Secret Army

During World War II, a Belgian resistance movement called Lifeline, based in Brussels, organises the return of Allied airmen who have been shot down by the Luftwaffe to the United Kingdom.

Genre: Drama, History, War

Cast:Bernard Hepton , Angela Richards , Clifford Rose , Juliet Hammond , Ron Pember , Valentine Dyall , Michael Culver , Jan Francis , Christopher Neame , Hazel McBride , Terrence Hardiman , Stephen Yardley , Robin Langford , Alan Chuntz , Neil Daglish , Maria Charles , James Bree , Paul Shelley

1Season 1

S1.E1 ∙ Lisa - Codename Yvette

Wed, Sep 7, 1977

Lisa and Albert are suspicious when a former evader returns to the Candide. Meanwhile, Major Brandt, of the Luftwaffe Polizei, sizes up the newly arrived Ludwig Kessler.

2Season 1

S1.E2 ∙ Sergeant on the Run

Wed, Sep 14, 1977

Some escapees are caught and shot by Kessler. One survives, but he would rather die than talk.

3Season 1

S1.E3 ∙ Radishes with Butter

Wed, Sep 21, 1977

Curtis brings money from England for the escape plans, befriends a Jewish family living in hiding and tries to become involved with Yvette.

4Season 1

S1.E4 ∙ Child's Play

Wed, Sep 28, 1977

Brandt receives an article by an escaped American airman. Thinking it contains useful intelligence, he uses it to team up with a French gendarme and identify an escape route over the Pyrenees - and almost captures Lisa.

5Season 1

S1.E5 ∙ Second Chance

Wed, Oct 5, 1977

A downed airman is found by a bargeman, but the bargeman's offer of help is not what it seems.

6Season 1

S1.E6 ∙ Growing Up

Wed, Oct 12, 1977

A young boy finds a wounded airman hiding in a barn. Rashly, the airman gives the boy a gift and puts Lifeline at risk.

7Season 1

S1.E7 ∙ Lost Sheep

Wed, Oct 19, 1977

A new aircraft is shot down. The navigator, Flight Lieutenant Peter Romsey, survives but cannot be sure of his safety. Separated from his Lifeline companions in France, he takes refuge with English author Hugh Neville and his wife Dorothy.

8Season 1

S1.E8 ∙ Guilt

Wed, Oct 26, 1977

Curtis wants to investigate who betrayed Peter Romsey in France, but Lifeline does not trust him and puts Monique on his tail.

9Season 1

S1.E9 ∙ Too Near Home

Wed, Nov 2, 1977

Yvette is imprisoned in a raid and her uncle Gaston is taken and questioned by Kessler. Lifeline is faced with collapse.

10Season 1

S1.E10 ∙ Identity in Doubt

Wed, Nov 9, 1977

A downed South African airman, Noel Uys cannot convince Lifeline of his identity and seizes Natalie as a hostage.

11Season 1

S1.E11 ∙ A Question of Loyalty

Wed, Nov 23, 1977

The Gestapo infiltrate the Lifeline organization with German officer Ernst Stoller posing as an escaped airman. Monique falls for the infiltrator.

12Season 1

S1.E12 ∙ Hymn to Freedom

Wed, Nov 30, 1977

Recognizing the value of a propaganda coup if successful, Curtis persuades Yvette to help smuggle a Belgian minister in the puppet regime to England. Meanwhile, Lifeline has been penetrated by another German agent.

13Season 1

S1.E13 ∙ Bait

Wed, Dec 7, 1977

A downed British airman approaches Madame Bidout, an elderly Englishwoman and asks her for help. She hides him, but is so frightened that she calls Major Brandt, a childhood friend of her late son. The airman turns out to be another German plant working for Kessler, hoping Bidout will lead them to the resistance.

14Season 1

S1.E14 ∙ Good Friday

Wed, Dec 14, 1977

Prior Father Pierre shelters an RAF escapee in his monastery, but Brother Anselm thinks friars should stay out of the war. His betrayal brings in Kessler and the Gestapo.

