Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years 

The story of Winston Churchill's life between 1929, when he lost his cabinet position, and 1939, when he joined Great Britain's War Cabinet - a period he described as the most difficult in his life.

Stars:

Robert Hardy, Siân Phillips, Nigel Havers

1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Robert Hardy	...	Winston Churchill 8 episodes, 1981
Siân Phillips	...	Clementine Churchill 8 episodes, 1981
Nigel Havers	...	Randolph Churchill 8 episodes, 1981
Tim Pigott-Smith	...	Brendan Bracken 8 episodes, 1981
Peter Barkworth	...	Stanley Baldwin 8 episodes, 1981
Eric Porter	...	Neville Chamberlain 8 episodes, 1981
Edward Woodward	...	Sir Samuel Hoare 8 episodes, 1981
David Swift	...	Professor Lindemann 6 episodes, 1981
Sherrie Hewson	...	Mrs. Pearman 6 episodes, 1981
Paul McDowell	...	Butler at Chartwell 6 episodes, 1981
Robert James	...	Ramsay McDonald 5 episodes, 1981
Marcella Markham	...	Nancy Astor 5 episodes, 1981
Derek Ensor	...	Speaker of the House 5 episodes, 1981
Chloe Salaman	...	Sarah Churchill 4 episodes, 1981
Katharine Levy	...	Mary Churchill 3 episodes, 1981
Paul Freeman	...	Ralph Wigram 3 episodes, 1981
David Quilter	...	Wing-Commander Torr Anderson 3 episodes, 1981
Tony Mathews	...	Anthony Eden 3 episodes, 1981
Ian Collier	...	Harold Macmillan 3 episodes, 1981
Walter Gotell	...	Lord Swinton 3 episodes, 1981
Tamsin Murray-Leach	...	Mary Churchill, as a child 2 episodes, 1981
Moray Watson	...	Major Desmond Morton 2 episodes, 1981
Peter Vaughan	...	Sir Thomas Inskip 2 episodes, 1981
Richard Murdoch	...	Lord Halifax 2 episodes, 1981
Clive Swift	...	Sir Horace Wilson 2 episodes, 1981
Phil Brown	...	Lord Beaverbrook 2 episodes, 1981
Diane Fletcher	...	Ava Wigram 2 episodes, 1981
David Markham	...	Duke of Marlborough 2 episodes, 1981
Geoffrey Toone	...	Sir Louis Kershaw 2 episodes, 1981
John Woodnutt	...	Harlod Robinson / ... 2 episodes, 1981

Storyline

The story of Winston Churchill's life between 1929, when he lost his cabinet position, and 1939, when he joined Great Britain's War Cabinet - a period he described as the most difficult in his life.

---

Plot Keywords:

political leader | prime minister | british politics | cabinet minister | tv mini series | 

---

Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | War

---

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 January 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Churchill w nielasce

Filming Locations:

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Southern Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min (8 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Robert Hardy and Günter Meisner have both played their respective roles of Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler in other films as well. Notably, Meisner played Hitler in The Winds of War (1983) while Hardy played Churchill in the sequel, War and Remembrance (1988). Hardy played Churchill on film a total of six times.

---

Goofs

In the first episode, "Down and Out," Churchill is seen giving a speech in the USA in 1929. A US flag is visible to his right, and the field (with the stars) is visible. The stars are in staggered rows, meaning it is a 50 star US flag. A 48-star flag, as in use in 1929, would have even rows of stars (six rows of eight).

---

Connections

Referenced in 28 Up (1984)

User Reviews

The Greatest Biography Ever Made

This mini-series is truly a classic, the best historical drama that I have ever seen. There are slow spots whenever the action moves away from Churchill, or else the mini-series travels over-familiar territory like German preparations for World War II, but these points are simply quibbles. You literally hear the clash of arms, the ring of combat and the roars of the crowd as Churchill battles one foe after another, often defeated but never giving up. I swear, this movie will give you chills with the sense of history being made.

PBS broadcast the mini-series in 1986. Drew Middleton, a WWII correspondent, said that it had the force of Greek tragedy, Churchill the antagonist while everyone--friends, family, political opponents--became part of the chorus. Robert Hardy performs that role magnificently. He has done good work in "Middlemarch", "Elizabeth R" and "All Creatures Great and Small", but those roles are simply dwarfed by his Churchill. Alternately raging, noble, petty-minded, sulking, humorous, sly and generous, Hardy's Churchill is a character of Shakespearean proportions. Rarely does an actor match the emotional force of an historical giant, but Hardy succeeds. Over eight hours, Hardy is never dull.

Still, a great hero is nothing without opposition. When Hardy did a one-man show of Churchill, I was terribly disappointed. Hardy was still doing what he did before but, without context and response, his performance seemed little more than a recital of greatest hits. It is really the entire cast, uniformly excellent, that lifts this mini-series above the usual attempt at history. Nigel Havers does an entertaining and ultimately tragic performance as Randolph, Churchill's beloved son, who is already being ruined by his father's indulgence and overblown expectations. Peter Barkworth as Samuel Baldwin is the ultimate politician, ever so slyly maneuvering with one honest insincerity after another so that, through a bewildering series of missteps that no one but he can understand, he gets exactly what he wants. But Churchill's greatest opponent is Neville Chamberlain. Eric Porter plays him full of arrogance and incomprehension, already marked by the flaws which Hitler will brilliantly exploit. Yet the gradual breakdown, his ultimate realization that his best efforts have led to nothing but ruin, gives Chamberlain a measure of tragic dignity that makes him sympathetic despite the historical record. Churchill is a triumphant Henry V, but Porter plays the blinded hero of his own Greek tragedy to perfection.

An aside. The opening and closing music of this mini-series matches with the greatest music ever made for the movies. Starting mysteriously dim and obscure, it swells into a mighty torrent of sound and victory, at once enthralling to the ear and a perfect encapsulation of the mini-series. If Churchill had had a taste for such music, he would have loved it. Comparable to Strauss' "Thus Spake Zarathustra" but infinitely better, the theme music really conveys the character of Churchill and of the times.