Tenko stars had real life romance away from WW2 show

Classic World War 2 series Tenko actually starred two real-life couples – and plenty of fans had no idea. The classic war series followed a group of women incarcerated in a Japanese internment camp in Singapore, and with 31 episodes under its belt, proved a cult classic with BBC fans.

Tenko starred everyone from Stephanie Cole to Elizabeth Chambers, and was initially broadcast from 1981 until 1985. During its four-year run, the wartime drama included two couples who had romances away from the war-torn setting.

Elizabeth Chambers, best known for playing Domenica Van Meyer in the series, was actually married to series producer Ken Riddington. Ken worked as the acting Head of Series and Serials for the BBC drama department as well as working as a front-line producer. He retired aged 75, and had 12 years of retirement with Elizabeth – later known as Liz Riddington.

Sadly Ken was diagnosed with dementia and moved to a nursing home in London, where he died in December 2014. Elizabeth died four years later in May 2018.

Ken and Liz weren’t the only co-star couple in Tenko, however. Ann Bell, who played Marion Jefferson in the series, was married to Robert Lang, who appeared as Teddy Forster-Brown in the Tenko Reunion movie, which released in 1985.

Robert and Ann were married from 1971 until his death in 2004, adopting two children together. The pair also appeared together in a 2002 episode of Heartbeat.

But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the cast when it came to their love lives – for Stephanie Beacham, her life was “at a low ebb” after the end of her own marriage. She confessed in the book Remembering Tenko: “My marriage was over and I was at a low ebb. I wanted to be in the company of women in the sunshine.

“I’d put my faith in love and marriage and suddenly I had two babies to raise single-handedly. I was unhappy. So Tenko didn’t exactly change my career but it didn’t half change my personal life. It came at a pivotal time and re-floated my heart. Simple as that. It reaffirmed my belief that things were going to be all right.”