List of Tenko Characters - The British PoWs

The British PoWs

Marion Jefferson

Marion is the first character we are introduced to in the series and the protagonist. The first two episodes shows her life in 1941/1942 months and days before the fall of Singapore and the characters she comes into contact with, including Dr Beatrice Mason and Rose Miller. Missing her son in England, Marion wanted to return to England to do something for the British war effort but this was met by refusal by her husband Clifford. As the wife of a highly respected army officer, she felt surplus to requirements and so when the invasion of Singapore looked likely, she left to go to Australia. After the ship was torpedoed, she was arrested and interned at a prisoner of war camp in the Kampong Getah. Here, she became leader of the British prisoners but found the role extremely difficult and challenging. Over the next 3 years, we saw Marion trying to cope with the various hurdles thrown at her. She rarely lost her composure and managed to build a working relationship with Major Yamauchi. After she was liberated in 1945, she found it hard to return to her pre-war life and enraged her husband when she visited Yamauchi in Changi prison. Marion and Clifford's marriage became strained and she felt that she no longer knew her son and her husband has a child with someone else. After returning to England, the pair divorced and Marion took a job with the Red Cross whilst battling secret alcoholism. Marion was played by Ann Bell, who from 1971 until his death in 2004 was married to Robert Lang. They appeared together in Tenko Reunion in which Lang played Edward Forster-Brown.

Christina Campbell

Christina Campbell, born to a Chinese mother and Scottish father, felt inferior in colonial Singapore where she was employed as a tour guide. She experienced considerable racism throughout camp life but was given special status when she became an interpreter and personal assistant for Yamauchi. She was fluent in Japanese, Chinese(Hokkien), English, Dutch, German and French and was spared manual work for office duties and it was while in this role that she formed a special bond with the Commandant alongside Marion Jefferson. She was close to the other women but as time went on, she became increasingly aware of the problems facing people in Singapore and starts to reject her British identity more and more and starting to wear Chinese dress and take part in Chinese behaviours such as burning joss sticks. After being liberated, she became involved with a Chinese communist called Lau Peng while working with Dr Mason at the Monica Radcliffe Foundation. After engineering an attack on the Forster-Brown estate in which Sister Ulrica was shot and injured, she was outed as a communist who recruited Lau Peng and is promptly imprisoned where she apparently remained, unapologetic and unrepentant in her cell. Christina was played by Emily Bolton.

Dr Beatrice 'Big Bea' Mason The daughter of a vicar, Beatrice Mason was a Doctor and martinet who specialised in tropical medicine and had lived in Singapore for many years before the invasion. After being captured, Bea began to work in the sick bay but found the strain of a lack of medical supplies hard to cope with as many women died from illnesses that could have been easily cured with quinine or yeast tablets. In the 2nd camp, Bea was initially admitted as a patient with signs of nervous exhaustion and was then second-in-command due to new camp already having a doctor, Natalie Trier, in charge of the sick bay, but soon became the head doctor after Natalie Trier was repatriated back to Vichy France, leaving behind her treatise and most likely murdered upon returning. She found her atheist morals questioned several times and was forced to carry out an abortion, as well as being asked to euthanise a patient and take part in occasional dentistry. As her eyesight deteriorated, Dr Mason found life hard to cope with and the persistent mortality rate sent her into a massive depression. Upon liberation, she discovered cupboards packed with medical supplies, including large bottles of quinine held back by Major Yamauchi. Furious with the find, she testified against Yamauchi at his war crimes trial. For a time, she ran the Monica Radcliffe Foundation with Stephen Wentworth but as her eyesight became worse, she decided to move back to England before going totally blind. Dr Mason was portrayed by Stephanie Cole.

