a real classic series base on true event and tenko be a powerful series on the suffering of a group of civilian woman during world war 2 when singapore fall to the japanese in 1942. ann bell play marion jefferson and the bored army wife and tire of all the endless tea party and reception then when she be evacuate with the other woman and the first real shock be her best friend vicky ( wendy williams ) drowning and tenko certainly get shock you with the death of a popular character when you least expect it . in the first series we meet elderly but defiant slyvia ashburton ( renee asherburn ) who refuse initially to sleep beside eurasian girl christina campbell ( emily bolton ) but gradually the woman start to see each other a people and strong friendship be form particularly when the woman build a new hut and much to the surprise of camp commandant yamauchi ( burt kwouk ) when cockney prostitute blanche ( one of my favourite character ) be catch escape with debbie ( karin foley ) whose mother have just die and the whole camp be punish with a real feud develop between the english and the dutch and head by the formidable sister ulrica ( great performance by patrica lawrence ) and the selfish mr van meyer ( elizabeth chamber ) the feud be resolve a the woman work towards blanche release . stephanie beacham be great a the seemingly selfish rise millar with flash of kindness underneath and her friendship with blanche be one of the joy of the series and the aborted escape cause a real rift between the two and this be resolve when blanche be send back to her friend in the 2nd series after be send to another camp at the start of series 2 along with nurse nellie keane ( who fall in love with sally ( joanna hole ) in series 1 and and slyvia and blanche informs them and that slyvia die a month after arrive in the new camp and nellie die a few month before the end of the war in series 3. series 2 to me and be the best and we meet evil miss hasan and ( josephine welcome ) the evil administrator at their new camp and corrupt leader verna johnson ( rosemary martin ) we learn at the end of series2 and they both sell their red cross parcel and cause a lot of unnecessary death for doctor mason ( great performance throughout by stephanie cole a tortured soul and dr. beatrice mason ) veronica roberts a dorothy bennett excels and she go from widow young mother to see her baby die and then become emotionally dead a she have sex with guard to get by but form an unlikely friendship with shinya and a japanese guard and who have to shoot rise when she meet boyfriend bernard and dorothy eventually forgive him only for him to die in an allied raid . rise dy at the end of series 2 and be very moving and as be sally suicide but the woman who survive carry grimly on but there be laugh too amongst the horror like put a rat in miss hasan room . louise jameson sadly wasn not available for series 3 and so blanche be kill off between series 2 and 3. series 3 deal with the woman adjust to freedom and beatrice have to cope with blindness and the end of her practising a a doctor . the shock at the end of series 3 be the death of joss holbrook ( wonderful jean anderson ) wear out by 3 year of bashings and under nourishment combine with a recent mugging and the flu and she be simply wear out . tenko reunion deal with the woman meet up in 1950 and discover old friend christina be a communist traitor and they narrowly come away with their life . a great series and very fondly remember .