Wish Me Luck

A creditable depiction of SOE and Resistance operators. The risks run by them and the strain they were under was immense. Third series understates actual support given to FFI on real-life Le Crest. And ending was a bit cheesy. But definitely worth watching.

As a fan of wartime drama series like Secret Army I picked up this Network 2007 title earlier this year and having now strolled through the entire contents I must say, despite the lack of extras, I'm extremely delighted with the entire 23 episodes of "Wish Me Luck" (in a 4/4/4/3/4/4 disc configuration). It has certainly been an enthralling emotional journey for a show that is superbly crafted with well-defined characters, dramatic scripts, effective incidental music and marvellous location filming. Each season of the show follows an established pattern of introducing two new trainee British agents of conflicting backgrounds and personalities and after initial training they find themselves in occupied French territory attempting to put what they have learnt to good use. The German aggressor for each run is primarily personified by a significant officer. For the 1st season it was the softly spoken Colonel Werner Krieger (Warren Clarke), the 2nd season the unsettlingly quiet Colonel Voller (Donald Gee) and the 3rd brought us the barking mad power crazed General Stuckler (Terence Hardiman). The first two seasons pose additional personal complications for Liz Granger with the eventual disintegration of her marriage and her blossoming romance with Kit Vanston a highly effective operative whom she knew before the war. Each season concludes with a dramatic final set piece. In the 1st it is the rescue of Matty Firman from the Germans, in the 2nd it is the engineering factory raid coupled with the resolution to Vivien's renewed relationship with her daughter and in the 3rd it is the mass German assault on the Le Crest resistance movement. Personally I found the 1st season incidental music a trifle overpowering however there are some beautifully effective pieces used in the 2nd and 3rd seasons which helps to greatly enhance the viewers enjoyment. Although present in the 1st it is the beautiful location filming used during the 2nd and in particular 3rd season which is especially breathtaking and helps to significantly elevate this series against other World War Two drama series. Although all the regular cast contribute marvellously to the overall believable aspect of the series I personally would single out both Michael J Jackson & Kate Buffery for special praise for their outstanding performances as Kit Vanston & Liz Grainger, two stars whom convey such a resonate believable atmosphere to their characters, their previous history prior to the war and their newly blossoming romance in such dangerously difficult present times. Passionate delivery of scripted lines can also be appreciated from many of the series guest stars like Trevor Peacock (Renard), Nigel Le Valliant (Laurence Grainger), Shirley Henderson (Sylvie), Caroline John (Helene), Bryan Pringle (Father Martin), Jeremy Brudenell (Jean-Louis) and Stuart McGugan (Gordon Stewart) to name but a few. If you enjoy great emotive exciting drama with engaging character interaction matched with stunning scenery and appropriately moving incidental music then I strongly recommend you nab a copy of this series. I am confident it will be the wisest investment you have ever made!

Those captivated by "Wish Me Luck" when it aired on television will be delighted to hear that it is now being released on DVD. This is an exceptionally well-done drama centered on the work done by civilian volunteers for the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) in France during World War II.

There are, of course, other works of this kind, but "Wish Me Luck" stands out as particularly well-researched, providing innumerable small details that should please aficionados of the intelligence and resistance work of the war. The focus of the series, though, is clearly on the romance, suspense, and drama of the story. Overall a fantastic work.

This is a most engaging story of WW2 special agents sent to France. The characters are strong and the drama is well directed. There may be many stories of this kind but this is one of the better ones that keeps you hanging on waiting for the next episode.

Sadly this has not been repeated (to my knowledge) on TV - more's the pity. With the dearth of good drama, and a never-ending diet of soaps and "any old excuse to put the public on TV" it would be good to see this again.

Suppose for a moment, you're a British female in German-occupied Western France around 1940 before the Americans entered the war. You're posing as a French national who is a trained nurse making house calls. However, that's just you're day job. You have a fake identity card and a fictitious history. In truth, you're actually a crackerjack radio operator specializing in Morse Code. Your task: to receive information about German military operations and movements through a network of the French Resistance in Normandy and Brittany and transmit the information via a Morse Code radio back to Britain. The surrounding area is being constantly surveyed by German soldiers headed by a German colonel who would probably prefer staying where he is rather than being sent to the Eastern Front of the war. In short, he's under as much pressure as you are to do his job. And then you're brought to his headquarters for a "routine" interrogation. Will the colonel accept your fake identification card, or will he suspect that you're in fact an agent working for the Allies? This is part of the set-up of a truly enjoyable British-produced series called "Wish Me Luck".

Liz Grainger (Kate Buffery) and Matty Firman (Suzanna Hamilton) are two females who desire to work for Special Operations Executive (SOE), the British equivalent of the CIA which operated predominantly during the Second World War. SOE's main function was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, and to aid local resistance movements. Liz and Matty first train in the British headquarters of SOE then are sent out into the field on missions nearly as dangerous as those fighting on the front-lines. In short, their tasks are to undermine German-controlled France by providing intelligence to the allies about possible war plans, missions, and strategies. If they're caught, they will probably be tortured for their information, sent to a death camp, or simply executed on the spot.

Of the two, Matty has the most crucial of jobs: to send as frequently as possible coded transmissions of intelligence through her radio back to Britain. Her cover, described above, is a French national nurse who simply makes rounds to patients in need of care. The tasks of her colleague, Liz Grainger also posing as a French national, is more subtle. She's there to support some of the different resistance members and spies by receiving and sending messages through the network, many of whom are of the French Resistance while others are from different countries and allegiances, including some communists. Some of these contacts include priests, bakers, and simple townsfolk, not all of whom are willing to cooperate because of previous altercations with the Germans. Like her colleague, she risks her cover being blown. She lived many years in France and speaks French without an English accent. Her messages are often hidden in places like the confessional of a church, or at a local shop.

Eventually Liz meets up with a French friend from her school days, Claudine de Valois, who was part of the French aristocracy and lends books out from her family's library. They concoct a cover story which includes Liz, posing as Celeste, having been in France her entire life, even though she's essentially a British citizen and not French. The German maintaining order and constantly sniffing out possible resistance operatives is Colonel Werner Krieger. He has become somewhat smitten with Claudine and constantly visits her small library. When Liz arrives at Claudine's library, he invites himself to tea with the two women who must act casually to maintain their cover stories. Luckily the colonel because of his infatuation with Claudine enjoys the women's company rather than trying to undercover whether the women's stories ring true. While the women act happy and nonchalant, inside they are terrified their covers could be revealed at any moment.

Overall a very enjoyable and compelling series about female spying, intelligence and espionage. While we often believe the real fighting of the Allies happened predominantly on the front lines, many others, both men and women, were engaged in extremely dangerous missions under cover. These people helped to support the Allies in their larger efforts to undermine the German stronghold on occupied countries. While the fighting of the soldiers was extremely important and not to be diminished, the spy network was at least equally as vital to the eventual destruction of the Third Reich.