15Season 1

S1.E15 ∙ Suspicions

Wed, Dec 21, 1977

Curtis is under suspicion for subversive activity and possible murder. Kessler and Brandt trace him to the Café Candide, then take him for questioning.

16Season 1

S1.E16 ∙ Be the First Kid in Your Block to Rule the World

Thu, Dec 29, 1977

Curtis's cover is blown and Kessler orders a security ring around Brussels and a massive search to trap Curtis. Curtis poses as a bus driver for a Hitler Youth day trip in a desperate attempt to flee the city.

1Season 2

S2.E1 ∙ The Hostage

Wed, Sep 27, 1978

Lifeline is ordered to prevent an officer's interrogation at any cost.

2Season 2

S2.E2 ∙ Russian Roulette

Wed, Oct 4, 1978

In the aftermath of the disaster in Saint-Nazaire, Lifeline is forced to help Russian evaders as well as the Allies.

3Season 2

S2.E3 ∙ Lucky Piece

Wed, Oct 11, 1978

Lifeline is landed with a very special agent and a wounded Polish engineer from Peenemunde.

4Season 2

S2.E4 ∙ Trapped

Wed, Oct 18, 1978

Monique is injured whilst on a trip to France.

5Season 2

S2.E5 ∙ Not According to Plan

Wed, Oct 25, 1978

Natalie's new love Francois and a group of evaders are passengers on a train that is due to be bombed.

6Season 2

S2.E6 ∙ Scorpion

Wed, Nov 1, 1978

Albert must rely on Hans Van Broecken, who hates him, to weed out a possible Nazi infiltrator among the evaders.

7Season 2

S2.E7 ∙ Weekend

Wed, Nov 8, 1978

Two American airmen take members of Lifeline and Kessler hostage. Meanwhile, Kessler has seized three major Dutch masterpieces held by a convent of nuns.

8Season 2

S2.E8 ∙ The Big One

Wed, Nov 15, 1978

An attempt is made to enlist Major Brandt into von Stauffenberg's plot to kill Hitler. The British carpet bomb Berlin.

9Season 2

S2.E9 ∙ Little Old Lady

Wed, Nov 22, 1978

A British Wing Commander suffers severe facial burns when his plane is shot down by anti-aircraft fire over Belgium. The British want him returned, but his face risks being noticed by the Germans. Some makeup is enough for him to reach Paris accompanied by Natalie, but Monique believes he should pose as a woman if he is not to be discovered during the rest of the journey. He successfully travels down the escape line to Spain. In Brussels, Madeleine faces isolation because of her affair with Kessler, although she finds Monique a surprisingly good listener. The Candide is threatened by terrorists for their supposed collaboration, and the Gestapo briefly take Albert into custody.

10Season 2

S2.E10 ∙ Guests at God's Table

Wed, Nov 29, 1978

Approaching Christmas, Lifeline receives a list of demands from a group of orphaned children who have a hidden Group Captain. The man is drifting in and out of consciousness. Albert is worried that it might be a German trap, but the man is handed over to Lifeline disguised as a St Nicolas dummy in a pram. Meanwhile, Brandt gets into an argument with Kessler over the abominable atrocities taking place in Eastern Europe.

11Season 2

S2.E11 ∙ A Matter of Life and Death

Wed, Dec 6, 1978

Francois is determined to retrieve an airman from the Communist resistance while Max plots his betrayal.

12Season 2

S2.E12 ∙ Prisoner of War

Wed, Dec 13, 1978

Brandt's continuing grief over losing his wife leads him to drink heavily, to Kessler's concern. He develops a crush on Monique. While Alain has to hide two airmen, a neighbouring farmer finds an injured German fighter pilot on his land. He turns out to be one of Germany's leading airmen, flying a prototype night fighter unknown to the Allies. Max is dispatched to sketch it, and the British wish to capture the German airman for his information. Max suggests that he and the Communists transport the airman to the French coast, where he might be picked up by a British motor launch in exchange for weapons. Albert now has information confirming Max's involvement in François's death, and arranges for Max to be killed, along with his comrades.

