SS-GB
Tags: alternate reality

Plot synopsis:
SS-GB is set less than a year after Britain’s surrender following a successful Operation Sea Lion. In 1940, the Germans landed near Ashford, Kent, and Canterbury was declared an open city. The German advance captured London but a British rear guard around Colchester slowed down the Germans for long enough to enable Royal Navy ships to escape from Harwich. King George VI and Prime Minister Winston Churchill became prisoners of the Germans. Britain’s gold and foreign reserves were shipped to Canada.
In 1941, the British Armed Forces surrendered, Churchill was tried by court-martial in Berlin and executed and King George VI was held in the Tower of London. Queen Elizabeth and her daughters Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret escaped to New Zealand while the Duke of Windsor escaped to The Bahamas. Rear Admiral Connolly formed a British government in exile in Washington, D.C., but struggled to gain diplomatic recognition.
Hitler held a victory parade in London, the Soviet Red Fleet was given bases at Rosyth, Scapa Flow and Invergordon, and Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels were on board the first non-stop Lufthansa flight from London to New York City.
In November 1941, nine months after a German invasion led to the British surrender, Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer, of the London's Metropolitan Police – CID (Criminal Investigation Department) at Scotland Yard (Homicide Detective), is called in to investigate a murder of a well-dressed man in a flat in Shepherd Market.
Although the body has two gunshot wounds, Archer is puzzled by its condition, in particular by what appears to be sunburn on the arm. To his surprise, the case draws the attention of the highest levels of the German authorities, as an SS Standartenführer, Oskar Huth, arrives to supervise the investigation. Archer soon finds himself in the middle of a power struggle between Huth and Gruppenführer Fritz Kellerman, Archer's boss and the head of police forces in Great Britain, while also becoming embroiled in the British Resistance movement and attempts to bring America into the war.

Review: I liked man in the Man in the High Castle, although a lot of the time you are spoon fed the concepts and told what's going on more by pointless dialog and not by a simple matter of deduction.
SS-GB is nothing like the Man in The High Castle, as far as I'm concerned, that's Sci-Fi and SS-GB is fiction.
However below that age, it seems to need a lot of explanation, as in "Were the SS the German police?" etc., although Sam Riley's character made a good attempt of trying to explain the differences.
A lot of reviews seem to have this series decided from the first episode.
Well I enjoyed the first episode and the second seems to have improved the quality of the series.The premise is hardly new and despite the book being out in the 70s it seems like it has similarities to "The man in the high castle" but, other than the premise that Germany won the war, it's not.I think it's closer to 40s film noir where the hero/Nazi Sympathiser(?) is constantly lied to and friends become enemies and visa versa.
I enjoyed this much more than The Man in The High Castle.Maybe it's the way the characters are developed, or it could be the location, but it is smart and stylish and purely enjoyable to watch.
Sam Riley was very good as Douglas Archer .
And there is nothing wrong with neither my hearing nor my comprehension of regional English – you can throw heavily accented stuff like John Bishop, Jimmy Nail, James Nesbitt and the Wurzels at me all day, no problem.The bad diction ruins the enjoyment of the show (just as with the aforementioned Taboo, where a ridiculously gibberish dialogue makes the matter even worse – on the few occasions when you can hear what they say, it makes no sense – Jonathan Pryce is the only professional on that show), and it is utterly disrespectful towards the audience..
5 minutes into the first episode I was appalled by the atrocious quality of the sound and diction from the main actor, Sam Riley.
Riley 'spoke' throughout in a ridiculous growly and throaty barely audible mumble which seems to be becoming a BBC speciality of late, with several series garnering similar complaints.
The broad sweep of the story is interesting and may hold up over time, but I think it would work better if all dialogue was subtitled..
At least he does speak in German sometimes and the subtitles ARE understandable.Was looking forward to this; rename "The Mumbling Man in the Very Low Castle" !!
but the painful time I wasted watching this was enough to torment me so much, I couldn't watch another single second!In the opening scene (after the introductory credits play out) we see a couple in a Nazi-occupied hotel.
