Tenko is coming back as The Assassin producers reboot the BBC and ABC wartime drama – Tenko, the classic wartime drama the BBC made with the ABC in Australia, is getting a new version. British label Two Brothers Pictures, the company behind The Assassin and Fleabag, is developing the series, Deadline reports.
Anna Symon, who wrote Mrs. Wilson and The Essex Serpent, is writing the new take. Importantly, Tenko creator Lavinia Warner also backs the project.
For Australian viewers, however, Tenko is more than a British period piece. The ABC co-produced the original, and its story placed Australian women alongside British and Dutch civilians in a Japanese internment camp. So far, no broadcaster, streamer or cast has signed on to the new version.
What was Tenko about?
Tenko began in 1942, after the fall of Singapore. It followed a group of British, Australian and Dutch women in a fictional Japanese prison camp. Over time, the series showed how the women banded together to survive harsh conditions. According to the series record, the story placed the camp on a Japanese-occupied island in the Dutch East Indies.
The drama ran for three series on BBC One between 1981 and 1984. Then a feature-length special, Tenko Reunion, followed on Boxing Day 1985, taking the total to 31 episodes.
Its cast included Ann Bell, Stephanie Cole, Stephanie Beacham, Louise Jameson and Burt Kwouk. In addition, Australian characters featured from the start. For example, Claire Oberman played Kate Norris, an Australian nurse, across all three series.
Why Lavinia Warner chose Two Brothers
Warner created Tenko after researching the wartime internment of nursing officer Margot Turner. Because of her ties to the real women and their families, she guarded the material closely.
She had a lot of relationships with the women, and the families of the women who were in the war camp, so she didn’t want to hand the reins over to just anyone, but she was really excited to work with us to bring it back.
Sarah Hammond, Chief Creative Officer, Two Brothers Pictures, speaking to Deadline
Meanwhile, Tenko is one of several projects Two Brothers is building from existing material. The company is also adapting the 2011 film Chalet Girl as a series, with Tessa Coates writing, and developing the British video game Atomfall for television, Deadline reports.
From The Assassin to Tenko
Brothers Harry and Jack Williams founded Two Brothers Pictures. Their credits include The Missing, Fleabag, Liar, Baptiste and The Tourist. Today, the company sits within Banijay UK.
Australians can currently see their latest work on Stan, too. The Assassin season two, starring Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore, is part of Stan’s November line-up. The new season picks up roughly a year after the first.
What happens next?
For now, the new Tenko remains in development, so there is no production start, network or release window yet. It is also unclear whether an Australian partner will return, as the ABC did for the original. TV Central will follow the project as Two Brothers confirms more details.
For more international drama news, visit TV Central’s Stan November highlights. You can stream The Assassin on Stan.