''Colditz'' is a two-part 2005 television drama

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

, based on the book ''Colditz: The Definitive History'' by Henry Chancellor, and the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

television series ''Escape from Colditz''. It is not claimed to be historically accurate. It features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

headlined by

Damian Lewis Damian Watcyn Lewis (born 11 February 1971) is a British actor, musician and producer. He rose to prominence portraying U.S. Army Major Richard Winters in the HBO miniseries ''Band of Brothers (miniseries), Band of Brothers''. Lewis won a Prime ...

and

Sophia Myles Sophia Myles () is an English actress. She is best known in film for portraying Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in Thunderbirds (2004 film), ''Thunderbirds'' (2004), Isolde in ''Tristan & Isolde (film), Tristan & Isolde'' (2006), Darcy in ''Transfo ...

and was directed by Stuart Orme. The screenplay was written by

Peter Morgan Peter Julian Robin Morgan (born 10 April 1963) is a British screenwriter and playwright. He has written for theatre, films and television, often writing about historical events or figures such as Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II, whom he has ...

and Richard Cottan.

Synopsis

The series tells several stories of various, mostly British,

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and their attempts to escape

Colditz Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig (district), Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C prisoner-of-war camp, POW camp for officers in World War II. Geography Colditz is situa ...

. The first episode features a fictionalised account of an actual event when three inmates Dick Lorraine, John 'Bosun' Crisp, and the 'Medium Sized Man', Flt Lt

Dominic Bruce Dominic Bruce, (7 June 1915 – 12 February 2000) was a British Royal Air Force officer, known as the "Medium Sized Man." He has been described as "the most ingenious escaper" of the Second World War. He made seventeen attempts at escaping from ...

OBE MC AFM KSG MA RAF attempted to escape using the castle sewers. In reality the escape team were discovered when they attempted to exit a manhole. The Germans threatened to throw grenades down into the sewer chamber and, as the escapees could not reverse back up the sewer pipe, they were forced to surrender. They were immediately put in front of a firing squad, but unlike the fictional TV account, the guards did not fire. Just before the order was to be given, Bruce lost his temper and approached the officer in charge, Eggers, saying "you can shoot us, but after the war we'll hang you". Eggers stood the squad down. An account of this escape can be found in Reel Five of the oral history version given by Flt. Lt. Bruce to be found in the

Imperial War Museum The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...

Sound Archive.

Cast

– Cpl. / Lt. Nicholas McGrade * Tom Hardy – 2nd Lt. Jack Rose *

– Lizzie Carter *

Laurence Fox Laurence Paul Fox (born 26 May 1978) is an English actor and right-wing political activist. A member of the British entertainment industry's Fox family, he graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and debuted in the film '' The Hole'' ...

– Capt. Tom Willis *

James Fox James William Fox (born William Fox; 19 May 1939) is an English actor known for his work in film and television. Fox's career began in the 1960s through roles in films such as '' The Servant'' and ''Performance''. He is also known for his role ...

– Lt. Colonel Jimmy Fordham *

Timothy West Timothy Lancaster West (20 October 1934 – 12 November 2024) was an English actor with a long and varied career across theatre, film, and television. He began acting in repertory theatres in the 1950s before making his London stage debut in 19 ...

– Bunny Warren *

Jason Priestley Jason Bradford Priestley (born August 28, 1969) is a Canadian-American actor and television director. Priestly starred as virtuous Brandon Walsh on the television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1990–1998, 2000). His other television roles in ...

– Flying Officer Rhett Barker * Guy Henry – Capt. Edward Sawyer * Robert Whitelock – Flt. Lt. Venning *

Charles Kay Alfred Charles Piff (31 August 1930 – 8 January 2025), better known by his stage name Charles Kay, was an English actor. Early life and education Kay was born in Coventry, Warwickshire, the son of Frances (née Petty) and Charles Beckingham ...

– Colonel Henry Cartwright, Military Attaché in Switzerland * Juliet Howland – Mary * Scott Handy – Mullan * Alex Avery – Collins *

Eve Myles Eve Myles (born 26 July 1978) is a British actress from Ystradgynlais, Wales. Her television roles include Ceri Lewis in the long-running BBC Wales drama series '' Belonging'' (2000–2009), Gwen Cooper in the BBC science-fiction series '' To ...

– Jill * Robert Cambrinus – Tony de Jongh * Charles Edwards – Ellways (MI9 Officer)

Release

As of November 2010, ''Colditz'' has been released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

in Region 1 and on

in Region 2 and 6.

Awards

In 2006, it won the BAFTA Television Craft Award for best

sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating auditory elements of media. It involves specifying, acquiring and creating audio using production techniques and equipment or software. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking ...

in a fiction or entertainment.

References

External links