Kate Norris Australian by birth, Kate Norris was a nurse at the Singapore Hospital under Dr Mason. She was becoming increasingly tired of nursing and was more concerned with her blossoming relationship with her boyfriend Tom Redburn and their new life together after the war. They became engaged on the night of the first Japanese air raid on Singapore. Both Kate and Tom were captured by the Japanese after being shipwrecked but were separated and sent to different camps. She worked as a nurse in the sick bay at the Kampong Getah camp under Beatrice Mason. However, she was unwilling to serve under Dr Trier in the 2nd camp and didn't reveal she was a nurse until Sally Markham committed suicide and wanted to help prepare her body. She remained a key part of the internee group and was reunited with Tom after liberation, however, he had TB and died soon after. After giving up Doctor's training in Australia, she returned to Singapore to take over the running of the Monica Radcliffe Foundation from Dr Mason and Stephen Wentworth. She was portrayed by Claire Oberman.

Blanche Simmons Blanche Simmons (1912-1944) was a cockney rebel in every sense of the label in addition to having a pre-war life as a prostitute. Not averse to using her body to keep her in cigarettes and make-up, she also did so to get vital quinine and the occasional piece of chocolate for birthdays. Blanche came from a working class background, absent father, abandoned by her mother and adopted by her grandmother and had a child whom she was forced to give up for adoption. She became extremely close to Debbie Bowen much to the concern of Debbie's mother Judith, who later died from Malaria and asked Marion to look after her. When Blanche attempted to escape, Debbie found out and asked her to take her with her as her mother had just died, however they were caught when Marion and Rose found out that Debbie had escaped with Blanche and informed the commandant resulting in the pair being staked. Blanche was finally cut free and before long, was separated from the other women and sent to a different camp along with Sylvia and Nellie. By the time she was reunited with the rest, her friendship with Rose Millar had taken a sour turn as Blanche blamed Rose for Debbie who had died from a spider bite on the journey to second camp. She eventually made friends with Rose, helping her when she arranged to break out to meet Bernard. Blanche wasn't caught but kept the bullet removed from Rose's body. She asked Beatrice Mason to euthanise Rose and herself died of Beri-Beri in the 3rd camp. Blanche Simmons was portrayed by Louise Jameson.

Dorothy Bennett Dorothy Bennett entered the camp with her newborn baby, Violet in 1942 who she named after her aunt and had a pre-war life as a housewife in Edgware, London. Her husband Dennis had been shot by the Japanese and she became despondent and fatalistic. When she did turn her attention to Violet, it was clear that the baby needed milk as her breast milk had dried up within a week from poor nutrition. She turned to smuggling but was caught and punished. As she couldn't feed Violet, the baby died and Dorothy immediately turned away from her fellow internees. She became friendly with the Japanese guard Shinya but was also having sex with the other guards in order to get supplies for herself. In the 2nd camp, she fell pregnant and had an abortion. Her closest friend was Sister Ulrica who affectionately called her "Dorotee". After her liberation, Dorothy returned to the bungalow in Malaya that her husband Dennis had bought for the family but it had been graffited and vandalised. She was attacked and claims of collaboration were thrown at her but these were not taken seriously by the British forces in Singapore. Dorothy returned to England where she opened an antiques shop. She became involved with Jake Haulter and a married man (Alex in Fine Arts) in an extra-marital relationship and was accepted as a very wealthy woman making another character, Maggie Thorpe, jealous after realising that playing happy families is not for her in contrast to the expected lifestyle at the time. Dorothy was portrayed by Veronica Roberts.

Maggie Thorpe Maggie Thorpe was introduced in Series 3. Much in the mould of Blanche Simmons, albeit a Northerner who had worked as a hostess in a cheap bar and had gone through a life of many one-night stands, more to make her forget her miserable childhood where she was raped and impregnated by her own father who killed himself, the pair had evidently been friends in the third camp on the site of an old prison. After the Japanese surrender had been announced, she organised a mob to kill Captain Sato but the gang was rapidly stopped by Marion Jefferson. She was liberated with the others but faced claims of collaboration like her friend Dorothy Bennett and when she found out she was pregnant, was concerned that it was a Japanese baby, however it turned out that she had slept with a British unnamed PoW the day after liberation. She had the baby called Blanche and returned to England where she married a man called Jim and had another child called Harry. Maggie was portrayed by Lizzie Mickery.

