Historia Magazine

The magazine of the Historical Writers Association

  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • New Books
    • TV, Film and Theatre
    • One From The Vaults
  • Latest Releases
  • Columns
    • Doctor Darwin’s Writing Tips
    • Watching History
    • Desert Island Books
  • Awards
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Historia in your inbox

Close to the Enemy: Episode One

11 November 2016 By James Burge

close-to-the-enemy_

Close to the Enemy (Episode 1/7, BBC Two, 10 November), written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, confronts, over seven episodes, important historical issues concerning the way we handle political evil.  Set in Britain in 1947, the drama centres around two opposing forces among the victors of WWII: those who are investigating German nationals for alleged war crimes (The War Crimes Investigation Unit) and those who are trying to persuade skilled ex-members of the German military to use their technical knowledge in the service of Britain (T Force). The moral questions arise, obviously, where the two groups of the vanquished overlap.

The first episode begins with the abduction, at night, of a German engineer, Dieter Koehler (August Diehl), and his eight-year-old daughter, Lotte (Lucy Ward). They are brought to England and put into the care of Captain Callum Ferguson, played by Jim Sturgess with laconic cockiness, rather like Sean Connery with an English accent. Given his recent abduction, it is unsurprising that Dieter (who, on the face of it, seems like a decent cove) does not want to play ball. Callum is given six days to turn him round. His strategy is to take the pair to The Connington, a posh-but-faded hotel, and let them have anything they want.

Now it is true that during and after the war German prisoners were sometimes kept in stately homes and hotels. There is certainly evidence of serious maltreatment in some cases, but I have been unable to find any account of their being given a limitless expenses budget. In fact, this ploy is an example of a theme which occurs more than once in Poliakoff’s work (Shooting the Past, 1999; Joes’s Palace, 2007): the idea that one can achieve one’s aims simply by behaving weirdly – victory though eccentricity, one might call it. There is another example of this in a later episode where Callum, in front of his wards, rips out all the hidden microphones from their room. I think the idea is that Koehler might decide that Callum is such an off-the-wall fellow that he can be trusted. It hasn’t worked yet, but there is something about Callum’s smugness that makes me think that it, or something like it, eventually will.

The stage on which this drama plays out is the Connington Hotel. All the other guests are deeply sinister. Unexplained characters act as focuses for mystery: a dapper aristocrat, a pair of posh tarts and numerous Marplesque little old ladies. We even meet a stray German paedophile – at least, I think that is what he is. Apparently by coincidence, we meet him both at the port of entry and at the hotel, suggesting he may be a spy trying out a different disguise. That is one of the problems with Close to the Enemy. In a story of deceit and subterfuge the audience has to have a reasonable chance of understanding what is going on, otherwise the script runs the risk of suffering a kind of narrative collapse; this production teeters close to the brink. To give another example, there is a scene where the daughter, Lotte, bawls with homesick distress in the middle of the dining room. Now, requiring any actor to sob wordlessly in a way which dominates an entire room is a big ask, and it is no disgrace to actress Lucy Ward (well cast in this role) that her performance leaves one wondering whether she is really distressed or whether she is faking, as part of some cunning plan. Eventually the action makes it clear that she is on the level, but by then it is too late. Mystery is fine, confusion less so.

In the basement ballroom Callum finds, sitting on the stage, Eva (Angela Basset), a gorgeous, black American jazz singer, straight from the Deep South. None of the other guests seem to know about her, or the gig for which she is preparing. On the opening night the stuffed shirts of the British audience do not respond to her very stylish music (British people unfamiliar with American Jazz in 1947. Can that be right?).  But Eva has an idea. She encourages the residents to come down to the basement by giving each of them an orange, of which she happens to have been given a case that morning. Oranges were not obtainable in 1947 so the punters do come, and the principals seem to enjoy themselves, but the rest still manage to look a bit glum. This may be another example of ‘victory through eccentricity’, but it just looks like manipulation by bribery to me.

What the script lacks is a structure which links scenes together through causation – one thing happening because of another. Instead of this, Poliakoff sets us down in a kind of moral Legoland where separate emblematic events are held up before us like placards, one after another.

The episode (and probably the series) is actually held together by the (almost unspoken) historical reference to the pain and suffering caused by the National Socialist Party in the first half of the Twentieth Century. The Nazis are the glue which holds the drama together. Now, as readers of Historia know better than most, there are vital lessons to be learned from History. But the Devil is a master of disguise and surely by sticking to a well-thumbed section of the historical textbook – so familiar that it needs no introduction – we may run the risk of missing something else.

Close to the Enemy is on BBC Two on Thursdays at 9pm or on BBC iplayer.

James Burge writes about history and makes promotional videos for writers.

Share this article:Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Email this to someone
email

Filed Under: Columns, TV, Film and Theatre, Watching History Tagged With: Angela Basset, August Diehl, BBC, Charlotte Riley, Close to the Enemy, Freddie Highmore, James Burge, Jim Sturgess, Lucy Ward, review, Stephen Poliakoff, TV drama, TV review

Search

Latest Releases

Nora by Nuala O’Connor

10 April 2021

Templar’s Acre by Michael Jecks

8 April 2021

Hell Gate by Jeff Dawson

8 April 2021

See more new releases

Let’s stay in touch

Sign up for our monthly email newsletter:

Or follow us on social media:

Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook

Editor’s Picks

A Plague on your Business by Michael Jecks: part 1

16 July 2020

Unforgettable legacies of the East India Company

7 December 2019

The Women of the Knights Templar

9 April 2018

Popular Topics

16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 2020 Ancient Rome Andrew Taylor Anglo-Saxons author interview biography book review Catherine Hokin Competition Debut Crown Elizabeth Fremantle Emma Darwin Giveaway historical fiction history HWA HWA Crown Awards HWA Non-Fiction Crown Imogen Robertson interview Katherine Clements Matthew Harffy medieval new release paperback research review Second World War Shortlist short stories the writing life Tudors TV drama TV review Vikings World War II writing writing advice writing tips WWII

The Historical Writers’ Association

Historia Magazine is published by the Historical Writers’ Association. We are authors, publishers and agents of historical writing, both fiction and non-fiction. For information about membership and profiles of our member authors, please visit our website.

Read more about Historia or find out about advertising and promotional opportunities.

ISSN 2515-2254

Recent Additions

  • Catherine of Braganza, the neglected Queen
  • Nora by Nuala O’Connor
  • HWA Crowns winners interviews: Toby Green

Search Historia

Contact us

If you would like to contact the editor of Historia, please email editor@historiamag.com.

Copyright © 2014–2021 The Historical Writers Association