The Other Man (1964 TV programme)
Encyclopedia
The Other Man is a British television drama written by Giles Cooper
and directed by Gordon Flemyng
, starring Michael Caine
, Siân Phillips
and John Thaw
. It was made by Granada
for the ITV
network, and broadcast on 7 September 1964.
, which showed the image of a British passport
, but with the addition of a Swastika
and the German
phrase "Deutsches Reich." Running in two parts from 20:00 to 20:50 and 21:05 to 22:35, with a news broadcast in between, The Other Man was at the time the longest single drama broadcast by ITV. It had a cast of over 200, including extras and 60 speaking parts.
regimental museum, one person present mentally speculates on what might have happened had past events taken a different course. This alternative history follows the life of George Grant (Michael Caine), a young army officer, as Britain capitulates to Germany
in 1940 to avoid bombing
.
There follows a Nazi-directed reorganisation of Britain's domestic and foreign policy, a brutal reconquest of India, and a gradual complicity in racial atrocities
and the building of a Channel tunnel
using slave labour.
Remaining a professional soldier, Grant gradually but inevitably compromises himself under the new regime, via three tests of his humanity, after accepting a posting connected to the building a road from India to the Russian frontier. First he is confronted with an old friend in a Jewish working party; then he must try and execute a fellow officer for Communist treason; before finally having to denounce his former superior officer.
Grant's seeking of emotional solace with a prostitute is interrupted by a Cossack
attack, during which he tries to get himself killed.
He regains consciousness a year later and discovers that his shattered body has been rebuilt using the same advanced transplant surgery that is used to keep alive the leading Nazis - including Adolf Hitler
- and "heroes of the Reich" like Grant himself. Rebuilt with a new leg, a new arm, new internal organs, and a new eye, he is told that the parts came from live "donors."
The narrative closes with both the "real" Grant and his Nazi-serving alter ego delivering essentially the same speech about "why we are here today" at the ceremony first seen at the beginning of the play.
in Burma during the Second World War. He subsequently adapted The Other Man as a novel.
Giles Cooper
Giles Stannus Cooper was an Anglo-Irish playwright and prolific radio dramatist, writing over sixty scripts for BBC radio and television. He was awarded the OBE in 1960 for "Services to Broadcasting"...
and directed by Gordon Flemyng
Gordon Flemyng
Gordon William Flemyng was a Scottish director of six theatrical features, several television films and numerous episodes of TV series, some of which he also wrote and produced. Flemyng directed both of the Dalek feature films of the 1960s, Dr...
, starring Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
, Siân Phillips
Siân Phillips
Jane Elizabeth Ailwên "Siân" Phillips, CBE, is a Welsh actress.-Early life:Phillips was born in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, the daughter of Sally , a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker-turned-policeman...
and John Thaw
John Thaw
John Edward Thaw, CBE was an English actor, who appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles, his most popular being police and legal dramas such as Redcap, The Sweeney, Inspector Morse and Kavanagh QC.-Early life:Thaw came from a working class background, having been born in Gorton,...
. It was made by Granada
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
for the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network, and broadcast on 7 September 1964.
Production
Prior to transmission, the nature of the storyline was not publicised, the only hint being the cover of that week's TV TimesTV Times
TVTimes is a television listings magazine published in the United Kingdom by IPC Media, a subsidiary of Time Warner. It is known for its access to television actors and their programmes. In 2006 it was refreshed for a more modern look, increasing its emphasis on big star interviews and soaps...
, which showed the image of a British passport
British passport
British passports may be issued to people holding any of the various forms of British nationality, and are used as evidence of the bearer's nationality and immigration status within the United Kingdom or the issuing state/territory.-Issuing:...
, but with the addition of a Swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
and the German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
phrase "Deutsches Reich." Running in two parts from 20:00 to 20:50 and 21:05 to 22:35, with a news broadcast in between, The Other Man was at the time the longest single drama broadcast by ITV. It had a cast of over 200, including extras and 60 speaking parts.