13Season 2

S2.E13 ∙ Day of Wrath

Wed, Dec 20, 1978

Lifeline helps a Belgian pilot who has escaped from the Gestapo headquarters, while Kessler learns of Brandt's involvement in the failed plot to assassinate Hitler.

1Season 3

S3.E1 ∙ The Last Run

Sat, Sep 22, 1979

An instant mutual antipathy develops between Kessler and Brandt's replacement, Major Hans Dietrich Reinhardt. Albert and Monique are fearful when Reinhardt visits the Candide with a captured airman. Meanwhile Natalie is finding it increasingly difficult to travel through France with the airmen, because of the disruption to rail travel following the D-Day landings. Paul Vercors, the leader and sole surviving member of Max's cell, discovers Albert's involvement in Max's death and swears revenge.

2Season 3

S3.E2 ∙ Invasions

Sat, Sep 29, 1979

Lifeline realises it cannot get airmen away to Spain and decides it must keep them in hiding until the Allies liberate Brussels. Reinhardt and Kessler continue to clash. The Luftwaffe man's unorthodox methods show some success and he starts to identify the Lifeline safehouses. Two captives take their own lives rather than face torture, and a third remains silent under interrogation. The elderly Chantal sisters occupy another Lifeline safe house in France, and are rescued by Monique just before the Germans arrive.

3Season 3

S3.E3 ∙ Revenge

Sat, Oct 6, 1979

Albert gets word that the communists have set him up and he is about to be arrested on trumped-up charges. Kessler starts his investigation into Major Reinhardt's involvement in the 1944 Bomb Plot.

4Season 3

S3.E4 ∙ A Safe Place

Sat, Oct 13, 1979

With Albert on a murder charge trumped up by the Communist resistance, Monique has to cope with a British air ace who has been down the line and has now been captured by a fake escape-line set up by Reinhardt.

5Season 3

S3.E5 ∙ Ring of Rosies

Sat, Oct 20, 1979

With Albert still imprisoned, Monique and Pascal have to cope with airmen carrying the bubonic plague from North Africa.

6Season 3

S3.E6 ∙ Prisoner

Sat, Oct 27, 1979

While Kessler is on leave in Berlin, Alain is detained by the Gestapo. Newly returned Major Bradley brokers a deal for his escape with Germans made desperate by the Allied advance.

7Season 3

S3.E7 ∙ Ambush

Sat, Nov 3, 1979

Bradley recruits an escaping airman to help a resistance ambush. Meanwhile, Reinhardt pursues Brandt's interest in the Café Candide.

8Season 3

S3.E8 ∙ Just Light the Blue Touch-Paper

Sat, Nov 10, 1979

A permanent V2 site is discovered on the Belgian-Dutch border, and Bradley plans a raid with the resistance and the army of concealed airmen. Bradley introduces himself to Kessler (posing as a German colleague) and dines with him at the Candide to gain valuable information. Meanwhile, Reinhardt is making progress towards cracking Lifeline, and Natalie is suspected. Albert's lawyer Maitre Guissard contacts Reinhardt for information about the circumstances of the death of Albert's wife Andree. The Germans are preparing to evacuate and the atmosphere is becoming openly more hostile towards the remnants of the occupying forces.

9Season 3

S3.E9 ∙ Sound of Thunder

Sat, Nov 17, 1979

The Allied advance reaches Belgium, and the Germans are planning to leave Brussels. Bradley establishes contact with other members of the local resistance. Brussels residents are becoming openly hostile to both the Germans and those Belgians assumed to have collaborated. Madeleine has been attacked, but she only has Kessler to turn to. Reinhardt is now almost certain that Lifeline is based at the Candide and he tries to trap Natalie, now becoming romantically involved with Bradley, using a plant in the resistance. Natalie realises the danger at the last minute, and the supposed Communist is exposed as a spy when he fails to recognise Stalin's real name. After the man has been dealt with, Bradley is killed by German soldiers in the street on his way back to the Candide during curfew. The loss of his plant confirms Reinhardt's suspicions about the Candide.

