''Nancy Wake'' is a 1987 Australian mini-series on the exploits of New Zealand born Australian

Nancy Wake Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, (30 August 1912 – 7 August 2011), also known as Madame Fiocca and Nancy Fiocca, was a nurse and journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II, and b ...

(Wellington, NZ, 30 August 1912 – London, UK, 7 August 2011) during

World War II 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 ...

as a female British

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

agent based on

Russell Braddon Russell Reading Braddon (25 January 1921 – 20 March 1995) was an Australian writer of novels, biographies and TV scripts. His chronicle of his four years as a prisoner of war, '' The Naked Island'', sold more than a million copies. Braddon ...

's 1956 book ''Nancy Wake: The Story of a Very Brave Woman''.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p216 It was released as ''True Colors'' in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Production

In 1985, Australian television

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

purchased the rights to

's book ''Nancy Wake: The Story of a Very Brave Woman'' and engaged a producer, but due to differences over what approach to take, including budget, the project was called off. The production company, and director Pino Amenta, had planned to produce a definitive resistance story over eight hours. Five months later, in April 1986, Seven Network approached Simpson Le Mesurier Films, Roger Le Mesurier the producer and Roger Simpson the writer-producer, who came up with a four-hour love story. In October 1986, Nancy Wake was asked to be a consultant, after the script had been prepared. She criticized parts of Simpson's script which were not acceptable to her. At the launch of the film by Network Seven, Nancy spoke candidly of her views of the production, stating she was disappointed it was not made as originally planned as an eight-hour resistance story but instead a four-hour love story, and criticized aspects of the mini-series. She said "There are certain little things I don't agree with, but in the main I think it's wonderful." She continued to criticize the script throughout her life that certain scenes were not a true depiction. She appears in the film as Madame Fouret. Filming was completed within 11 weeks around Melbourne and involved the construction of two French towns. The forest battle scenes were shot near Harcourt in an oak forest and included a two-week shoot in Marseilles and Paris. Nancy was not sent to France to consult. The mini-series was pre-sold to British

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

Cast

Noni Hazlehurst Leonie Elva "Noni" Hazlehurst is an Australian actress, director, writer, presenter, and broadcaster who has appeared on television and radio, in dramas, mini-series, and made for television films, as well also on stage and in feature films ...

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

as Henri Fiocca *

Shane Briant Shane Briant (17 August 1946 – 26 May 2021) was an English actor and novelist. Briant studied law at Trinity College Dublin but became a professional actor playing the lead in ''Hamlet'' at the Eblana Theatre, Dublin. Briant is best known fo ...

as Gestapo Major * Kevin Miles as Commander Busch *

as Madame Fouret *

Tiriel Mora Tiriel Mora (born 19 October 1958) is an Australian television and film actor. Early life Tiriel Mora's parents were French-born visual artist Mirka Mora and German-born entrepreneur, art dealer and restauranteur Georges Mora. His older brot ...

as Judex *

John McTernan John McTernan (born 1959) is a British political strategist and commentator. He has been a political adviser to the Labour Party. McTernan was Prime Minister Tony Blair's Director of Political Operations from 2005 to 2007. He then worked on ...

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald described it as "... compelling with its humour and tears. The whole cast puts on a brilliant display of talent. This show is not to be missed". The mini-series screened in July 1988 in Britain taking the title as the highest rating program on London Weekend Television so far that year.

Home media

''Nancy Wake'' was released on DVD and Online Streaming by Umbrella Entertainment in November 2012. The DVD is compatible with all region codes.

References

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External links

''Nancy Wake''
at

AustLit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature) is a national bio-bibliographical database of Australian literature. It is an internet-based, ...

''Nancy Wake''
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

Australian epic films Australian historical drama films 1980s Australian television miniseries 1987 Australian television series debuts 1987 Australian television series endings