The first of two 1980s' mini-series on Australian involvement in the Vietnam War, both of which, as Moran notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series, follow very similar plotlines, in terms of tracing the tension between the war and the peace movement. Whereas Vietnam explored this tension through sibiling relationships, the ideologically opposed protagonists in Sword of Honour are lovers.
Though Sword of Honour aired the year before Vietnam, Moran considers it inferior to its (independently developed) successor:
Andrew Clarke is particularly wooden in the central role, a mixture of poor casting, writing and acting, and although Tracy Mann is rather better, characters seem stiff compared with the characters in Vietnam. However, in justification of this series, it is worth noting that it is eight not ten hours in length, and therefore there is less narrative space available here to develop the dense historical and referential textures of the other series.
The series cost $5 million to produce over twenty weeks, and received good ratings when it aired on Australian television.
