![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitThis installment is not as brief as I meant it to be, because it features my not-so-secret darling character and a pairing that is almost entirely fanonical but which I can make a pictorial case for.
Warning: there are a couple of unavoidable spoilers here, mentioning the fact that certain characters leave the show. I've kept the timing and circumstances as vague as possible.
George Brent (played by Paul Chapman)
George is a captain in the army; we learn little of his background except that he attended Winchester, is married (by series 2 his wife has joined the WRNS), and lived with his wife and father in Worthing, a coastal town in Sussex. His character gets less screen time than the leads, but what we do see of him shows a complex personality. He's not much of a soldier, which makes him an interesting contrast to the show's more keen types, and he's pessimistic, insomniac, depressive (at one point, after he makes a mistake that ruins an escape attempt, Pat and Dick have him on suicide watch) and sometimes self-destructive, as when in series 2 he gets himself ruinously in debt by gambling. He's also an artist (he draws for pleasure and also creates scale models of Colditz buildings for planning escapes), sings in the choir, and has a charming streak of creativity and wit. I find him quite attractive, with his quirky face, his tall thin slouchy body, his trademark schoolboyish cricket jumper, and his long beautiful fingers.
Despite a couple of mentions of a wife, George is highly slashable. In series 2 (and I need to add an explanatory spoiler here to the effect that Pat is no longer in Colditz), George and Dick Player volunteer to hide together in a small, freezing-cold space under the chapel pulpit. There is a plot reason for this fine slash trope (having "ghost" POWs who are missing but still in the castle throws off the head count and makes it possible for real escapes to go unnoticed; this really happened in POW camps), but it also allows for dialogue like "It's so cold. . . . if only there was something we could do" and for George to get a leg cramp which Dick has to rub for him. The "it's so cold" scene can be watched here starting at 6:40.
Besides this, George and Dick grow a lot closer after Pat's departure; they start sharing a lot of scenes, bantering together, behaving protectively towards one another. Hence my head-canon that George was in love with Dick from early on (gradually and painfully coming to realize his own homosexuality) but never got a look in because of Dick and Pat's relationship. There's no strong canonical justification for the triangular interpretation, although this image certainly works for me.
Once Pat is no longer there, Dick drifts into a relationship with George, which Dick sees as friends-with-benefits and George would desperately like to see as more.
Then (sorry, another unavoidable spoiler) Dick also is no longer around. But by this time, George has already met the next character I'll be discussing.
Harry Turner (played by Philip Marchant)
Harry is in a grand total of two episodes and we learn almost nothing about him except that he enjoys taking English literature classes in Colditz and thinks about doing a correspondence course to become a solicitor (POWs were able, through special arrangements, to study, sit exams, and take degrees).
This is Harry, looking slightly peeved because he's just been given unwelcome news.
But most of Harry's screen time is spent hanging around George and gazing at him adoringly.
In those last two images above, Harry is talking George into joining the English classes, much to the dismay of George's hearty friend (and series regular) Tim Downing, seen approaching from the background with the apparent intent of interrupting their cozy chat. By the end of this episode, Harry and George's body language has become intimate indeed. Here's Harry standing by George's chair and leaning in . . . . in order to read the diagram, of course.
So, head-canon. I have lots, but it boils down to: after Dick is gone, Harry and George gradually and awkwardly develop a relationship. George grows to love Harry (Harry, who is young, innocent, and deeply romantic, loved George virtually at first sight), although he never stops loving Dick either. Post-war, the two couples become friends despite, and actually in some measure because of, their complicated history together. (Incidentally, I also have an explanation for why Harry is never onscreen again after 2x06: flu. A very bad, long-lasting case of flu.)
Someday there may be, you know, fic telling this whole saga. Someday. I mention it now because all this head-canon underlies the little vignettes I plan to tell for Kink Bingo. I'll try to make them as standalone as possible, but my view of the characters has been so deeply shaped by all the details![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
halotolerant and I have worked out for them that I don't think I could write Colditz fic without some connection to the head-canon.
