British TV series or programme
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
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DVD cover art
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Genre
| Drama
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Written by
| Ferdinand Fairfax, William Humble
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Directed by
| Ferdinand Fairfax
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Starring
| Robert Hardy
Sian Phillips
Nigel Havers
Tim Pigott-Smith
Eric Porter
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Country of origin
| United Kingdom
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Original language
| English
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No.
of series
| 1
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No.
of episodes
| 8
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Executive producer
| Mark Shivas
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Producer
| Richard Broke
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Production company
| Southern Television
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Network
| ITV
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Release
| 6 September
(
1981-09-06
)
?
25 October 1981
(
1981-10-25
)
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Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
is an eight-part 1981 drama serial based on
Winston Churchill
's years in
enforced exile from political position
during the 1920s and 1930s. 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
, who earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor and went on to play him in several other productions.
Plot summary
[
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The series focuses on the decade from 1929 to 1939 during which Winston Churchill was out of power and out of favour. During that time he attempted to make his colleagues and countrymen aware of
Nazi Germany
's threat to Britain. He comes up against much resistance from fellow politicians
Stanley Baldwin
,
Samuel Hoare
and the appeasement policies of
Neville Chamberlain
. He faces problems not only in politics but at home as well.
Episodes
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Cast
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Reception
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Writing for
The New York Times
,
Walter Goodman
noted Hardy "gives a remarkable impersonation of Churchill", but wrote "Unfortunately, the impersonation does not quite rise to full characterization; at moments the mannerisms bury the human being beneath them." He summarized: "... drama-heightening liberties are the indispensable grease to this kind of vehicle; eight hours of speeches about the national peril and the shortage of aircraft could prove wearing even to Churchill buffs. Events and personalities are strained and strained again through the historian, the dramatist, the director, the actors. If the result works as well as it does here, if it does not distort events out of recognizable shape, if it brings the dead to a semblance of life, that is an accomplishment."
[2]
People
magazine panned the series premiere as "an aimless and excruciatingly dull premiere of an eight-part miniseries... the production remains mired in a dramatic desert."
[3]
However, in 2016
Mark Lawson
was far more favourable in
The Guardian
, ranking Hardy's portrayal as the second most memorable television representation of Churchill, beaten only by
Albert Finney
in
The Gathering Storm
. Lawson wrote: "With an acting style that tends towards the large, loud and posh, Hardy was destined to be one of those actors who seems to have spent almost as much of his life being Churchill as the man himself did. Among Hardy's armful of portrayals, this TV drama musically explores the politician's unusual rhetorical range from whisper to shout."
[4]
An even more positive appraisal soon followed from Churchill biographer Andrew Roberts in
The Spectator
, who described Hardy's performance as "still the best depiction of Churchill on a screen." Hardy's intensive research into Churchill, Roberts concluded, "helped make the series the success it was, and set the standard for everything that followed."
[5]
It is said that while filming took place, Robert Hardy was so immersed portraying Churchill that, out of habit, he continued showing Churchillian gestures and mannerisms after work on the series had ended.
Awards
[
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Hardy's performance as Churchill won 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
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Hardy also portrayed Churchill in
The Sittaford Mystery
,
Bomber Harris
and
War and Remembrance
. At the 50th anniversary celebrations of the end of World War II in 1995, he quoted a number of Churchill's wartime speeches in character.
References
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External links
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