Introduction

Changi is a six-part Australian television miniseries broadcast by ABC TV in 2001.

Outline

David, a successful property developer (now retired), has recently undergone eye surgery and is temporarily blinded. The confinement of his condition forces him to confront memories that he has suppressed ever since the war.

In 1942, the young David arrives at Changi with thousands of other Allied POWs after the fall of Singapore. He meets five other young Australians who will become his closest friends in the camp – Gordon, Eddie, Tom, Bill and Curley. Whilst on a work detail outside the camp, David is savagely beaten by Japanese guards and is temporarily blinded with concussion. Left behind, he is later picked up by other Japanese troops who are herding a group of local civilians. Forced to stand on the edge of a pit, the civilians are shot by the Japanese. David is missed in the crush and he falls into the pit where he is buried by the bodies of the slain Singaporeans. After the Imperial soldiers depart, David somehow manages to claw his way out and his new friends find him and return him to the camp. In the present day, the memories return in painful fragments, after being hidden for so long. His lifelong refusal to talk about his experiences in the war has strained his marriage but his wife Kate has stuck by him nonetheless although she dreads the approaching reunion and the emotional difficulties it will bring.

Changi Series

You can find a full index and overview of Changi here.

Production & Filming Details

• Release Date: 14 October 2001.
• Running time: 60 minutes (per episode).
• Rating: TV-MA.
• Country: Australia.
• Language: English.

Video Link(s)