The Great Escaper trailer teases scene that convinced Michael Caine to un-retire

Premiering November 23 on PBS Masterpiece, the film is also Glenda Jackson's final performance.

By Mary Kate Carr | September 25, 2025 | 4:41pm

Photo: Rob Youngson/PBS Masterpiece

Film News The Great Escaper

The Great Escaper trailer teases scene that convinced Michael Caine to un-retire

According to a press release for The Great Escaper, Michael Caine was drawn to the script because he, like the main character Bernie, was “an old Cockney soldier who got a lot of publicity.” But because he had retired two and a half years earlier, he was still planning on turning down the role. Then he got to a scene—featured in the trailer released on Thursday—where Bernie commiserates with German soldiers who were also at D-Day. The moment gave the story “an extraordinary depth” and convinced Caine to come out of retirement.

The Great Escaper also holds the distinction of featuring Oscar winner Glenda Jackson’s final performance before her death in 2024. Jackson plays Bernie’s wife Irene, who convinces her husband to escape their care home and attend the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings in France. “While Bernie is on his trip to Normandy, Irene recalls their younger days and falling in love during World War II,” according to the synopsis. The real-life story of Bernie’s journey to France, alone at 89 years old, made international news in 2014. His odyssey “captured the imagination of the world as he embodied the defiant, ‘can-do’ spirit of a generation that was fast disappearing,” the synopsis reads. “But of course, it wasn’t the whole story. It was an inspirational but sanitized retelling of one man’s need to come to terms with the lasting trauma of war.”

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Caine is the quintessential actor in that he has threatened to retire several times but never actually quit the biz. For a time, he was simply turned off because there weren’t any lead roles for nonagenarians. That’s why The Great Escaper made such a great final film, because it’s “a picture where I’ve played the lead, and it’s got incredible reviews,” Caine said in 2023. “I might as well leave with all this. I’ve got wonderful reviews. What am I gonna do to beat this?” Well, The Last Witch Hunter sequel, apparently. The 92-year-old star is reportedly expected to reprise his role as Dolan opposite Vin Diesel’s Kaulder in the fantasy action sequel. You can’t keep an old Cockney soldier down!