This bright spark thinks it's a good idea to wrap her body with a Nazi flag, throw open the balcony doors of the hotel room and gaze out over occupied London for all the world to see.
Now, I'm an old English man so you'd think that would have given me an advantage, but it didn't.It seems that in the new world order of Nazi-occupied England, mumbling and indistinct dialog has been written into the new civilian standing orders!Read Len Deighton's book.
This series shares a lot in common with films like Casablanca.
A sleuth, a mysterious woman and a conspiracy of sorts, set against the backdrop of Nazi occupation.The feel of the series, I believe, quite intentionally tries to capture the atmosphere of this era of film.
The exotic comes in the form of an alternate history, where the Germans win the Battle of Britain and occupy the country.
I have read the book about 10 times,I am a fan of the writer,Len Deighton,he is a World War 2 nut and obsessed by detail,which seems to be unpopular nowadays.I admit it was a difficult first episode,the plot is not clear at the moment but I hope people will stick with it,I am sure it will grow on us.
If people are expecting a fast paced thriller they will be disappointed but I think it will turn out to be a quality production.
I did not have any problem with the so called mumbling,I would have liked more pace but I really don't understand why people are being so negative about this production.
As for the constant comparisons with The Man In The High Castle,I know that book and it is based on history,unlike SS-GB..
This would have been so much better if they had commissioned an original script.Amazon's "The Man in The High Castle" worked much better but that was only because they didn't tie themselves to the book it was based on.At least I know what drying paint looks like under the Third Reich..
The writers had the irresistible backdrop of Nazi-occupied London and licence to create any related storyline that they could conjure.So how have we ended up with this dried up, bumbling series of uninteresting scenes?
Based on a novel by Len Deighton and set in an alternate Britain where the Nazis occupy Great Britain comes this turd of a five part series.
Sam Riley channels John Hurt as Superintendent Archer investigating crimes while dealing with his Nazi bosses and also mixed up with the British resistance.There were a few good money shots like Big Ben draped with the Nazi flag but alas it looked cheap, with too many interior shots with people talking and talking and more talking.
I don't really know what I'm giving 3 for: probably for effort, certainly not for atmosphere or Sam Riley.Riley played a similar part in another mini-series recently, and some casting fool obviously thought his heavy-breathing voice and one- dimensional "look" made him the obvious choice for another leading man role.
He's the worst thing about this tedious rubbish: the role calls for an actor with some charisma, and Riley has the same amount of that as he has screen presence - none.The BBC has no excuse either, what with "The Man in the High Tower" as a benchmark.
Even a better use of extras, might have offered a more active, and believable looking story, with London looking like a desert.
The problems with episode one were sound related, now into the second instalment, i found myself not giving a toss about what will happen.
We have so much quality drama to see today,when compared with current successful offerings this production is simply not entertaining, nor anything like good enough..
What could have been a fascinating look at history in an alternative view received the usual soft focus, mumbling and mind numbingly boring and unbelievable BBC treatment.
To see what it could have been like switch this turgid tosh off and seek out the man in the high castle..
I started watching the first episode of this expecting something like the classic "Foyle's War" -- maybe more stylish for the younger set but still a gritty, character-driven story of wartime tensions, and something of reality about it.
But this is presented virtually as a sequence of connected "stills" with each static scene shot and reshot until the two-shot of the leads forms the intended composition of two impossibly "beautiful people", with sheets draped over luscious nude bodies, he looking for all the world like a preppie untouched by the real world (never mind a Nazi invasion) and she most concerned with holding her cigarette holder at just the right louche angle to display an expensive manicure.
its amazing how many complaint ,not only this series,about creating tension or something wt actors talking low wt throathy and mouthy muffle talking most of the time.
Stylish and realistic alternate history with good character actors.