Synopsis
During the opening of a British armyBritish Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
regimental museum, one person present mentally speculates on what might have happened had past events taken a different course. This alternative history follows the life of George Grant (Michael Caine), a young army officer, as Britain capitulates to Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1940 to avoid bombing
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
.
There follows a Nazi-directed reorganisation of Britain's domestic and foreign policy, a brutal reconquest of India, and a gradual complicity in racial atrocities
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
and the building of a Channel tunnel
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...
using slave labour.
Remaining a professional soldier, Grant gradually but inevitably compromises himself under the new regime, via three tests of his humanity, after accepting a posting connected to the building a road from India to the Russian frontier. First he is confronted with an old friend in a Jewish working party; then he must try and execute a fellow officer for Communist treason; before finally having to denounce his former superior officer.
Grant's seeking of emotional solace with a prostitute is interrupted by a Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
attack, during which he tries to get himself killed.
He regains consciousness a year later and discovers that his shattered body has been rebuilt using the same advanced transplant surgery that is used to keep alive the leading Nazis - including Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
- and "heroes of the Reich" like Grant himself. Rebuilt with a new leg, a new arm, new internal organs, and a new eye, he is told that the parts came from live "donors."
The narrative closes with both the "real" Grant and his Nazi-serving alter ego delivering essentially the same speech about "why we are here today" at the ceremony first seen at the beginning of the play.
Cast
- Michael CaineMichael CaineSir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
as George Grant - Siân PhillipsSiân PhillipsJane Elizabeth Ailwên "Siân" Phillips, CBE, is a Welsh actress.-Early life:Phillips was born in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, the daughter of Sally , a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker-turned-policeman...
as Kate Grant - John ThawJohn ThawJohn Edward Thaw, CBE was an English actor, who appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles, his most popular being police and legal dramas such as Redcap, The Sweeney, Inspector Morse and Kavanagh QC.-Early life:Thaw came from a working class background, having been born in Gorton,...
as Henry Potter - Peter DyneleyPeter DyneleyPeter Dyneley was a British actor, born in Hastings, East Sussex, England.Although appearing in many smaller roles in both film and television, he is best remembered for his performance as the voice of Jeff Tracy in the Gerry Anderson 1960s TV series Thunderbirds and the subsequent movies...
as Major Ritter - Nigel GreenNigel GreenNigel Green was a South African-born English character actor. Because of his strapping build and commanding demeanour he would often be found playing military types and men of action in such classic sixties films as Jason and the Argonauts, Zulu, Tobruk and The Ipcress File.-Early life and...
as Company Sergeant Major Blackman - William KendallWilliam Kendall (actor)-Filmography:* Good Night, Vienna * That's a Good Girl * The King's Cup * Doctor's Orders * Debt of Honour * This'll Make You Whistle * Sweet Devil * The Sky's the Limit...
as Major Norriss - Godfrey QuigleyGodfrey QuigleyGodfrey Quigley was an Irish stage, film and television actor.Quigley was born in Jerusalem where his father served as an officer in the British Army...
as Paddy Ryan - Vladek SheybalVladek SheybalVladek Sheybal , born Władysław Sheybal, was a Polish character actor, whose career lasted from the 1950s into the 1980s. He was probably best known for his portrayal of the chess grandmaster Kronsteen in the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love, a role for which he had been personally...
as Klaus - Maurice Quick as Major Weston
- Dennis ChinneryDennis ChinneryDennis Chinnery is a British actor, noted for his performances in television.His credits include: Hancock's Half Hour, Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars, Softly, Softly, The Saint, The Avengers, The Prisoner, The Champions, Public Eye, Special Branch, Oh Brother! 'The Laughter of a Fool' and...
as Major Lewin
Background
Writer Giles Cooper had himself served as a British army officer with the West Yorkshire RegimentWest Yorkshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's Own)
The West Yorkshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army. In 1958 it amalgamated with The East Yorkshire Regiment to form The Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire...
in Burma during the Second World War. He subsequently adapted The Other Man as a novel.
External links
- The Other Man on BFI