Tenko backdrop
Tenko poster

Tenko

8.1
3 seasons
30 episodes
Ended
Drama
War & Politics

Plot Summary

Based on real-life experiences, Tenko remains one of the most fondly remembered and acclaimed BBC dramas of the early 1980s. It follows a group of women, formerly comfortably well-off ex-pats living in Singapore, as they are captured by the Japanese during World War II.

First Aired:October 22, 1981
Last Aired:December 10, 1984
Episode Runtime:1h 0m, 50m
Networks:
BBC One
Created By:
Lavinia Warner

Cast & Characters

Where to watch free (US)

No free providers found in US.

Seasons (4)

Season 1

Season 1

10 episodes

Aired: 1981

The first season, set in 1941-42, charts the drama from the women being captured and sent to live in squalor and deprivation in a Japanese POW camp.

Season 2

Season 2

10 episodes

Aired: 1982

Season 2, set in 1942-43, began with the women on a long march to a new camp, where things seem much more luxurious at first, but they find they have troubles settling into the strange regime of their new home.

Season 3

Season 3

10 episodes

Aired: 1984

The final season took up two years after the previous one, as the war drew to a close and the women were returned to their normal lives. Well, as normal as they could be after their imprisonment.