Coming in the next installment: the incredible Foe-Yay of Simon Carter and Horst Mohn, plus a pairing of two one-off characters who never even meet onscreen.
Warning: there are a couple of unavoidable spoilers here, mentioning the fact that certain characters leave the show. I've kept the timing and circumstances as vague as possible.
George Brent (played by Paul Chapman)
George is a captain in the army; we learn little of his background except that he attended Winchester, is married (by series 2 his wife has joined the WRNS), and lived with his wife and father in Worthing, a coastal town in Sussex. His character gets less screen time than the leads, but what we do see of him shows a complex personality. He's not much of a soldier, which makes him an interesting contrast to the show's more keen types, and he's pessimistic, insomniac, depressive (at one point, after he makes a mistake that ruins an escape attempt, Pat and Dick have him on suicide watch) and sometimes self-destructive, as when in series 2 he gets himself ruinously in debt by gambling. He's also an artist (he draws for pleasure and also creates scale models of Colditz buildings for planning escapes), sings in the choir, and has a charming streak of creativity and wit. I find him quite attractive, with his quirky face, his tall thin slouchy body, his trademark schoolboyish cricket jumper, and his long beautiful fingers.
Despite a couple of mentions of a wife, George is highly slashable. In series 2 (and I need to add an explanatory spoiler here to the effect that Pat is no longer in Colditz), George and Dick Player volunteer to hide together in a small, freezing-cold space under the chapel pulpit. There is a plot reason for this fine slash trope (having "ghost" POWs who are missing but still in the castle throws off the head count and makes it possible for real escapes to go unnoticed; this really happened in POW camps), but it also allows for dialogue like "It's so cold. . . . if only there was something we could do" and for George to get a leg cramp which Dick has to rub for him. The "it's so cold" scene can be watched here starting at 6:40.
Besides this, George and Dick grow a lot closer after Pat's departure; they start sharing a lot of scenes, bantering together, behaving protectively towards one another. Hence my head-canon that George was in love with Dick from early on (gradually and painfully coming to realize his own homosexuality) but never got a look in because of Dick and Pat's relationship. There's no strong canonical justification for the triangular interpretation, although this image certainly works for me.
Once Pat is no longer there, Dick drifts into a relationship with George, which Dick sees as friends-with-benefits and George would desperately like to see as more.
Then (sorry, another unavoidable spoiler) Dick also is no longer around. But by this time, George has already met the next character I'll be discussing.
Harry Turner (played by Philip Marchant)
Harry is in a grand total of two episodes and we learn almost nothing about him except that he enjoys taking English literature classes in Colditz and thinks about doing a correspondence course to become a solicitor (POWs were able, through special arrangements, to study, sit exams, and take degrees).
This is Harry, looking slightly peeved because he's just been given unwelcome news.
But most of Harry's screen time is spent hanging around George and gazing at him adoringly.
In those last two images above, Harry is talking George into joining the English classes, much to the dismay of George's hearty friend (and series regular) Tim Downing, seen approaching from the background with the apparent intent of interrupting their cozy chat. By the end of this episode, Harry and George's body language has become intimate indeed. Here's Harry standing by George's chair and leaning in . . . . in order to read the diagram, of course.
So, head-canon. I have lots, but it boils down to: after Dick is gone, Harry and George gradually and awkwardly develop a relationship. George grows to love Harry (Harry, who is young, innocent, and deeply romantic, loved George virtually at first sight), although he never stops loving Dick either. Post-war, the two couples become friends despite, and actually in some measure because of, their complicated history together. (Incidentally, I also have an explanation for why Harry is never onscreen again after 2x06: flu. A very bad, long-lasting case of flu.)
Someday there may be, you know, fic telling this whole saga. Someday. I mention it now because all this head-canon underlies the little vignettes I plan to tell for Kink Bingo. I'll try to make them as standalone as possible, but my view of the characters has been so deeply shaped by all the details
halotolerant and I have worked out for them that I don't think I could write Colditz fic without some connection to the head-canon.Coming in the next installment: the incredible Foe-Yay of Simon Carter and Horst Mohn, plus a pairing of two one-off characters who never even meet onscreen.
