Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years is an 8-part 1981 drama serial based on the life of Winston Churchill, and particularly his years in enforced exile from political position during the 1920s and 30s. It was made by Southern Television on a budget of £3¼ million and originally broadcast on ITV on Sunday nights at 10 pm.[1] It was written and directed by Ferdinand Fairfax, with historian Martin Gilbert as co-writer. Churchill was played by Robert Hardy.
Plot
| Episode | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Down and Out" | 6 September 1981 |
| 2 | "Politics Are Foul" | 13 September 1981 |
| 3 | "In High Places" | 20 September 1981 |
| 4 | "A Menace in The House" | 27 September 1981 |
| 5 | "The Flying Peril" | 4 October 1981 |
| 6 | "His Own Funeral" | 11 October 1981 |
| 7 | "The Long Tide of Surrender" | 18 October 1981 |
| 8 | "What Price Churchill" | 25 October 1981 |
Cast
- Robert Hardy as Winston Churchill
- Siân Phillips as Clementine Churchill
- Nigel Havers as Randolph Churchill
- Tim Pigott-Smith as Brendan Bracken
- David Swift as Professor Lindemann
- Sherrie Hewson as Mrs. Pearman
- Moray Watson as Major Desmond Morton
- Paul Freeman as Ralph Wigram
- Frank Middlemass as Lord Derby
- Sam Wanamaker as Bernard Baruch
- Peter Barkworth as Stanley Baldwin
- Eric Porter as Neville Chamberlain
- Edward Woodward as Sir Samuel Hoare
- Peter Vaughan as Sir Thomas Inskip
- Robert James as Ramsay MacDonald
- Tony Mathews as Anthony Eden
- Ian Collier as Harold Macmillan
- Norman Jones as Clement Attlee
- Clive Swift as Sir Horace Wilson
- Günter Meisner as Adolf Hitler
Reception
Hardy's performance as Churchill won critical acclaim and a BAFTA nomination in 1982. Eric Porter as Neville Chamberlain also received praise. The series was nominated for a total of 8 BAFTA awards, namely:
- Best Actor (Robert Hardy)
- Best Costume Design (Evangeline Harrison)
- Best Design (Roger Murray-Leach)
- Best Drama Series (Richard Broke/Ferdinand Fairfax)
- Best Film Cameraman (Norman G. Langley)
- Best Film Editor (Lesley Walker)
- Best Make Up (Christine Beveridge/Mary Hillman)
- Best Original Television Music (Carl Davis)
Reprises
Hardy reprised the role of Churchill in The Sittaford Mystery, Bomber Harris and War and Remembrance and at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the end of World War II in 1995 when he quoted a number of Churchill's wartime speeches in character.
References
- ↑ 'Pick of the week's television', The Times (London, 4 Sept. 1981), xii.
