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S1 • E1
In June 1940, the islanders of Guernsey await the German invasion following bombing raids. Dr. Philip Martel is invited by John Ambrose on behalf of the bailiff to join a negotiating committee in anticipation of occupation, leading his daughter Clare to accuse him of collusion. After the Germans arrive Dr. Martel and the committee face the invaders under Major Richter, who refuses to recognize the island as a demilitarised zone and puts it under martial rule. Clare's boyfriend Peter Porteous and local fisherman Peter Girard attempt to escape by boat but the Germans fire on them, killing the young fisherman. Peter Porteous escapes but the Germans are aware that somebody has tried to elude them.
S1 • E2
Major Richter rejects Hauptsmann Reinicke's suggestion that reprisals be taken until Peter gives himself up as he wants to court local goodwill. Peter's mother tells Oberleutnant Kluge that Peter would never try to escape as he is her carer but Kluge is suspicious and purposely falls against Peter to prove that he has a wounded shoulder. Reinicke antagonizes librarian Cecily Brown by placing several innocuous books on a banned list. They struggle over a book each wishes to keep hold of and the Nazi falls and cuts his head. Cecily is arrested and Richter agrees to let her go if she apologizes to Reinicke but, despite Dr. Martel's urgings, she refuses on principle and is sentenced to two years in a French prison.
S1 • E3
Reinicke organizes a dance for soldiers and local girls to attract good publicity. Anton Schen, a young Austrian, takes a shine to Marie Weston, whose widowed father, a lawyer who fought in World War I, has had his car requisitioned by the occupiers and does not want Marie to attend the dance. She nevertheless goes behind his back and dances with Anton but, on the way home, fights off his advances and accuses him of rape. He is court-martialled and claims that Marie was willing but Richter finds him guilty and he is shot. Next morning Richter orders Reinicke to give Mr. Weston his car back.
S1 • E4
Aware that it was Peter who tried to escape, Richter relays a message from his high command to Dr. Martel to warn anybody hoping to follow his example that reprisals will be taken. Dr. Martel's son Clive lands secretly on the island to spy out the German position, hiding with his old business partner Teddy Lupus. Clare meets Willie Kessler, a Luftwaffe pilot, whose face was burned in an air strike. He is attracted to her and they become friends but when she goes to meet Clive and sees him watching them she throws a stone at him, causing him to fall to his death and float away in the sea.
S1 • E5
As Clare tells her parents what she did Kessler's body is found but it is assumed he died in an abortive raid on the island by the British led by Clive. There are many casualties and Dr. Martel hands over the critically wounded Major Kirk to the Germans to save his life,whilst bringing food to Clive, who is in hiding. Bar keeper Fat Molly names fisherman Joe LeBeq as organizing the raid, though she knows he is innocent,because she holds him responsible for her husband's death, and the Germans arrest him and threaten to shoot him. This flushes Clive out and he is sent to a P.O.W. camp. The handling of the situation, however, brings the enmity between Kluge and Reinicke to the surface.
S1 • E6
After cut-out blue paper V for Victory signs appear in library books, somebody takes to painting V signs on walls at night as well as lighting fires. Fifteen-year-old Billy LePrevost is caught near one of the walls and arrested by Kluge, though he believes Billy is innocent of the graffiti and is sheltering somebody else. To ensure that Billy is truly considered to be innocent, Peter starts a fire whilst the boy is still held captive. Consequently, Kluge lets him go but tragedy awaits him.
S1 • E7
Retired diplomat Sir James Prideaux resists Reinicke's efforts to make him divulge British government information. Prior to the war, Sir James' wife Diana had an affair with Polish military attaché Arciszewsky in Riga, which her husband knew about but kept quiet. The Pole is now a civilian prisoner on the island but escapes from his work camp and hides out with the Prideaux who enlist Dr. Martel's help to get him to safety. However, Arciszewsky is discovered to have typhus and, before Reinicke can trap the Prideaux for assisting him, he kills himself.
S1 • E8
Kluge is anxious to clamp down on the island's black market activities and enlists the reluctant aid of local police sergeant Roy Lewis. There is a new drug called sulfanilamide which Dr. Martel believes will save the life of seriously ill youngster Bobby Beauchamp but he is denied its use by the Germans and so turns to black marketeer Louis Mendoza. The men are caught, thanks to Lewis, but the policeman is surprised that Kluge is more humane than he had thought.
S1 • E9
On her father's death, Betty Ridge gets work as a cleaner for the Germans, meeting young soldier Erich, with whom she spends a romantic evening. At a dance, their association scandalises locals who taunt her as a "Jerrybag." When Betty falls pregnant, despite Erich's sincere wish to marry her, they are forbidden as such unions are not allowed. Erich is sent to the Russian front before the child is born and his death is reported. Betty feels he abandoned her and wants to give their baby son up for adoption but, after a sympathetic pep talk from Peter, is proud to keep him despite local animosity.
S1 • E10
General Von Wittke comes to Guernsey, ostensibly to write a report on the Occupation. In fact he has come to see General Laidlaw, a retired British officer and the ex-husband of Von Wittke's sister, a German opera singer. Von Wittke and other generals are aware that Hitler is a lunatic who will ruin the country. They aim to depose him and Von Wittke asks Laidlaw to travel to London to broker a deal. A Gestapo officer arrives on the island, suspicious of Von Wittke's presence, but the general successfully convinces him that he had come to invite Laidlaw to Germany to make anti-British broadcasts and that Laidlaw had refused. The trip to London never happens.
S1 • E11
Dr. Martel arranges hospitalisation for frail old Mrs. Bree who, with her son Edward, are rent-free tenants of Peter. However, they have had to move to an inadequately heated cottage after the Germans commandeered the farmhouse in which they used to live as a billet. In fact, the Germans want to demolish the cottage to make way for an arms dump and trick Peter into cleaning up a cesspool on his land in exchange for letting the Brees return to the farmhouse. However, after Mrs. Bree dies, they charge Edward with stealing coal to keep the cottage warm and send him to prison.
S1 • E12
Arrogant Prussian officer Major Von Bulow comes to the island and is billeted with Peter whilst he trains soldiers for the Russian front. He recognizes Chantal, a French prostitute in the Germans' brothel as an old flame of Reinicke and,as he dislikes Reinicke, takes great delight in revealing her occupation,sending his batman Klinski to have sex with her. Reinicke is humiliated as planned but when a drunken Klinski, rejected by Chantal, kills her, he is also the chief suspect. He is exonerated but his reputation tarnished as Von Bulow leaves Guernsey.
S1 • E13
Richter gives Dr. Martel permission to travel to France to get much needed medicines for the islanders. At the same time, Peter has secretly been photographing German ships at the local port, with a view to passing them to the French Resistance so that the Germans' strengths can be calculated. He and Clare put them in Dr. Martel's case but the Germans open it as he is leaving for France, with the result that the doctor and Peter are both sent to prison.
Major Richter
Dr. Philip Martel
Olive Martel
Sturmbannführer Reinicke
Major Freidel
Oberleutnant Kluge
Peter Porteous
Clare Martel
Helen Porteous
Generalmajor Müller