Colditz

The opening episode takes place in June 1940. Captain Pat Grant (Edward Hardwicke) is captured and taken to a camp where he immediately starts organizing escape activity. After an unsuccessful escape he is sent to Colditz.

Action takes place in May 1940. After having a disagreement with his new wife, Flight Lieutenant Simon Carter (David McCallum) sets off for a night mission over Germany but he is forced to bail out of his crashing aircraft. On the ground, he befriends a young priest but the Gestapo arrests them both. Carter escapes first from the Gestapo and then from the prisoner of war camp he is assigned to – from there he is despatched to Colditz.

The bruised and unconscious body of submariner Lieutenant Dick Player is washed up on a beach somewhere in France. He is wearing plain clothes and speaks fluent German, which makes his captors believe he may be a spy. He escapes from the hospital where he is taken to recover but is recaptured and interviewed by the Gestapo. Player had once lived in Germany as the son of a diplomat and manages to get to speak to a childhood friend – now an important government official who offers Dick a chance to work with a plot to overthrow Hitler, but at a price.

Colditz gets a new senior British officer, Colonel Preston (Jack Hedley). (The previous senior British officer, Major Donaldson is referred to in this episode but never seen). On his arrival he witnesses a futile escape attempt by Flight Lieutenant Carter and when the Kommandant meets him, he believes Preston is a man of honour who he can deal with. The colonel's new orders that seem to be appeasing the Germans cause conflict and dissension in the ranks, but there is method in the colonel's madness, which could come unstuck when a Polish officer decides to escape.

The arrival of a new security officer – Haupman Ullman, leads to a tightening up of security. However the British contingent manages to eavesdrop on a meeting that will decide the strategic use of Colditz and they are surprised at what they learn. Meanwhile, the disillusioned German second in command (Michael Gough) is giving cause for concern with his behaviour, and when the Gestapo arrive, they spring a surprise on the Kommandant and his new security chief.

Flight Lieutenant Carrington (Robert Wagner) joins the British contingent in Colditz and he is viewed with resentment, especially by Simon Carter (David McCallum) and after they have a scuffle that ends up with the American in solitary, Carrington announces that he wishes to write a book that examines the war from the German point of view. The Gestapo come to interview Carrington and grant permission, but do they trust Carrington – and does he trust them?