The era and atmosphere were well taken, the benchmarks of the 1941 events correct (e.g. Soviets and Nazis were rather close until WW II) and the involvement of the US at that time was as it was...
True, some moments were odd (e.g. use of public pay phones under dictatorial occupation), the crime itself was soon pushed to the background and the ending could have been wittier, but, in general, SS-GB is a worthy time spending for those interested in both history and crime story.I suggest to watch this miniseries as an "ordinary" drama, without moral dilemmas or painful spite regarding Nazi symbols in London.
The truth is we will never know but this series based on Len Deightons book does an admirable job of suggesting what might have been.
Whilst not as good as Amazons big budget Man In The High Castle.
This rubbish proposes pseudo-history about a historical situation that costed tens of millions of soviet lives who fought against the annihilation and enslavement planned by Germany, who in the previous years had been appeased mostly by the UK, who also favored the German expansion towards east (i.e. Munic Pact, for instance), not to mention the "neutrality" during the Spanish civil war, or the British elites sympathy for Nazism and Hitler.
One such policeman is Superintendent Douglas Archer (Sam Riley), a famed Scotland Yard detective.
The series has some good scenes of London and an opportunity to consider how German occupation would have effected the populous.
I've seen first two episodes, and while I overall like the series so far, I must say that I totally unlike the cheap looking SS uniforms.
Frankly the only mystery to me is why they made it, obviously they didn't review it afterwards or if they did they also fell asleep watching it ....Quite honestly I just didn't care who did what by half way through and the whole idea that the nazI won the 2nd war seems largely irrelevant.Just a boring un inspired mess.
1) Interesting so many reviews mainly concentrate purely on reviewers' opinion that the whole show is ruined by a (certainly at times) softly spoken lead actor/character...
I really fail to get such huge criticism of the audio / his speech as the main comments...The show very hopefully will appeal to fans of 'Foyles War' as it does me...the widowed main character here Chief Inspector Douglas Archer is also somewhat hen-picked & under-appreciated by his superiors (although more complex relationship & rank structure here as they are often German occupiers), appears quite a nice & polite gent just trying to do a tough job & bring up his son, made all the tougher by political interference.I still adore Rutger Hauer in 1994's unfortunately all-too-rare 'Fatherland' as the best alternative-War-Drama...but let's give it a chance at least to complete the season?.
This is a really good drama series.
For me, especially given it's a BBC adaptation and only five episodes long, it's pretty good.Sam Riley as Douglas Archer and Lars Eldinger as Dr. Oskar Huth are the two most outstanding actors - and characters.
Like Archer's sergeant, Harry Woods (played by the always wonderful James Cosmo), I've always believed that anyone who works with the enemy IS the enemy.
However, Archer's stance of just trying to keep the peace and bide his time to make a contribution to the effort to overthrow the Nazis, made me realise that mine and Harry's way of black and white thinking is not so easy once out there in the real world.
It's also why I think many will watch this drama - some, obviously, for the nightmare scenario of what COULD'VE happened had the war ended differently (just another day of the 'Battle of Britain' could've been enough).But others will watch it for what they will see as what COULD'VE been had we not voted for Brexit - only with the EU flag replacing the Swatika ones.
However, I'm not going to say which way I voted at Brexit as it's not really relevant.What I would say is this is very much a 'thinkers' drama - it's not full of action, explosions and high octane chases.
So anything that is slow and makes us properly think, a lot of people tend to dislike.I've liked this drama so much I've bought the book; not because I think it will be better but, unless they cough up another series (which is possible), the BBC will only skim the story and I want to learn it all.
That should tell you this is worth watching - any drama that engages people enough to go back to the source material is always a winner in my book (no pun intended)..
Starting with "Winter" and moving through to "Spy Sinker",Archer pere et fils have occupied a lot of the author's time.
I watched the first episode on BBC 1 last Sunday.I found it disappointing.
Sound quality seemed poor although that may have had more to do with the mumbling of a lot of the cast than anything else.It was unrealistic also I thought.
