The Churchill Years

An immersive drama series exploring six turning-points in the career of the legendary statesman

Winston Churchill has gone down in history as the man who led Britain to victory in the Second World War. But his legacy was not always guaranteed, and his path to greatness was a rocky one. This fascinating series charts six watershed moments that shaped his destiny – from his youth, growing up in the shadow of his famous father, to his finest hour, when he returned from the wilderness to galvanise the nation at a time of crisis.

We begin in the 1880s, when the rapid rise and sudden end of the brilliant, audacious Lord Randolph Churchill make an enduring impact on his young son. Thirty years later, Winston has forged a successful political career and become Home Secretary – but the Agadir crisis sees him stepping into a new role and preparing for war. As First Lord of the Admiralty, he presides over the disastrous 1915 Dardanelles campaign and is forced to resign; but by 1926 he is back in the Cabinet, fighting the General Strike with troops and his own newspaper, the British Gazette. In the 1930s, Churchill almost meets Hitler for dinner at a Munich hotel. History, however, has other plans, and it is not until 1940 that the fates of the two men become intertwined, when Chamberlain steps down as Prime Minister and the King sends for Churchill...

Daniel Massey stars as the elderly Winston, recalling the pivotal events of his life, with Fiona Walker as his wife Clementine, Ioan Meredith as Lloyd George, John Rowe as Herbert Asquith, and John Moffatt as Neville Chamberlain.

Episode list

1. A Shooting Star

2. Crisis at Agadir

3. Gallipoli

4. Class Wars

5. The Aristocrat and the Guttersnipe

6. One Day in May

Cast

Winston Churchill/Lord Randolph Churchill – Daniel Massey

Sir Henry Wolff/'Jacky' Fisher, the First Sea Lord/Stanley Baldwin – Nigel Davenport

Queen Victoria/Lady Randolph – Diana Olsson

Mrs Jeune/Clementine Churchill – Fiona Walker

Lord George Hamilton/Desmond Morton/Harold Nicholson – Benjamin Whitrow

W H Smith/Herbert Asquith/Ernest Bevin/Sefton Delmer/Chips Channon – John Rowe

Lord Salisbury/First Sea Lord/Admiral de Robeck/Sir Clive Wigram/Churchill’s secretary/Anthony Eden – Hugh Dickson

David Lloyd George – Ioan Meredith

Alfred von Kiderlen-Waechter/General Liman von Sanders/Josef Goebbels – Michael Wolf

Kaiser Wilhelm/Putzi Hanfstaengel – Wolf Kahler

Sir Edward Grey – John Franklyn-Robbins

Count Metternich/German reporter – Andreas Klatt

C.P. Scott/Andrew Bonar Law/Ramsey MacDonald – Hugh Fraser

Commissioner of Police/Lord Kitchener – David de Keyser

Admiral von Tirpitz/Hitler – Michael Mellinger

George V/George VI – David King

John Reith – Graham Crowden

Herbert Smith – Donald Gee

Neville Chamberlain – John Moffatt

Edward Marsh – Hugh Walters

Radio announcer/Leo Amery – Godfrey Kenton

Cab driver – Alan Polonsky

Directed by Louise Purslow

Technical presentation by Roy Fraser, Hilary Carruthers and Charlotte Hulme

Bugler: Sergeant Alan Sessions, Royal Marines School of Music, Deal

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 7 March-11 April 1990

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