Letter: Ken Grieve’s encounter with the Stasi

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/24/ken-grieve-obituary-letter

Version 0 of 1.

As Carol Wilks noted, the film and TV director Ken Grieve invariably enjoyed a fine rapport with actors and crew. When a screenwriter for the 13-episode TV adaptation of Len Deighton’s Game, Set and Match (1988), I also loved working with Ken, his factual precision, instinct and sense of dramatic structure and timing always faultless. He was quiet and passionate, a great companion with a complex, generous soul.

And often hilarious. Part of the filming took place under the binoculars and guns of the East German Stasi and the Russian KGB. On one research trip across the border, Ken neglected to remove a Granada TV pass from his top pocket – instantly clocked by the guards, who spent the rest of the evening trying to hinder our progress through East Berlin and make us miss curfew at Checkpoint Charlie, which could have legitimately led to detention and interrogation.

The East German secret police was represented that evening by a bearded man with a violin case waylaying us with endless questions about our cultural, religious and political beliefs – until Ken looked at his watch and realised his game. The Stasi’s last sight of these dangerous westerners was the loping, long-legged, black-leather-clad Ken leading fellow director Peter Duffell, producer Brian Armstrong and myself, running the 1,000 yards up the grimly dark, deserted Friedrichstrasse with just 30 seconds to spare.