I remember my English class at school reading this play. I had the part of Corporal Johnstone. In the play he is wounded at the end but not killed. He lights a cigarette and prepares to surrender as the play ends.

I've been looking for this version of the play for years. Many thanks for posting it.

An enormous thank you for posting this - watched it at school back in the 1908s and have been looking for it ever since. Mark McManus is brilliant.

I watched this at school. It was part of our English language class

I used this ‘Scene’ presentation when I taught English in the 1980s. I still have it on video and considered posting it, but the quality was not as good as this recording and I was concerned about copyright. I regard this production of Willis Hall’s play as being by far the best ever recorded. The performances are all outstanding, each conveying a vivid character. Michael Kitchen gives an inspired performance as Bamforth, swaggering, tough and sharp, yet ultimately empathetic, both he and the Japanese captive conveying a sense of humanity amid the brutality of war, all without a hint of sentimentality or self pity. The irony in Bamforth’s line is double-edged: ‘Almost human, this one.’

Absolutely brilliant; such tension. I remember watching this as a child and it had a big effect on me then. Watching it now, the troops made a lot more noise than I'd expect but some of the terms used were quite genuine for that time. I noticed the writer of the play (Willis Hall) served in Malaya as a signals corporal although I think some time after the second world war.

And to think this was a children's programme produced by BBC Schools.

An excellent play/drama. The film is very good as well.  One point I thought the Malayan war was a little British/Vietnam war against the Malay's in 1946- 1952. The forgotten war.

Pity it doesn't play at the right speed.

It was part of a BBC schools series!

Original Tx (in three parts): 18 September 1979/ 25 September 1979/ 02 October 1979.

I'm no Soldier but I'd rather be on my own than with a bunch of blokes making that much noise and chain smoking to draw attention.
Thanks for posting this, I've not seen it since I was at School.

Why do I remember the ending different? One guy gets taken prisoner and treated the same as he did their prisoner.  Different movie?

This would NEVER have happened in enemy territory. I was a jungle soldier.

Was this coloured version a remake or a colourisation?