Kessler (TV series)

Kessler
Cover of the DVD release.
Created by	John Brason Gerard Glaister
Starring	Clifford Rose Alan Dobie Nitza Saul Alison Glennie Nicholas Young Bernard Hepton
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	6
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	13 November – 18 December 1981

Kessler is a television series produced by the BBC in 1981, starring Clifford Rose in the title role.

The six-part serial is a sequel to the Second World War drama series Secret Army, set in contemporary times.

The story begins when a self-serving Belgian journalist, Hugo Van Eyck broadcasts a documentary about Nazi war criminals and along with West German intelligence operative Richard Bauer investigates the whereabouts of the former Chief of Gestapo and SS of Belgium, Standartenfuhrer Ludwig Kessler (Clifford Rose). Kessler has changed his name to Manfred Dorf and is now a wealthy industrialist, who manufactures plastics, explosives and pharmaceutical compounds in his factories. His Belgian mistress, from the war, Madeleine Duclos (Hazel McBride) has died by this point, but in the years in between, the pair have married and produced a daughter called Ingrid (Alison Glennie). Kessler is part of an organisation called the Kameradenwerk which is formed of Nazis on the run, trying to evade capture for their war crimes and is led by a close friend of Kessler, Colonel Hans Ruckert (Ralph Michael) (who is based on Luftwaffe ace Colonel Hans Rudel). Ingrid is sleeping with her father's manservant, Franz Hoss (Nicholas Young), and the pair are part of a group of young Nazis who dream of leading Germany back to Nazism.

Van Eyck invites three other Secret Army characters to his studios: Albert Foiret (Bernard Hepton) Monique Durnford (née Duchamps) (Angela Richards) and Natalie Chantrens (Juliet Hammond-Hill) (some of the serial's first scenes take place outside the Restaurant Candide in the Grand Place in Brussels). The trio meet again and reminisce about their wartime activities running the resistance organisation Lifeline. Monique and Natalie are certain that Dorf is Kessler, but Albert claims to be less sure.