''Jenny's War'' is a 1985

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

television serial set during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, made by HTV in association with

Columbia Pictures Television Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CPT) was launched on May 6, 1974, by Columbia Pictures as an American television production and distribution company. It is the second name of Columbia Pictures' television division Screen Gems ...

. It is directed by and written by Steve Gethers. The

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

is based on the

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

with the same name by Jack Stoneley. In the UK it was shown as four 50-minute episodes on the ITV network, while in the United States it was syndicated under the ''

Operation Prime Time Operation Prime Time (OPT) was a consortium of American independent television stations to develop prime time programming for independent stations. OPT and its spin-off syndication company, Television Program Enterprises (TPE), were formed by ...

'' banner by

MCA TV NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (a.k.a. NUSS), formerly known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution (a.k.a. NUTD), Universal Domestic Television, Studios USA Television Distribution and MCA TV (stylized as NBCUniversal SYNDICATION STUDIOS) is t ...

. The serial stars

Dyan Cannon Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen; January 4, 1937) is an American actress, filmmaker, and editor. Her accolades include a Saturn Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Award nominations, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Sh ...

Nigel Hawthorne Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne (5 April 1929 – 26 December 2001) was an English actor. He is known for his stage acting and his portrayal of Sir Humphrey Appleby, the permanent secretary in the 1980s sitcom ''Yes Minister'' and the Cabinet Secre ...

Robert Hardy Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy (29 October 1925 – 3 August 2017) was an English actor who had a long career in theatre, film and television. He began his career as a classical actor and later earned widespread recognition for roles such as Siegf ...

Christopher Cazenove Christopher de Lerisson Cazenove (17 December 1943 – 7 April 2010) was an English film, television and stage actor. Early life and career He was born Christopher de Lerisson Cazenove, on 17 December 1943, the son of Brigadier Arnold de Leri ...

and

Hugh Grant Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as a charming and vulnerable romantic leading man, and has since transitioned into a character actor. He has received List of awards ...

, and is about a mother, Jenny Baines (Cannon), who searches for her son Peter (Grant), who was shot down over Germany, and who she believes is still alive. The concentration camp site scenes were shot in the grounds of Thoresby Hall in the Nottingham countryside during the National Union of Miners strike. In the film the prison camp was known as Stalag Luft 4B but in reality it was a group of disused billet huts in some woods at Thoresby Hall, which was then owned by the Coal Board and which has now been turned into a

day spa A day spa is a business that promotes itself as providing a variety of services for improving health, beauty, and relaxation through Body treatment, personal care treatments such as massages and facials. The number of day spas in the US almo ...

Bredon School Bredon School, formerly Pull Court, is a private school in Bushley, Worcestershire, England. The house was built for the Reverend Canon E. C. Dowdeswell by Edward Blore between 1831 and 1839. The site is much older and Blore's house replaced an ...

's Pull Court was used as a Nazi headquarters. A short mini-series made for TV, ''Jenny's War'' was first screened on ITV and subsequently released on VHS.

Plot

In 1941, Jenny Baines, an American living in England learns that her son, an RAF flier, has been shot down over Germany. Jenny goes into Germany, both as a courier for

British Intelligence The Government of the United Kingdom maintains several intelligence agencies that deal with secret intelligence. These agencies are responsible for collecting, analysing and exploiting foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intell ...

and also to search for her son. She enlists the help of Karl, her estranged husband who is also a Nazi officer, and he informs her that her son is dead. But Jenny is resourceful and discovers that her son Peter may be in a German

POW POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. POW or pow may also refer to: Music * P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...

camp. However, her enquiries have attracted the attention of the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

and she must disguise herself as a man to avoid capture.

Gibraltar Chronicle The ''Gibraltar Chronicle'' is a national newspaper published in Gibraltar since 1801. It became a daily in 1821. It is Gibraltar's oldest established daily newspaper and the world's second-oldest English language newspaper to have been in pri ...

newspaper (TV & Radio Guide); 31/05/1986; Page 5

References

External links

* 1985 British television series debuts 1985 British television series endings 1980s British drama television series ITV television dramas 1980s British television miniseries Operation Prime Time British war drama films Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Harlech Television Television series by Sony Pictures Television British English-language television shows Television shows set in England {{war-drama-film-stub