The Triple Echo [1972] [DVD]

Adapted from a novel by HE Bates and set on a remote farm in 1942, this unlikely drama might have provoked a few unintentional smirks if it hadn't been so sensitively played by Glenda Jackson and Brian Deacon.

Michael Apted's careful direction makes the ruse of disguising deserter Deacon as Jackson's sister seem almost credible, while his re-creation of the tranquil wartime countryside makes the abrupt intrusion of vulgar sergeant Oliver Reed all the more foreboding.

The bawdy tone of the later stages is as unnecessary as it is unwelcome, but it doesn't detract too much from what has gone before.