When it was a privilege to pay the license fee for this quality of program.

50 years old.. and just understatedly brilliant.

Classic 70s when TV was worth watching 👍👍

One of the best series ever made. ❤

Absolutely spot on....fine acting...superb set work and general attention to detail.

What's so fascinating here, is that the first dialogue; was spoken 6 minutes into it. Modern drama couldn't manage this I think.

Colonel (Lt.Col) Preston, true bad ass when he takes his trench coat off to show off his DSM and other honors. Also, he captures so well the British old-class who followed the LOAC/Law of War (and still do). A gentlemen among men. Need a guy like that to Command (cmd/Ldr)

At last you tube has this superb series to watch .must get the DVD box set! A classic

What a cracking good episode, with such fine acting. I watched this series in the 70s. I think it came on after the nine o'clock news. Somehow 9:20 p.m. remains in my mind.

This is perfect lockdown TV! Also....poor Eric😞

I remember when this debuted on TV back in the 1970's. It was great; as were all the Brit offerings then!

Jack Hedleys performance is very special

The list of excellent actors in this series is just never ending ... Even saw Eric idle in the Intro episode! And who else was muttering 'Duckie' ...??

this is my kind of drama. quality acting, quality script, well-constructed plots and serious production values. all of which are largely missing from tv drama today. I was too young to appreciate dramas such as this and Secret Army when they first screened. students of tv entertainment could do worse than study both of these.

Bernard Hepton, a remarkable actor, upstaged many a leading role in the series, RI, Bernard!

I like the 1970s image - links the present with the 40s past very nicely.

Bernard Hepton was fantastic as the Kommandant. Bernard is still alive and well as of July 2017, at the grand age of 91.

Amazing series loved every episode and season

Jack Headley played the SBO so well.

Outstanding series! I can definitely imagine that had a "stuffy officer type" like this arrived at Colditz, the guys already there wouldn't have taken kindly to him!

Wow bringing that series back 🤣🔙 sure conjures, up some Foggy memories, for me? Being I lived in Canada, for 18 yrs. that program and others just fascinated Me,& my Buddies as well. Thank you UTube.

There is so much overlap between this cast and Secret Army, and in turn between Secret Army's cast and Allo Allo. This is my first time watching this series (just discovered it), and I'm waiting for the first one I notice who was in all three. I first thought Muir might have been a young John D. Collins, but I guess not. (I say, spiffing look-alikes - crack on, what ho? :D ) Still looking. Lemme see... there's Hillary Minster, Guy Siner, Collins, and Richard Marner on the list I remember. Eyes front!

43:30 The Kommandant's use of the phrase "With regret" has become famous as used by Lord sugar in The Apprentice.

The music of Colditz is very World War 2. Great series!

What has happened to todays series? This is superb as were many British drama/comedey/sitcoms etc. Just excellent.

have to love the comment about the Captain being against tip and run attacks (as implicitly cowardly) and favouring going at it bull headed - the mentality of a certain type of officer. Its the same mentality you see sometimes in rugby etc where a team charges again and again into the centre - might work if against a weak team but not against one that will defeat such all day long...was a bit the tendency too in the 2nd half of the Euro 2020 final

Utterly Brilliant series

just absolutely awesome!

This series pisses all over the trash made today

Jack Headley was so damn good

In real life Colditz there was only one German Wehrmacht guard who could speak fluent English - Captain Reinhold Eggers, who would be the only interaction between the Germans and English prisoners. Here the Kommandant spoke English (not perfect) but near perfect. This was dramatic license, to ensure the drama ran smoothly.

Love TV series. Before my time but a classic

FYI they were closer to 1940 than we are to them.it should be noted that the pole POW’s were very very lucky. After Poland was overrun Poles were generally not treated as POW’s

I have five different streaming services and access to the usual public broadcasting. What am I watching? Colditz clips on KZfaq. I wonder why?

The blitz attack on London started on September 7th 1940, so the Kommandant mentions that London has been attacked many nights at 15:30 so this dates this episode to be set around early autumn/fall of 1940.

Look what gems I've found in deep youtube

With McCallum in the back of the truck, reminds me of the two Ronnie's sketch on flt ltn Carter at Colditz.

I'm surprised that this programme has survived so long without being taken down by the BBC's lawyer. Those familiar with Bernard Hepton in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or Smiley's People cannot unfortunately enjoy his performance there.

Bernard hepton was in secret army.

The Gestapo guy with the black trilby reminds me of the SS officer out of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Hans Meyer was superb in this series

It is interesting that the Northern mark on the map isn't over Coventry as the Kommandant says,...but over Lincolnshire (where I believe Bomber Command was...! (It was certainly Bomber Country...!!)...)

One of the best séries BBC ever made it in seventies colditz' Excellent actors and true story POW WW2 l used like on saturday to watch it

Solitary in Colditz in the winter would not have been much fun - it must have been freezing. Even in the summer I suspect it was pretty cold. Here is a film I made whilst visiting Colditz in November 2010 which somewhat resembles the scenery shown here. Of course the producers did not have access to East Germany in 1972! Leipzig to Colditz part 2 of two

Fantastic

The new arrival's meeting with the Kommandant was already delayed when McCallum made his escape attempt, so that could not have been the reason for the delay.

The proof of whether or not proper treatment of prisoners of war is advantageous to the captor was established beyond any doubt in WWII. The German prisoners who were sent to the U.S.A and Canada were treated exceedingly well, so well in fact that many either applied to remain after the war or returned after being sent home. They were given training/education, work, good food and had recreations of many kinds available to them. I've read accounts written by German POW's which stated they had never been a part of any military unit which had morale as good as it was among the prisoners of POW camps in North America. And conversely the Allies learned that keeping the prisoners happy, well fed and occupied greatly reduced escape activity and also helped them gain much better intelligence in questioning and monitoring the prisoners. It's not just a matter of being 'nice', it's just smarter to do that rather than stiffen resolve against what you are trying to accomplish and stoking hate every step of the way.

