emily Bolton
Dorothy Bennett Veronica Roberts
Kate Norris Claire Oberman
Mrs Domenica Van Meyer Elizabeth Chambers
Blanche Simmons Louise Jameson
Nellie Keene Jeananne Crowley
Sylvia Ashburton Renee Asherson
Sally Markham Joanna Hole
Debbie BowenKarin Foley
Judith BowenAnn Queensberry
Major Yamauchi Burt Kwouk
Captain Sato Eiji Kusuhara
ShinyaTakashi Kawahara
KasakiTakahiro Oba
Colonel Clifford Jefferson Jonathan Newth
Lady Jocelyn 'Joss' Holbrook Jean Anderson
Verna Johnson Rosemary Martin
Daisy RobertsonAnna Lindup
Lillian Cartland Philippa Urquhart
Natalie TrierCarrolle Rousseau
Miss HasanJosephine Welcome
Lt. NakamuraSabu Kimura
Bobby CartlandNicolas Corry
Suzy ParkinKerry Tovey
Maggie Thorpe Elizabeth Mickery
Alice Courtenay Cindy Shelley
Phyllis Bristow Elspet Gray
Jake Haulter Damien Thomas
Stephen Wentworth Preston Lockwood
Colonel SmithersStephen Gordon
Teddy Forster-Brown Robert Lang
Duncan Fraser Christian Rodska
Lau PengSwee Hoe Lim

DVD release and books

All three series plus the Reunion Special were released in one DVD box-set in 2011 through Acorn Media UK.

Three paperback books were published in the 1980s. One covering the first series, titled Tenko, while a second called Last Tenko, covered the second and final series. The third book, written by Anne Valery, covered the Reunion.

A book about the making of Tenko called Remembering Tenko by Andy Priestner was published in October 2012.

Related Research Articles

Ann Forrest Bell is a British actress, best known for playing war internee Marion Jefferson in the BBC Second World War drama series Tenko.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topaz War Relocation Center</span> United States historic place

The Topaz War Relocation Center, also known as the Central Utah Relocation Center (Topaz) and briefly as the Abraham Relocation Center, was an American concentration camp in which Americans of Japanese descent and immigrants who had come to the United States from Japan, called Nikkeiwere incarcerated. President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, ordering people of Japanese ancestry to be incarcerated in what were euphemistically called "relocation centers" like Topaz during World War II. Most of the people incarcerated at Topaz came from the Tanforan Assembly Center and previously lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. The camp was opened in September 1942 and closed in October 1945.

A civilian internee is a civilian detained by a party to a war for security reasons. Internees are usually forced to reside in internment camps. Historical examples include Japanese American internment and internment of German Americans in the United States during World War II. Japan interned 130,000 Dutch, British, and American civilians in Asia during World War II.

Lavinia Warner is a British television writer and producer. She created several successful TV series in the 1980s and 1990s, all of which featured women in the leading roles. These included the World War II female internee drama Tenko (1981-5) for the BBC, secret agent drama Wish Me Luck (1988–90) for London Weekend Television (LWT) and the taxi-firm series Rides (1992-3), again for the BBC. For the latter two series she also acted as producer. Warner is now the CEO of Warner Sisters, an independent production company.

Wakako Yamauchi was a Japanese American writer. Her plays are considered pioneering works in Asian-American theater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batu Lintang camp</span> Japanese-run WWII internment camp in Kuching, Sarawak

Batu Lintang camp at Kuching, Sarawak on the island of Borneo was a Japanese-run internment camp during the Second World War. It was unusual in that it housed both Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian internees. The camp, which operated from March 1942 until the liberation of the camp in September 1945, was housed in buildings that were originally British Indian Army barracks. The original area was extended by the Japanese, until it covered about 50 acres. The camp population fluctuated, due to movement of prisoners between camps in Borneo, and as a result of the deaths of the prisoners. It had a maximum population of some 3,000 prisoners.

