Das Boot

Das Boot is a TV series, originally aired on Sky Atlantic. At first sight it doesn't seem like something you'd want to watch - life on a German U-boat in WW2 sounds like dark, moody soap opera at best. I didn't actually watch it when it first came out, for that reason. But I have recently watched season 1 and it is much better than it promised.

There are two strands to the story. The crew of the U-boat provides one, French resistance activists the other. Connecting the two narratives is a a young Alsacian woman working as a clerk for the German occupying power in Vichy France. Her brother is on the submarine. The series is their tale.

A tale of love, death and betrayal. The more remarkable in that it is made by German TV and shows the occupation of France by Nazi Germany in all its rawness.

And that's just season 1. I'm about to see the second season and will report back in due course.