SS-GB, coming to TV soon

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webtoy100
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SS-GB, coming to TV soon

#1

Post by webtoy100 » 19 Sep 2015, 22:20

Hello everyone,

The book SS-GB by Len Deighton was published in 1978. I have read it a few times, and find it endlessly exciting. It posits a situation where
the UK was successfully invaded in 1940/41. Interestingly it makes an amusing conceit by stating that the Germans invaded via East Anglia, a
longer route than the 'obvious' one from the Calais area into Kent; this I like to think is Deighton's nod to what the Allies did in going the
longer route to Normandy in '44, avoiding the Calais approach.

It centres on a murder in a seedy part of London, that has much wider, world-changing ramifications. Indeed, an SS Standartenfuhrer arrives from
Berlin extremely quickly to supervise the investigation, being handled on-the-ground by British detectives from Scotland Yard (now suborned to
the SS), led by a young, brilliant Douglas Archer.

I won't give the plot away (if you're at all interested, read it; it can be bought for 1p + postage on Amazon!), but it paints a fascinating
portrait of Britain under German rule, and makes the subtle if persuasive point that, as in occupied France, most of the population would have
just got on with their lives as far as possible. In this version, Russia remains an uncertain ally of Hitler's, the US sits on the sidelines
wondering what it can and indeed should do. The Wehrmacht and SS have an uneasy coexistence.

It is a VERY nuanced tale, and people's self-interest lead to some very surprising bedfellows. As a Londoner, I (quixotically) love the portrayal of a depressed, defeated London, full of crooks, collaborators and criminals, occupying all levels of society. I find it all too believable, despite (or perhaps partly because of!) the global supercity it has become in the past couple of decades; London has many masters now, not all desirable...

Anyway, I have always longed for TV/cinema to pick this up, and now they have (apologies if this has been discussed here already; I couldn’t find
anything); the BBC has ordered a 5 x 1 hr series based on the book, script written by the writers of the Bond picture Skyfall. I guess we won't see it until 2016 or so.

There are a few set pieces in the book that I have always wanted to see on film, notably the scene at Marx's tomb at Highgate cemetery in London
(I won't say anymore).

Re casting, there is nothing on IMDB about it yet, I've always thought Clive Owen would be great in the lead role (as Archer), but now aged 49
he is too old. It is said that Sam Riley (now aged 35) is going to get it; he was great as the doomed Joy Division singer Ian Curtis in 'Control'.
I have long thought about the ideal casting of this.

The series will of course be set in Britain, and all the protagonists speak English, including the well-educated Germans. So we will have the
English spoken with a German accent thing, legitimately.

So a lot of the Downfall people spring to mind for the Germans, for me. (Sorry I know there are a whole bunch of great German actors who weren't
in Downfall but I don’t know who they all are!)

The large guy who played Bormann in Downfall could be good as the womanising, corrupt SS boss in Britain (Fritz Kellerman) - OR the great Tom
Wilkinson who so brilliant played Friedrich Fromm in Valkyrie. The investigating Standartenfuhrer Huth could be, inevitably, 'Fegelein!', while
the guest star appearance of Himmler could be the same guy from Downfall. Professor Six, pencilled in by Heydrich as having a big role in Nazi

Britain, could be played by 'Walther Hewel.' Barbara the (neutral) US journalist with a nice flat in Belgravia (who is rather more that she meets the eye) could be played by 'Meadow Soprano.'

And there are tons of interesting choices out there. Anyway, if anyone else is interested, and knows the book well, please share your thoughts,
and here's hoping for a great adaptation; I know hopes are a hostage to fortune - I had high ones for 'Unbroken' (one of the world's greatest
books), but sadly a disappointing film. But we have to hope, and I'm glad it's the BBC not some mindless US studio doing it.

WT

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der Eiserne
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Re: SS-GB, coming to TV soon

#2

Post by der Eiserne » 09 Oct 2015, 05:51

I used to have the book but I lost it. This is quite interesting.


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hucks216
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Joined: 20 Jan 2007, 23:49
Location: England

Re: SS-GB, coming to TV soon

#3

Post by hucks216 » 09 Oct 2015, 12:02

I wonder what the odds are on Thomas Kretschmann having a role to play?!

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B Hellqvist
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Re: SS-GB, coming to TV soon

#4

Post by B Hellqvist » 11 Oct 2015, 14:41

If Thomas Kretschmann isn't in it, it isn't a WW2 movie! ...or so they appear to think. Talk about being typecast... He's excellent in his roles as German officers, but surely there must be others?

I've got the book, but it must be 20 years since I read it.

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Pips
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Location: Country NSW, Australia

Re: SS-GB, coming to TV soon

#5

Post by Pips » 14 Feb 2016, 08:46

Well, it seems the filming is underway. Looking forward to it. Cast looks very impressive.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... n-war.html

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