Sally (Felicity) Markham (1920-1943) Sally Markham arrived at the first camp constantly being sick and separated from her new husband Peter, who had been sent to the mens camp. Beatrice Mason confirmed she was pregnant a few weeks after arriving at the camp but gave birth to a stillborn baby girl named Eleanor. She became increasingly reliant on Nellie Keane whom Nellie had fallen in love with. However this was not reciprocated by Sally who had seen Nellie as just a close friend. Before the women were sent to the second camp a list of male prisoners that were alive was issued to the women, Peter's name was not on the list and her mood worsened and she became very despondent and depressed as she realised Peter was dead, this being confirmed by Bernard when he met with Rose. After purchasing a mirror from Verna Johnson, she smashed it and slashed her wrists, an act which caused draconian punishment for all of the women in the camp. She was portrayed by Joanna Hole.

Eleanor "Nellie" Keane (died 1945, birth date unknown) Irish by birth, Nellie Keane was a nurse at the Singapore Hospital under Dr Mason. She originally was seen shirking her duties, preferring to look for possible husbands and play the field instead but as the series went on, Nellie developed a close relationship with fellow prisoner Sally Markham. The relationship turned heads, becoming more intimate after Sally gave birth to a stillborn baby that she named after Nellie (Eleanor). The two were accused of gross perversion which Sally was disgusted at as Sally only saw Nellie as a friend. As Nellie realised this, she focussed her energies on the sick bay and stayed away from Sally. When she was separated from the other women in series 2, she apparently took control of the sick bay in her new camp, treating many ill internees before dying herself of malaria shortly before the end of the war. Nellie Keane was portrayed by Jeananne Crowley.

Lady Jocelyn 'Joss' Holbrook (1870-1945) Joss was introduced in Series 2, being discovered by the internees on their way to the new camp. After suffering from a broken arm, Joss had been left for dead in an abandoned house but was sent to the next camp with the British and Dutch PoWs. Forthright and typically British, she hid her status as the daughter of an Earl from her fellow prisoners but when it was discovered, she suffered highly sycophantic attention from Mrs Van Meyer. Keen to be taken as "one of the girls", she enjoyed causing trouble for the Japanese and was punished quite often for sabotaging vehicles or answering the guards back, more owing to a colourful past as a Suffragette. For most of the series, she was seen with an arm in a sling and suffered quite a few broken bones which failed to dampen her fighting spirit.

She became a special friend to Bea and Marion but was keen to trace her friend Monica Radcliffe whom she later discovered had died from heart failure. Upon her liberation, she met up with Monica's partner Stephen Wentworth and the two worked in a makeshift medical centre. While out walking with Stephen, Joss was mugged by bandits and suffered broken ribs which eventually led to her death. She was buried in Singapore and in her will, left £1000 to all of her fellow internees with the exception of Stephen and Bea, whom she left £52,000 to found the Monica Radcliffe foundation, a medical centre. Her name lived on in the Joss Holbrook Education Wing. Joss was portrayed by Jean Anderson.

Judith Bowen/Cohen (died 1942, birth unknown) Judith Bowen was the highly over protective mother of Debbie Bowden and one of the oldest internees in the original camp. She soon went down with malaria but was saved by Blanche Simmons who stole some quinine that had been delivered in red cross parcels which the Japanese had not yet handed out. However, she soon contracted Malaria again, the second bout being cerebral and she died in 1942. It was revealed after her death and Christian funeral that she had in fact been Jewish and that her real surname was Cohen. She was played by Ann Queensberry.

Debbie Bowen/Cohen (died 1942, birth unknown) Debbie Bowen was the daughter of Judith Bowen. After her mother's death, she became increasingly friendly with Blanche Simmons and accompanied her on an attempted escape but the two were caught after Marion and Rose informed on them. After being staked out in the sun, Debbie was allowed to return thanks to Marion's pleading with Yamauchi. After being separated, the women were forced to walk many miles to the new camp and it was on a stop-over at a beach while collecting fruit that Debbie was bitten by a spider. She survived for a few days before dying. Like her mother, she was given a Christian burial but had her Star of David charm placed under the foot of the wooden cross. Debbie was played by Karin Foley.

