Flashback: Kessler

We take a look at the six-part thriller series Kessler which was the sequel to Secret Army; the BBC drama series set in occupied Belgium following the operatives of lifeline who helped shot-down RAF pilots evade capture. Kessler followed the character of SS Standartenfuhrer Ludwig Kessler [Clifford Rose] as he tries to evade capture more than 30 years after the close of World War Two.

In 1979 the third and final series of Secret Army drew to a close as Belgium was liberated and German collapsed. Kessler was captured by the allied forces but had assumed another identity and was later freed as his Belgium mistress Madeline [Hazel McBride] bribed the guards that held him. This was the last episode of Secret Army although it wasn’t intended to be as another episode had been filmed which was to rap up the series. The final episode was to be “What Did You Do In the War, Daddy’ which was set in 1969 and saw the members of Lifeline reunite for a documentary being made for Belgium television.

The episode would also have answered the question of what happened to Kessler after fleeing to Germany with Madeline. The documentary revealed he assumed another identity and became a prominent industrialist in Germany but questions about his true identity arise. The episode was pulled by the BBC because it overtly anti-communist and there were also concerns about the style of the episode as well – presented as a documentary. Although the episode was scrapped and has never been seen the storyline laid the foundations for the sequel series that would follow.

In 1981 it was decided to produce a sequel series to Secret Army which would focus entirely on the character of Kessler and his post war activities. Early storyline ideas involved bringing back actor Terence Hardiman to play the twin brother of Major Reinhart who Kessler had shot in the last episode of Secret Amy. However, this idea was quickly abandoned and instead producer Gerald Glaister decided to reuse elements of the scrapped final episode of Secret Army. Members of lifeline would be reunited by journalist hopeful they could positively identity German industrialist Manfred Dorf as former SS Standartenfuhrer Kessler – with Kessler’s real identity in danger of being revealed he would be forced to flee to South America like so many of his other comrades.

For the first episode actors Bernard Hepton, Angela Richards and Juliet Hammond-Hill agreed to reprise their respective roles from Secret Army as they are asked by journalist Hugo Van Eyck [Jerome Willis] to identity Kessler from footage he shows them for a documentary he is producing. Ron Pember who played Alain in Secret Amy was asked to reprise his role but was unavailable and so did not appear in the episode. The trio of actors reprised their role for the opening episode only with the action quickly moving away from them and in a difference direction.

Clifford Rose was keen to reprise his role of Kessler but was disappointed that producers decided not to ask Hazel McBride back to play Madeline. Producers decided instead that Madeline had died in the years since the war ended and instead to give Kessler a daughter, Ingrid [Alison Glennie]. However, despite not appearing in the sequel itself actress Hazel McBride did agree to return for photographs for the ‘Family album’ which would play an important part in the shows third episode. The role of Ingrid was given to Alison Glennie because she had been recommended by Juliet Hammond-Hill as the two actresses’ had recently worked together on an episode of Blakes 7.

It wouldn’t only be Belgium journalist Van Eyck that would be interested in the question of Manfred Dork’s real identity. Actor Alan Dobie played Western German intelligence officer Richard Bauer who is contacted by Van Eyck who needs help investigating Dorf’s accounts. Aiding Bauer in the first three episodes is fellow intelligence officer Karl Leider [Robert Morris] who is killed because of his investigations into Dorf. Also interested in whether Kessler is alive or not is Israeli Mical Rak [Nitza Saul] whose family were sent to the concentration camp by Kessler during the occupation of Brussels. Actress Nitza Saul was cast after producers had considered actress Ishia Bennison for the role but decided upon Saul because she was well known in Israel for her roles in many films during the 1970s. Actress Ishia Bennison was however, cast in the role of Ruth, Mical’s friend, who is killed in the first episode. Bennison also was the stunt double for Saul in some scenes. Aiding Kessler to begin with but later turning against him was Colonel Ruckett a well decorated officer in the Luftwaffe during the war, now a high ranking member of the Kameradenwerk. Veteran actor Ralph Michael was cast in the role. 

The producers of Kessler were very keen that all the events seemed plausible but also based in some real event. Many episodes of Secret Army were based on real events that took place during the war and Glaister was keen that Kessler would also do this. The issue of Nazi war criminals had come into focus once again in the late 1970s and the secret organisation known as Odessa [or the Kameradenwerk] who helped wanted Nazi war criminals escape capture. It was also known that many Nazi’s had fled to South America and were living in exile there. Kessler would cover all these issues as the various intelligence organistions become more interested in he is forced to flee Europe for Paraquay. Also dealt with was the rise of Neo-Nazism in Europe as Kessler’s daughter Ingrid is a leading member of a youth Nazi organisation which is keen to get its hands on the Nazi fortune that Kessler holds the key too.