Everyone knows the brutal and evil Nazi regime would have rounded up a lot of innocent civilians in real life and murdered them to try to stamp out future actions like this.
Not great acting, lots of mumbling and unrealistic events make it a big disappointment in my opinion..
The characters in this TV drama are so dull compared to the characters in the book..Superintendent Archer of the yard looks like a teenager with his miracle suit and overcoat that always looks cool even when crawling though a bombed out house.
Barca is a bore and even Harry who is a pivotal character in the book seems just another supporting cast to Archer and his hat and coat.
Mumbling his way around London entangling himself in the Labyrinthine politics of the German Army, SS and the Resistance who are some posh blokes in a club who dress nicely but are left in awe of Archer's hat and coat.
I will keep watching to see if the hat and coat suffer any degradation as they solve the mystery and confound the Nazi.We should be thankful as the King & Queen are safe but I am sure even they would be outshone by Archer and his hat and coat..
The concept is definitely a good one, one of the darkest 'what if's' you can imagine, what would Britain have looked like if the Nazis had won the war?As always the BBC gets the visuals spot on, the whole thing looks fantastic and slick from start to finish, the costumes, sets, effects are all amazing, it looks incredibly high budget.
It's definitely better then The Man in The High Castle, so much more realistic, you watch this and realise it could have happened, this is what life could have been like.The sound at times was a little bit poor, with a little bit of mumbling, not a great deal, definitely nothing like Jamaica Inn. Accents, however, spot on, I'm glad they didn't use non authentic dialects.If you're a fan of film noir, this will suit you, I hope very much that we get a second series.
This was by far the best thing the BBC have done for a long time - great performances from the cast, in particular Sam Riley, a twist at the end, and it kept its mystique until the final fast paced episode.
It was cerebral, with plenty of twists and the action only really happened in the final episode.
I really hope the full team who did this do more or do a follow up - they have a lot of talent (I don't know them by the way!)Still feeling a bit emotional about the ending as you can probably tell..
Churchill is dead, the King is incarcerated in the Tower of London, there is a resistance but most Londoners appear to be just struggling to get on with their lives.One such person is Police Inspector Douglas Archer; he works alongside the Germans investigating the ordinary crimes that inevitably continue to happen.
Before it is over Archer will uncover a plan that could ultimately help bring the Americans into the war and liberate Britain will his loyalty be to his country or to his German masters?When I saw this advertised I was a little unsure about the whole 'alternate history' idea but once I started watching I was soon gripped and thought the premise actually worked very well.
At first it appears that he is just a collaborator working for the Germans but then it seems more likely that he is just investigating ordinary crimes that would need solving whoever was running the country inevitably he is eventually shown to be a 'good guy' as he gets involved in a plot to get the King out of the country.
The series has a good 'wartime look' with the sight of damaged buildings, including Buckingham Palace and a general drabness.
By coincidence, I read Len Deighton's novel only a few weeks before discovering that it had been dramatised by the BBC, so the plot and characters were fresh as I watched SS-GB.
Overall, I think it is an effective drama (I'm not concerned with the 'Mumblegate' that has surrounded the series) with a number of strong performances, especially those of Lars Eidinger as Oskar Huth and Maeve Dermody as Sylvia (whose role is nicely expanded upon in comparison to the novel).
Yes, Sam Riley is a little on the young side to fully convince as 'Archer of the Yard', but he does provide a stylish presence, and it would be good to see more of the character.
Fundamentally, the concept is an imaginative one, however the reality of a Nazi-occupied Britain does not quite come off due to obvious budget restrictions, as such, the scale and social impact of the German military presence is never really fully established or effectively visualised.
Furthermore, the series really needed an extra episode as the plot strands (the atomic research base attack and the freeing of the King) rather abruptly come to a crux.
However, by adding some revisions to Deighton's plot, the series does leave the way open for further Archer adventures, which hopefully will appear in the near-future