Enemy at the Door is a British television drama series made by London Weekend Television for ITV. The series was shown between 1978 and 1980 and dealt with the German occupation of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, during the Second World War. The programme generated a certain amount of criticism in Guernsey, particularly for being obviously filmed on Jersey despite being ostensibly set on Guernsey. The series also marked the TV debut of Anthony Head as a member of the island resistance. The theme music was by Wilfred Josephs.
The islanders were chiefly represented by the respected local doctor, Philip Martell (Bernard Horsfall), who struggled to maintain the peace while the Germans were led by Major Dieter Richter (Alfred Burke), a peace-time academic who was inclined to be lenient on the Guernsey populace but whose approach was challenged by his more conventionally nasty SS counterpart Hauptsturmführer Klaus Reinicke (Simon Cadell). Rounding out the principal German characters were Major Friedl and Oberleutnant Kluge, a former policeman still more inclined to act as a policeman rather than a soldier.
Many episodes portrayed the balance of power and fragile harmony between the islanders and the German occupying forces, and how it was threatened by either resistance action or over-zealous clamping down by the Germans.
A precursor to his role as Bergerac in the detective series set on Jersey, John Nettles played a police detective ordered to work for the Germans and anguished by the conflict between his duty and collaborating with the enemy.
The series ended with the Germans still in occupation, and did not depict their eventual defeat.
Series One (1978)
| # | Title | Original Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | By Order of the Führer | 21 January |
| 2 | The Librarian | 28 January |
| 3 | After the Ball | 4 February |
| 4 | Steel Hand from the Sea | 11 February |
| 5 | The Laws and Usages of War | 18 February |
| 6 | V for Victory | 25 February |
| 7 | The Polish Affaire | 4 March |
| 8 | Officers of the Law | 11 March |
| 9 | The Jerrybag | 18 March |
| 10 | Treason | 25 March |
| 11 | Pains and Penalties | 1 April |
| 12 | The Prussian Officer | 8 April |
| 13 | Judgement of Solomon | 15 April |
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