It must have been mental whiplash, when, at war's end, the Russia's occupied Colditz and used it as a German Prisoner of War camp.....and some of its former German military staff were.....back in the camp they first guarded......

une belle serie

I was in stitches when David what`s his name was caught trying to hitch a ride in the back of the truck!.

There were originally 28 episodes over two series so there are a few missing, shame.

Brilliant British drama 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villan4life 1874.

The escape attempt by the truck is a bit redolent of Ripping Yarns where the RFC officer was said to have escaped 12 times from the truck taking him from the railway station to the camp

Monty Python had trouble satirizing these prisoners.

Aragorn Yes this has to be good EH

Colonel Preston clearly thought he was a cut above the rest, even over the Kommandant, as Preston’s problem was that the RAF were all in it together, and breaking ranks failed to help at Castle Colditz.

Well, if he had just told them his strategy at the start ..... he would have avoided their distrust,

Excellent! Remember it well from my youth. Made, of course, in an era when we didn't need to include token characters who couldn't possibly have been there in order to please woke members of the audience. Today all realty would be lost because they would have a cast that resembled 21st century Notting Hill. Great to revisit a time when TV programmes were unencumbered by such lunacy!

All kidding aside, the camera and lighting in the exterior shots of this episode look very much like the camera and lighting in many of the Monty Python episodes. Is it likely the crews were one and the same?

Instead of resorting to deception, Col. Preston COULD have asked the Commandant to make an exception, and allow Col. Preston to visit Carter in solitary confinement. Col. Preston could have said that 'Carter's escape attempt was embarrassingly stupid, and that he wished to try to talk some sense into Carter, and thus give him something to think about during his 30 days in solitary confinement'. Very likely, the Commandant would have appreciated the logic and wisdom of Col. Preston's request, and granted it. That way, there would have been no friction. "...you can catch more flies with HONEY than you can with VINEGAR-!"

john S agree with you entirely

Ah, the days when all you had to do was say "Zhe" instead of _The,_ and "Ve" instead of _We,_ and you spoke fluent German.

So where did Donaldson go?????

So, hes hiding from a German Radschutzen , they spot him. He breaks out from the woods where the MC combo cant go, to the road where it can go. He runs faster than the bike, which seems to be constantly accelerating. The Sidecar MG38 doesn't fire, then suddenly....hes vanished. You cant write stuff like this nowadays...cos it would be laughed oot of the room.

Is that herr flick in disguise?

The fact prisoners and the guards respect the col rank showed a different side of the German and the nazi's.

why the thumbs down ,can,t understand this.

And that's a officer job. To build hope from a defeated force.

HAY UN JUEGO DE COMPUTADORA AMIGA 500 QUE ERA ESCAPE DE COLDITZ...Y TAMBIEN UN JUEGO DE MESA

Dashing, daring do against Johnny Foriegner. Chaps giving Jerry a bloody lip. I remember it well. It was dreadful. Robert Wagner must have been desperate for a job or got his agent to sign the contract without checking it out. Usual 1970's thespians hamming it. Apparently Lloyd and Croft had this tosh forefront in their minds when they wrote Allo, Allo.

Has this episode been edited? How did it go from a manhunt in the woods to the arrival of a new SBO?

Office scene is so backwards in their writing. Narrow and contrived. How about this? Brit:"Colonel, in accordance with your order may I have a written statement to be signed by all Officers here in the camp, attesting that the undersigned shall follow your order, in direct disobedience to their Standing Orders of the General Staff, and never try to escape?" Nazi Colonel:"Yes, immediately!" Brit:"Thank you. After double checking that all Wehrmacht Officers present on your rolls have signed it, on the left half of the signing log, I shall direct ours to sign as well on the right, next to Germans of equal rank." "Now may I see the Gestapo Chief for the district?"

Form this is before September 15th 1940

日本でも放映していたな。精神病を偽って本国送還となった捕虜の奥さんからの手紙で、本物の精神病に罹ってしまったことを知ったメンバーの何とも言えない雰囲気にとらわれるエピソードが印象に残っている。

I'm wondering if an escapee is caught and is 'out of uniform' , why they were not executed as spies? .

Just the thing, what?

Resist resist resist never give up and take as many of the bastards you can with you John has a long mustache John has a long mustache the resistance is alive and well

Huh, didn't know Watson's grandson was a POW in WW2 :P

The ju 88 do you know that's the finest aircraft in the world...No son no it isn't

33:28 "shurrup darling"

jolly good egg! what?

36:40 tap?

So when did corporals start having only one chevron and not two?

For any fans interested facebook.com/Colditztvseries

Then a Yank turns up... and spoils the whole damn thing...

The sbo could be interpreted as sob

Not

Excellent series nothing to say about it . But it makes me laugh that German soldiers ( Nazis ) are talking English instead of German .

Ah. Reminds me of the mask police.

Deutsche Soldaten sprechen englisch echt verarsche

I often wonder what happened to Colonel Preston’s Batman, Corporal Ppp P Pp Pppp P Pppp P P P Ppppppppp Pp 😅

das reich

PS why are there america soldiers in colditz it was only for British officers america again adding things to WW2 when will they learn

Can you imagine if this was made nowadays? The cast would be made up of Africans, transwomen, and crossdressers. One look at which would cause the enemy to take over the whole country...

Well, I think that this is poor boring acting.

Can anyone imagine the crappy, patronising, interminably left-wing and inclusivity obsessed BBC making anything even remotely as good as this today? Not me.

Boring set. Cheap and boring.