Rose Millar Rose Millar (1914-1943) was a snotty, vain, stuck-up journalist's girlfriend and socialite living in Singapore at the time of the Japanese invasion whom at the age of 18 years old was previously married to a middle-aged subaltern and plantation owner who subsequently deserted her after bedding her. It becomes more clear that this snotty and vain attitude is a front and she is quite a vulnerable and insecure person as a result of it who is always seeking acceptance from the others for her looks. After being shipwrecked with Marion Jefferson and the others, she seemed more concerned with finding her luggage than finding her boyfriend Bernard, but it soon became her priority to see him when they were separated. In the Kampong Getah camp, she became extremely friendly with Blanche Simmons and was reluctant to take part in camp life despite their differences in social class and upbringing. However, their relationship broke down when Rose informed the Commandant of Blanche's planned escape and the two broke friends. This caused Rose much suffering when the women were split into two camps but her major priority was to see Bernard. She arranged to meet him through a series of notes passed by Christina Campbell but news of the meeting reached Miss Hassan via Lilian Cartland. Bernard and Rose did get to meet but tragically, both were shot. Bernard died but Rose survived thanks to all of the women giving things to Beatrice Mason to remove the bullet. After a few days in the hospital hut, it became clear that Rose was paralyzed from the waist down and feeling suicidal, she asked Dr Mason to kill her. When she refused, Rose went on hunger strike but was forced to eat by Captain Sato. Rose eventually did die but whether Dr Mason helped her or not was never revealed or made clear. Rose was portrayed by Stephanie Beacham.

Sylvia Ashburton (died 1943, birth unknown) A typical colonialist wife, Sylvia Ashburton was pompous and proud of her nationality, refusing to bow to her Japanese captors at tenko before being eventually forced into it. Even then, she'd mumble, "God Save the King" while doing so. Hard-working with a jolly-hockey sticks attitude, a darker side was seen in her relationship with Christina Campbell who she refused to sleep next to because she was a non-white. She was unashamedly racist but this attitude changed as the series progressed and she soon became good friends with Christina. As her husband was an Army Major, Sylvia already knew Marion Jefferson when she arrived in the Kampong Getah camp. At the beginning of Series 2, the women were split into two groups. Later in Series 2, we learned that Sylvia had died from cholera. Sylvia was portrayed by Renee Asherson.

Verna Johnson (1908-1944) Verna was introduced in Series 2 as the genteel and well-coiffed British leader of the 2nd camp, answerable to Miss Hassan. She had her own special hut which contained many rare items such as chocolate and saki and she employed Daisy Robertson to clean for her, while also keeping a pet cat named Pudding and being exempt from Tenkos that apparently don't apply to her somehow. It soon became evident that Verna was collaborating with the Japanese to keep herself furnished in luxury and the women began to get increasingly suspicious of her erratic behaviour. As time went on, Verna became increasingly unstable as money ran short and she struggled to pay back a loan to Miss Hassan in the time given (3 days). Finally, Verna was exposed as having stored up Red Cross parcels to sell to the women. These included important medical supplies and food, sending the women into a rage. They beat her before turning their attention to Miss Hassan but an air-raid killed her before they had the chance to confront both Verna and Miss Hassan together. Verna herself died in the 3rd camp of an unknown illness. She was played by Rosemary Martin.

Lillian Cartland A childhood friend of Marion, she showed signs of paranoia concerning the welfare of her son Bobby. She sold all of her possessions to Verna Johnson to buy extra food and became violent when Bobby shared it with a girl called Suzy. She was sure of their repatriation but this never came. Her fellow prisoners became extremely concerned about her mental state but this concern turned to anger after she informed the Commandant of Rose Millar's break out resulting in her paralysis and death. She was treated as a collaborator, beaten and forced down to the floor while Blanche Simmons sheared her hair off. Marion suggested that she be transferred to another camp and Major Yamauchi arranged it. They left the camp in 1943. She survived the war, along with her son Bobby, and upon liberation, they were quickly shipped back to England. Lilian was portrayed by Philippa Urquhart.