# Colditz (2005)

> During World War II, captured escape artists are gathered into the German-run castle of Colditz, a prison designed to make escape impossible.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/19377

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 2
- Episode runtime: 90 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, war, history
- Network: ITV1
- Cast: Damian Lewis, Sophia Myles, Tom Hardy, Laurence Fox, James Fox, Timothy West, Jason Priestley, Guy Henry
- TMDB rating: 6.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0415407/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: tense, grim, claustrophobic, gallows humour, sincere

## What critics say

Audiences received this two-part WWII prisoner-of-war drama with mixed reactions, admiring its escape-driven tension and cast while finding it uneven.

## Synopsis

Colditz (2005) is a British two-part miniseries created for ITV1, a period war drama set during World War II. Damian Lewis plays Nicholas McGrade, a captured soldier and accomplished escape artist, alongside Tom Hardy as Jack Rose and Jason Priestley as Rhett Barker, all sent to the German-run castle of Colditz, which the Germans have converted into an escape-proof prison for recidivist escapees. The engine of the drama is the prisoners' stubborn conviction that escape is a soldier's duty, and their constant schemes to harass and irritate their German captors against the watchful garrison. Each episode is built from concrete plans, tunnels, forged papers, and tense confrontations inside the stone walls, with the camp's routines and rivalries shaping every move. The two-part, roughly three-hour run gives the story a compact, single continuing arc. Its tone is taut and grim, shaped by the claustrophobic setting and the moral weight of captivity, with moments of gallows humour and camaraderie. Fans of The Great Escape and Band of Brothers will find resonance in its wartime camaraderie and the ingenuity of its prisoners.

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