Wish Me Luck

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.

Back to 1987 to see really well made drama and this one a wartime one on the SOE. The first series is really very good, especially with Kate Buffery. Pretty well researched although there are a few errors and with a good feel ending which is not too lacking in veracity. Same for second season except a lot of emotionalism in the last episode and it started to unravel. The third series seems to have become lost in what is either a serious drama on the SOE or something of a Barbara Cartland novel. I have to see the last four episodes but something has really gone wrong and it is a wretched shame because it was so believable in the first two series. Now its wacky. In general though this is a first class wartime drama, far superior in its early series to anything else I have seen. I mean we have a real life Lysander here which was the aircraft type used during the war and that really is a first. Well shot but must have been expensive as a lot of vehicles and factories get blown up in a time before CGI. Julian Glover and Jane Asher do extremely well as the home front whilst Suzanna Hamilton is outstanding in the first series and Jane Snowden is good in the second series, both as radio operators, but JS is a victim of the weird plot in series three. Both these girls seemed to disappear from sight after Wish Me Luck which is a great shame.

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.

Wish Me Luck from 1987 is a three-season series about the exploits of British female spies in France during World War II. The series starred Jane Asher, Michael J. Jackson, Kate Buffery, Jane Snowden, Jeremy Northam, Julian Glover, and Susanna Hamilton.

Seasons 1 and 2 of the late were based on the autobiography (including much of the dialogue and situations) of the British spy Nancy Wake, so there is a high degree of accuracy.

I really saw this as a mixture of several of the great female spies: Odette Hallowes, Violette Szabo, Wake, Virginia Hall, and Lise de Baissac.

Season 1 concentrates on the Buffery and Hamilton characters. The Buffery character was similar to Odette's - the government asked for photos people took while on vacation near the French coastline, and after submitting hers, she was invited to train as a spy. The other character, Mattie (Hamilton) is trained as a radio operator.

In season 2, we are introduced to another radio operator, portrayed by Jane Snowden. Different agents and government officials appear throughout the series. Season 3 deals with the Vercors rebellion of 1944.

I have to say that Season 1 for me was the best - it almost seemed as if Season 2, there was a change in the producers - the show seemed to have a more '70s TV look.

There are many edge of your seat scenes. The series shows the effect of the occupation by the locals, the private lives of the spies, and the danger the spies were in constantly. I really couldn't just watch one episode and stop! It's a binge-watch type of show.

The lives of these British spies were fascinating, and I highly recommend reading about the lives of the real-life women mentioned, and also seeing the film Carve Her Name with Pride, about Violette Szabo.