10Season 3

S3.E10 ∙ Collaborator

Sat, Nov 24, 1979

Albert finally gets released from prison and returns to find 'Collaborator' graffiti on the restaurant. Locals are making open threats to the Candide staff, assuming they have collaborated and profited during the occupation. Alain has offered his farm as a refuge, but Albert will not leave his valuable business, leading to tension with Monique who is having second thoughts about their marriage plans. Natalie and Alain travel through the front line to contact British intelligence, and try to return with them to Brussels as protection for their colleagues. However, on the way back they run into a front line skirmish. As the Germans are vacating the Gestapo building, Reinhardt has captured an airman and the local woman who was hiding him. He wants to finally identify the Candide as Lifeline HQ. He confronts them in the restaurant, but releases his prisoners and turns himself over to Albert rather than take any action. Paul Vercors and his communist cell arrive and take Albert, Monique and Reinhardt prisoner, intending to kill them, in revenge for Max's death.

11Season 3

S3.E11 ∙ Days of Judgement

Sat, Dec 1, 1979

Vercors holds his three prisoners at an unknown location, and intends to execute Albert to avenge Max. Natalie manages to get help from the newly arrived Allies, and saves him just in time. But he is seriously affected by his ordeal. No one knows where Monique has been taken. Kessler is with Madeleine, who has hurt her ankle, trying to escape from Belgium through the countryside. Kessler swaps his identity with a dead German military officer, to disguise his position in the Gestapo, and obliterates the face of the dead German. He is subsequently captured by the British, and goes to a Canadian prisoner of war camp. He claims Madeleine was his hostage and she is 'liberated' by the Allies.

12Season 3

S3.E12 ∙ Bridgehead

Sat, Dec 8, 1979

Monique is about to face punishment for unfounded claims of collaboration, when Captain Stephen Durnford arrives on the scene. She goes to stay with Natalie at her flat, where Durnford pays her a further visit. Van Broecken is in the vicinity of Arnhem when he finds two German deserters aboard his barge. Natalie chides Albert for not visiting Monique. He believes that Monique will come back to him and the Candide in time. In the POW camp, Kessler has been identified by his fellow German captives but they agree to conceal his true identity from the Allies.

13Season 3

S3.E13 ∙ The Execution

Sat, Dec 15, 1979

Reinhardt is moved to a Canadian POW camp, and finds Kessler pretending to be a captured army officer. Reinhardt admits that he had given himself up to Albert in Brussels. Kessler betrays Reinhardt and presses for a court-martial. Although the senior German officer Oberst von Schalk knows Kessler's true identity and has contempt for Gestapo officers, he is concerned to preserve the reputation of the Wehrmacht. Although Hitler is now dead, Kessler insists on the court-martial being concluded. Reinhardt is shot by guns borrowed from the Canadians. Meanwhile, the final victory over Germany is declared. Madeleine bribes a Canadian officer to release Kessler (under his assumed name) and uses forged papers supplied semi-willingly by Monique for them to escape to a new life. The Lifeline members are awarded British military honours for their wartime work, and share out the money Albert has saved during the war. Despite his new financial security, Albert is romantically defeated. Monique marries Captain Durnford on VE Day. At the after-wedding party, the Lifeline members get together for one last time, and toast their survival and their missing friends.

14Season 3

S3.E14 ∙ What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

1979

In 1969, Albert, Monique, Natalie and Alain contribute to a British television documentary "In Our Time" to mark the 25th anniversary of Brussels' liberation from the Nazis. Manfred Dorf, a German industrialist, is challenged by investigative journalists who (correctly) believe that he is Kessler. The ex-Lifeline members meet at the Candide, still owned by Albert, and reminisce about their common past.