As with Secret Army the series was co-produced by BRT in Belgium and filming took place in Brussells in, among other venues, the Grand Square where the Candide was supposedly located. Secret Army had also filmed in the Grand Square during its run for the exterior shots of the Candide. As well as filming in Belgium some scenes where filmed in Germany but only a handful because extensive filming within Western Germany was too expensive. Instead most of the scenes set in Germany were in fact filmed in Wales specifically the two residents of Dorf. Filming also took place in London for the episode which was partially set there – as English intelligence takes an interest in Kessler and Mical and Richard team up to try and defeat the threat posed by the remaining Nazi war criminals. For the episodes set in Paraquay the exterior scenes were actually shot in Spain as the limitations of a BBC budget were obvious and actual filming in South America was out of the question.

While rehershals for the episodes took place at the BBC Acton studios, dubbed the Hilton Acton by many within the BBC, the studio filming itself took place in Glasgow. This meant that cast and crew rehersed for two weeks in London before getting the train up to Glasgow to film the actual episodes. This meant that some of the production team who had worked on Secret Army were unavilable to return because of this arrangement. However, directors Michael E Briant and Tristan De Vere Cole were both hired by Glastier to direct the serial because of their previous work on Secret Army. Briant who had just finished work on another Glaistier series, Blood Money [in which several Secret Army/Kessler actors appeared] turned down all six episodes but agreed to direct the first three episodes and the sixth and final episode. De Vere therefore would film episodes four and five which saw the action shift from Europe to South America as Kessler flees to Paraquay persued by Mical and Richard.  

Essentially the six part serial can be broken down into two halfs. The first half is set in Europe and deals with attempts to uncover Dorf/Kessler’s true idenity as he is persued across Europe and investigated by different intelligence organisations despite best attempts within the German organisation to prevent this. Once, due to Mikal and Richard’s persistance, it becomes obvious that Kessler can not stay in Europe the second half of the serial focuses on his disulisionment in South America and the power struggle that emerges between him and Ruckat as to the future of the organisation. The pace between the two halfs is very different but then the narrative structure is very different to that of parent show Secret Army.

Producer Gerald Glaitair had hoped to produce a second series of the spin-off but early on actor Clifford Rose felt the limitations of the storyline and narrative – Kessler being persued across contintents – would not lend itself to another series and felt instead that the story of Kessler should be tied up once and for all. It was therefore agreed that at the end of episode six the character would be killed off and there would end the story. However, should producers have wished to continue the story without Kessler, but still killing him off, it would have been possible as the characters of Richard and Mikal could easily have appeared in a follow-up series where they could have continued to search for Josef Mengle [Oscar Quitak] who appeared for two episodes in Kessler. The character of Colonel Ruckat could also have been given up a follow-up series as well. But these were new characters introduced spefically for the series of Kessler and were not well enough established with the audiences perhaps for producers to feel potential further material for them.

The theme tune for the series was a reworking of Secret Army haunting theme, which Robert Farnon had composed and who returned to rework the theme for Kessler,  and John Branson once again returned as script editor and writer for the sequel. Most of the publicity for the sequel focused on the Secret Army aspect of it with interviews with the actors reprising their roles even though they were mostly only involved with the first episode. Actress Angela Richards said it was the last time she would play the character of Monique signalling no further spin-offs were planned concentrating on the other regulars. Some publicity errorondsly declared that it was the Secret Army regulars who were after Kessler with avengance looking to settle old scores. Kessler opened well with over 10 million viewers and although over the six episodes ratings did drop off slightly they were still well over 9 million by the series conclusion.

As with Secret Army, Kessler has since been released on DVD for fans to enjoy and is a must for all Secret Army fans. It has also been repeated on UKTV Drama immediately following the stations repeat of Secret Army.   

Kessler starred: Clifford Rose, Alan Dobie, Nitza Saul, Alison Glennie, Ralph Michael, Nicholas Young, Guy Rolfe, Oscar Quitak, Jerome Willis, Royston Tickner, Harold Innocent, Jeremy Wilkin, Robert Morris, John Moreno, Ishia Bennison with Bernard Hepton, Angela Richards and Juliet Hammond-Hill.