War heroines reunited in Singapore

Press, 20 December 1986, Page 18

War heroines reunited in Singapore

The Tenko women meet again in a special 8.8. C. drama, ‘‘Tenko Reunion,” which will screen tomorrow (Sunday) at 8.30 p.m. on One. Marion Jefferson, Alice Courtenay, Maggie Carter, Kate Norris, all the survivors of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Malaya, return to Singapore five years after the end of the Second World War.

The reunion was something they promised each other when they found themselves on the verge of freedom in 1945. In 1950 they discover Malaya in the grip of a bitter struggle for independence and are unaware of the intrigue that is to involve them in treachery and murder. This special featurelength episode from one of the most popular television series of the 1980 s was filmed almost entirely in Singapore and Malaysia. It is the culmination of a story based on fact — a story of courage, loyalty, suffering and humour, which pays tribute to those forgotten heroines of the Second World War.

Together again in Singapore, the women catch up with each other’s news and enjoy the company of old and valued friends. They find that some things have changed quite drastically, including the decor at the Raffles Hotel which had served as their transit camp following their release.

The women have gone through changes, too. Their former leader, Marion Jefferson (Ann Bell) is now a saddened, purposeless divorcee. Dorothy Bennett (Veronica Roberts) has become a successful business woman with her own antique shop in a fashionable part of London.

Maggie Thorpe (Elizabeth Mickery) is now Maggie Carter and lives with her husband and two children in a dingy Lon-

don terrace house. Alice Courtenay, a naive teenager in 1945, has grown into a sophisticated young lady and the Australian nurse, Kate Norris (Claire Oberman) is studying to become a doctor.

The once grouchy and unpopular Dominica Van Meyer (Elizabeth Chambers) is a reformed character since her marriage to Teddy Forster-Brown who owns a plantation in Malaya. Christina Campbell (Emily Bolton), the Eurasian woman who was once intent on finding an English husband, is now a fully integrated member of Singapore’s Chinese community, and works as a teacher in the new welfare centre started by the late Joss Holbrook.

Running the centre is the now almost blind Dr Beatrice Mason (Stephanie Cole), helped by the frail and ailing Stephen Wentworth (Pres-

ton Lockwood). Sister Ulrica, the delightful Dutch nun for whom all the women have the greatest respect, is currently based in a jungle mission and undertakes a long and dangerous journey in order to attend the reunion.

After a tour of the welfare centre and a visit to Joss’s grave and that of Kate’s fiance, Tom, the women prepare for their reunion dinner at Raffles.

The following weeks involve the opening of some old wounds, and a need to take stock both of their past and their plans for the future when the women discover a traitor in their midst who places them in danger but saves their lives.

With few exceptions, this reunion in Singapore leads to another in England when some of the women make their real journey home.