Changi is a six-part Australian television miniseries broadcast by ABC TV in 2001. It originally aired from 14 October 2001 to 18 November 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Internment Camp</span> Civilian internment camp in Hong Kong

Stanley Internment Camp was a civilian internment camp in Hong Kong during the Second World War. Located in Stanley, on the southern end of Hong Kong Island, it was used by the Japanese imperial forces to hold non-Chinese enemy nationals after their victory in the Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941. About 2,800 men, women, and children were held at the non-segregated camp for 44 months from early January 1942 to August 1945 when Japanese forces surrendered. The camp area consisted of St Stephen's College and the grounds of Stanley Prison, excluding the prison itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union</span> Japanese prisoners of war

After World War II there were from 560,000 to 760,000 Japanese personnel in the Soviet Union and Mongolia interned to work in labor camps as POWs. Of them, it is estimated that between 60,000 and 347,000 died in captivity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Changi Chapel and Museum</span>

The Changi Chapel and Museum is a war museum dedicated to Singapore's history during the Second World War and the Japanese occupation of Singapore. After the British Army was defeated by the Imperial Japanese Army in the Battle of Singapore, thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) were imprisoned in Changi prison camp for three and a half years. While interned there, the POWs built numerous chapels, one of which was named St George's Church.

Taiwanese Australians are Australian citizens or permanent residents who carry full or partial ancestry from the East Asian island country of Taiwan or from preceding Taiwanese regimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weixian Internment Camp</span> WW2 Japanese internment camp for enemy civilians

The Weixian Internment Camp, better known historically as the Weihsien Internment Camp, was a Japanese-run internment camp called a "Civilian Assembly Center" in the former Wei County, located near the city of Weifang, Shandong, China. The compound was used by the Japanese during World War II to intern civilians of Allied countries living in North China. The camp operated from March 1943 until October 1945 and more than 2,200 civilians were interned for all or part of the time the camp was open.

Brigadier Dame Evelyn Marguerite Turner,, known as Margot Turner, was a British military nurse and nursing administrator. A prisoner of war during the Second World War, she resumed her career following liberation and served in a succession of foreign postings.

Honouliuli National Historic Site is near Waipahu on the island of Oahu, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. This is the site of the Honouliuli Internment Camp which was Hawaiʻi's largest and longest-operating internment camp, opened in 1943 and closed in 1946. It was designated a National monument on February 24, 2015, by President Barack Obama. The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed March 12, 2019, redesignated it as Honouliui National Historic Site. The internment camp held 320 internees and also became the largest prisoner of war camp in Hawaiʻi with nearly 4,000 individuals being held. Of the seventeen sites that were associated with the history of internment in Hawaiʻi during World War II, the camp was the only one built specifically for prolonged detention. As of 2015, the new national monument is without formal services and programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santo Tomas Internment Camp</span> WW2 Japanese internment camp for enemy civilians

Santo Tomas Internment Camp, also known as the Manila Internment Camp, was the largest of several camps in the Philippines in which the Japanese interned enemy civilians, mostly Americans, in World War II. The campus of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila was utilized for the camp, which housed more than 3,000 internees from January 1942 until February 1945. Conditions for the internees deteriorated during the war and by the time of the liberation of the camp by the U.S. Army many of the internees were near death from lack of food.

Camp Holmes Internment Camp, also known as Camp #3 and Baguio Internment Camp, near Baguio in the Philippines was established in World War II by the Japanese to intern civilians from countries hostile to Japan. The camp housed about 500 civilians, mostly Americans, between April 1942 and December 1944 when the internees were moved to Bilibid Prison in Manila. Camp Holmes was a Philippine Constabulary base before World War II and later was renamed Camp Bado Dangwa and became a base for the Philippine National Police. It is located near what is now the Halsema Highway.

Joan Bamford Fletcher was a Canadian member of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. In 1945, Fletcher commanded a force of surrendered Japanese soldiers and used them to escort 2,000 Dutch civilian captives from a civilian internment camp at Bangkinang, Dutch East Indies to safety. Fletcher was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services. The 2001 documentary Rescue from Sumatra is based on her actions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Haxworth</span>

William Rupert Monkman Haxworth was a police inspector, soldier and traffic chief in the Colony of Singapore. During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, Haxworth was interned at Changi Prison and Sime Road internment camp, where he drew over three hundred paintings and sketches on whatever materials he could obtain depicting living conditions in the internment camps.

References

  1. Warner, Lavinia; Sandilands, John (29 March 1982). "dustjacket". Women Beyond the Wire: Story of Prisoners of the Japanese, 1942-45. Michael Joseph Ltd. ISBN   978-0718119348.
  2. Ewan, Elizabeth L.; Innes, Sue; Reynolds, Sian; Pipes, Rose (8 March 2006). The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women: From Earliest Times to 2004. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 353–. ISBN   978-0748617135.
  3. "Bomb alert hits 'Tenko' beauty spot". Sunday Mirror . 19 November 2000.
  4. Warren, Jane (4 November 2010). "Tainted by Tenko". Daily Express . Retrieved 14 August 2023.