Wish Me Luck is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
drama about the exploits of British women agents during the Second World War. The series was made by
London Weekend TelevisionLondon Weekend Television is the ITV network franchise holder for London and the South East at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5:15pm. to Monday mornings at 5:59am....
for the
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
network between 1987 and 1989 and created by
Lavinia WarnerLavinia Warner created several successful TV series in the 80s and 90s, all of which featured women in the leading roles. These included the female internee drama Tenko for the BBC, secret agent drama Wish Me Luck for LWT and the less well-known taxi-firm series Rides , again for the BBC. For...
and
Jill HyemFormerly an actress, Jill Hyem became a successful British television writer.Her works include: the popular drama Tenko for which she wrote half the episodes, secret agent drama Wish Me Luck which she co-created with long-time collaborator Lavinia Warner, the first series of sex and sailing soap...
, who had previously produced and written the BBC women
prisoner of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
series
TenkoTenko is a television drama, co-produced by the BBC and the ABC . A total of thirty episodes was produced between 1981 and 1984, followed by a one-off special , Tenko Reunion, in 1985.The series dealt with the experiences of British, Australian and Dutch...
. The series was filmed on location in England and France.
Wish Me Luck is similar to
TenkoTenko is a television drama, co-produced by the BBC and the ABC . A total of thirty episodes was produced between 1981 and 1984, followed by a one-off special , Tenko Reunion, in 1985.The series dealt with the experiences of British, Australian and Dutch...
and the 1970s
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
drama
Secret Army, in that it deals with strong female characters coping under extreme conditions in wartime. The organisation for which the series' women agents worked, the 'Outfit', was based on the real-life
Special Operations ExecutiveThe Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct warfare by means other than direct military engagement...
. Season 1 and 2 were based on the exploits of
SOESOE can stand for:* Special Operations Executive, a British World War II covert military organisation* State-owned enterprise* System of linear equations, in mathematics* Secret of Evermore, a Super Nintendo role-playing game from Squaresoft...
agent
Nancy WakeNancy Grace Augusta Wake AC, GM served as a British agent during the later part of World War II. She became a leading figure in the maquis groups of the French Resistance and became one of the Allies' most decorated servicewomen of the war.-Early life:Born in Roseneath, Wellington, New Zealand,...
and much of the dialogue was copied from her autibiography "The White Mouse".
Principal Cast and Crew
The first series centred around the exploits of two recruits played by
Kate BufferyKatharine Buffery is an English actress/voice over artist, known as Kate Buffery.Buffery is possibly best known for her role in the British TV drama Wish Me Luck, as Liz Grainger. She was nominated for a 1983 Olivier Award as best supporting actress in Daisy Pulls It Off.She is also known for her...
and
Suzanna HamiltonSuzanna Hamilton is an English actress. She is most famous for her performance as Julia in the modern film adaptation of George Orwell's classic novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four....
. The second series saw
Kate BufferyKatharine Buffery is an English actress/voice over artist, known as Kate Buffery.Buffery is possibly best known for her role in the British TV drama Wish Me Luck, as Liz Grainger. She was nominated for a 1983 Olivier Award as best supporting actress in Daisy Pulls It Off.She is also known for her...
joined by
Lynn FarleighLynn Farleigh is an English actress of stage and screen. She is the daughter of Joseph Sydney Farleigh and his wife Marjorie Norah ....
and
Jane SnowdenJane Snowden is a British actress, born in York on 31 January 1965. She is most famous for her role as Emily Whitbread in the second and third series of the LWT drama Wish Me Luck, and appeared in the film The Frog Prince in 1984....
. The third and final series which was based on the 1944 Vercors rebellion saw
Jane SnowdenJane Snowden is a British actress, born in York on 31 January 1965. She is most famous for her role as Emily Whitbread in the second and third series of the LWT drama Wish Me Luck, and appeared in the film The Frog Prince in 1984....
joined by
Catherine SchellKatherina Freiin Schell von Bauschlott is an Hungarian-born actress best known for her work in England with the BBC.Schell rose to fame in various British film and television productions in the 1960s and 1970s...
, Jeremy Nicholas and, in one of her first television roles,
Shirley Henderson-Early life:Henderson was born in Forres, in the county of Morayshire on the edge of the Scottish Highlands, but grew up in the village of Kincardine in Fife. As a child she began singing in local clubs, at charity events, holiday camps and even a boxing contest...
. Running the 'Outfit' back in London were
Jane AsherJane Asher is an English actress, who is well known in the United Kingdom for her numerous appearances in film and television dramas. She has also developed a second career as a cake decorator and cake shop proprietor. -Early life:...
and
Julian GloverJulian Wyatt Glover is an English actor.-Early life:Glover was born in Hampstead, the son of Honor , a close friend of the novelist Barbara Pym, and C. Gordon Glover, a BBC radio producer. His half brother is the musician Robert Wyatt...
.
Other key characters were played by Terrence Hardiman,
Jeremy NorthamJeremy Philip Northam is an award-winning English actor.-Personal life:Northam was born in Cambridge, the son of Rachel, a potter and professor of economics, and John Northam, a professor of literature and theatre, as well as Ibsen specialist and teacher first at Clare College, Cambridge and later...
,
Stuart McGuganStuart McGugan is a Scottish actor.Stuart was first seen on television as a presenter on BBC's Play School in 1964, but he is probably best known for playing Bomba MacAteer in Tutti Frutti, and Gunner 'Atlas' Mackintosh in the BBC sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum.He appeared as Gordon Stewart in two...
,
Warren ClarkeWarren Clarke is an English actor.Clarke was born in Oldham, Lancashire. His first television appearance was in the long running Granada soap opera Coronation Street, initially as Kenny Pickup in 1966 and then as Gary Bailey in 1968...
,
Felicity MontaguFelicity Montagu is an English actress, probably best known for her performances in radio and television comedy series and films...
, Michael J. Jackson, Mark Anstee,
Trevor PeacockTrevor Peacock is an English character actor who has had roles such as Jim Trott in The Vicar of Dibley, Rouault in Madame Bovary , Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop and Old Bailey in Neverwhere...
and Nigel Le Vaillant.
The first series was directed by Gordon Flemyng, the second and third series by Bill Hays.
DVD releases
All three series of
Wish Me Luck have now been released on
DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
(Region 2, UK) by DD Home Entertainment (DDHE). The first series is also available on DVD in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Each of DDHE's Region 2 DVD boxsets are accompanied by fully-illustrated booklets written by Andy Priestner, which go behind-the-scenes and examine how each series was made.