''We'll Meet Again'' is a

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...

drama set in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was produced by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...

(LWT) for the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

network and was broadcast in early 1982 in the Friday

primetime Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

slot of 9 pm.

Plot

The show, based in a fictional village in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

, was set around the clandestine and illicit love affair between civilian doctor Helen Dereham (played by

Susannah York Susannah Yolande Fletcher (9 January 1939 – 15 January 2011), known professionally as Susannah York, was an English actress. Her appearances in various films of the 1960s, including '' Tom Jones'' (1963) and '' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' ...

) whose husband was away fighting in Africa and the commanding officer of the nearby

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

base,

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Jim Kiley (Michael J. Shannon).

Cast

as Helen Dereham * Michael J Shannon as Major Jim Kiley *

Lou Hirsch Lou may refer to: __NOTOC__ Personal name * Lou (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Lou (German singer) *Lou (French singer) * Lou (surname 娄), the 229th most common surname in China * Lou (surname 楼), the 269th most common ...

as Sergeant Hymie Stutz * Patrick O'Connell as Jack Blair * Lynne Pearson as Rosie Blair *

Carolyn Pickles Carolyn Pickles (born 8 February 1952) is an English actress who has appeared in West End theatre and on British television. She is known for playing DCI Kim Reid in ''The Bill'' and Shelley Williams in ''Emmerdale''. Life and career Pickles ...

as Sally Bilton * James Saxon as Sergeant Elmer Jones *

Gavan O'Herlihy Gavan John O'Herlihy (29 July 1951 – 15 September 2021) was an American actor. He was known for playing Chuck Cunningham in the first episodes of ''Happy Days'', as well as his appearances in films such as ''Never Say Never Again'', ''Death W ...

as Captain 'Red' Berwash * June Barry as Vera Mundy * Ray Smith as Albert Mundy *

Ronald Hines Ronald Charles Andrew Hines (20 June 1929 – 28 March 2017) was a British television actor. He had a lengthy career, but possibly his most prominent roles were as Henry Corner in three of the four series of ''Not in Front of the Children'', ...

as Ronald Dereham *

Ed Devereaux Edward Sidney Devereaux (27 August 192517 December 2003), better known professionally as Ed Devereaux, was an Australian actor, director, and scriptwriter who lived in the United Kingdom for many years. He was best known for playing the part of ...

as Colonel Rufus Krasnowici *

Christopher Malcolm Christopher Malcolm (19 August 1946 – 15 February 2014) was a Scottish actor and theatrical producer. He first achieved notoriety for his role as Brad Majors in the original stage production of ''The Rocky Horror Show''. Early life and edu ...

as MSgt. Joe 'Mac' McGraw *

Natalie Ogle Natalie Ogle (born 1960) is an English actress. Natalie Ogle was plucked out of drama school at 17 to appear in Tony Richardson's film ''Joseph Andrews'', for which she was nominated Most Promising Newcomer for The Evening Standard British Film A ...

as Letty Mundy * Patrick Pearson as Peter Mundy *

Kathryn Pogson Kathryn Pogson (born 1954) is an English film and stage actress. She appeared in Terry Gilliam's 1985 cult film ''Brazil''. She won a Best Actress Drama Desk Award for her performance in the 1986 New York production of ''Aunt Dan and Lemon''. S ...

as Vi Blair * Lise Ann McLaughlin as Patricia Dereham * Joris Stuyck as MSgt. Chuck Ericson * Holly Watson as Betty Bilton * David Baxt as Sgt. Mario Bottone * Stuart Wilson as Sid Davis

Production

Although a major commission for LWT, the programme was planned for just one series of thirteen hour-long episodes. Production commenced in 1981 with studio scenes filmed at the

South Bank Television Centre The London Studios (also known as The South Bank Studios, The London Television Centre, ITV Tower, Kent House and LWT Tower) in Lambeth, Central London was a television studio complex owned by ITV plc and originally built for London Weekend Te ...

and location filming in the villages of

Lenham Lenham is a market village and civil parish in Kent situated on the southern edge of the North Downs, east of Maidstone. The picturesque square in the village has two public houses (one of which is a hotel), a couple of restaurants, and a tea ...

and

West Malling West Malling ( , historically Town Malling) is a market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of 2,590. Landmarks West Malling contains several historic buildings, including St Leonard's Tower, a Norma ...

in the county of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. As was standard practice at the time, studio scenes were recorded on 2-inch quadruplex videotape with location scenes shot on

16 mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...

and converted to broadcast

master tape Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all cop ...

via

telecine Telecine ( or ) is the process of transferring film into video and is performed in a color suite. The term is also used to refer to the equipment used in the post-production process. Telecine enables a motion picture, captured originally on f ...

. The show was transmitted between February and May 1982. LWT had previously produced ''

Enemy at the Door ''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 Wor ...

'', a series about the German occupation of Guernsey during the same war, and the two series have a common theme of tension between the locals and the 'intruding' soldiers whose presence affects their ways of life, something which can become obvious when actors play similar roles in similar storylines in both series (most obviously: Ray Smith, as the father of a girl who disapproves of his daughter associating with foreign servicemen). The show's title was based on the popular wartime song "

We'll Meet Again "We'll Meet Again" is a 1939 song by English singer Vera Lynn with music and lyrics composed and written by English songwriters Ross Parker and Hughie Charles. The song is one of the most famous of the Second World War era, and resonated with ...

" performed by

Dame Vera Lynn Dame Vera Margaret Lynn (; 20 March 191718 June 2020) was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during World War II. She is Honorific nicknames in popular music, honorifically known as ...

. The theme for the show was composed by

Denis King Denis Andrew King (born 25 July 1939) is an English composer and singer. He is best remembered as a member of a family ensemble, The King Brothers. Early career: the King Brothers King was born in Hornchurch, Essex, England. He began his musi ...

. A vocal version was released as a single by Stutz Bear Cats.

Other media

Writer David Butler produced a novel called ''We'll Meet Again: The End of an Era'' that continued the story beyond the TV series.

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0083501, We'll Meet Again 1980s British drama television series 1982 British television series debuts 1982 British television series endings 1980s British television miniseries ITV television dramas World War II television drama series Television series by ITV Studios London Weekend Television shows English-language television shows