TELEVISION REVIEW : Verisimilitude Is Minimal in BBC Soapy ‘Secret Army’ Series

World War II buffs and Anglophiles ought to get a nostalgic charge out of “Secret Army,” the 42-week BBC series that has begun airing Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Huntington Beach-based KOCE Channel 50. For the rest of us, “Secret Army” is bound to explode the myth of superiority that clings to British television production.

The nearly one-hour episodes, which unfold in Nazi-occupied Belgium throughout the war, trace the fictional story of an underground resistance group called Lifeline. It operates out of a neighborhood cafe in Brussels and provides refuge in the surrounding countryside for downed British pilots until they can make their escape to Allied-held territory.

Production values are negligible, alternating between cheaply filmed exteriors that are at best vaguely atmospheric and taped interiors that have an empty studio feeling reminiscent of American TV dramas of the ‘50s. The effect is jarring and artificial. Worse, the stories are lifelessly soapy, full of murky details and peculiar inconsistencies.

Judging from the episode that aired last week (“Lisa--Code Name Yvette”), and the ones that will be shown tonight (“Sergeant on the Run”) and next week (“Radishes With Butter”), verisimilitude is minimal. For instance, all the characters from Belgian resistance fighters to Nazi officers speak in varying degrees of British accents.

Although each episode tells an independent story, the major characters return each week. Those we have met so far include:

* Resistance leader Lisa Colbert, a pretty brunette in beret and trench coat who lives quietly with her aunt and uncle and is perpetually dashing off after dinner on dangerous underground missions.

* The middle-aged proprietor of the resistance cafe, Albert Foiret, who looks like a sad walrus with a mustache as he bears the guilt heaped upon him by an invalid wife suspicious of his sassy mistress, Monique, who works behind the cafe bar and is part of the underground with him.

* Tall, blond, pointy-faced British liaison officer John Curtis who has been dropped into Belgium to coordinate operations between London-based military intelligence officers and the Lifeline underground. He quickly falls in love with Lisa, who has previously saved his life but has an uphill battle overcoming her emotional resistance.

* Gestapo Maj. Kessler, the nasty Nazi who has arrived in Brussels to take over from Army Maj. Brandt, the nice Nazi whose failure to eliminate Lifeline has become a cause for increasing alarm back at Berlin headquarters.

Tonight, “Sergeant on the Run,” reveals that not all downed British servicemen make good their escape. Next week, “Radishes With Butter” will chronicle Lifeline’s first feeble reaction to the deportation of Jews to concentration camps, giving hints of the Holocaust.

Ironically, the most interesting conflict thus far is the one between the two Nazi majors, who also happen to be the most humanized characters. “Secret Army” also has a brooding musical score and haunting visuals for the opening and closing credits that promise much but never deliver.

Beginning tonight the series will have a short “wraparound” recapping events from the previous episode and highlighting events from the upcoming one.

‘SECRET ARMY’

Produced by Gerard Glaister. Conceived by Glaister and Wilfred Greatorex. Distributed by BBC Enterprises. With Bernard Hepton, Jan Francis, Christopher Neame, Angela Richards, Clifford Rose, Michael Culver, Juliet Hammond-Hill, Ron Pember, Tim Morand and Valentine Dyall. Broadcast on KOCE Channel 50 Thursdays at 9 p.m.