Named the Greatest Briton of all time in a 2002 poll, and widely regarded as being among the most influential people in British history, Winston Churchill has been regularly portrayed in film, television, radio and other media. The depictions range from minor character to the biographical centerpiece, exceeding 30 films, more than two dozen television shows, several stage productions, and countless books.
Film Major biographical films Below are films which serve as major biographical portrayals of Churchill, as opposed to other films which mention Churchill only as one part of a separate or secondary plotline.
Young Winston 1972 film. Darkest Hour 2017 film starring Gary Oldman as Churchill
Table of films
Year Country Title Actor Notes 1935 Royal Cavalcade C.M. Hallard 1941 Ohm Kruger Otto Wernicke 1943 Mission to Moscow Dudley Field Malone 1949 Stalingradskaya bitva I Viktor Stanitsyn 1950 The Lights of Baku The Fall of Berlin 1951 An American in Paris Dudley Field Malone 1952 Nezabyvaemyy god 1919 (Unforgettable 1919) Viktor Stanitsyn 1956 The Man Who Never Was Peter Sellers Voice only 1960 The Siege of Sidney Street Jimmy Sangster 1965 Operation Crossbow Patrick Wymark 1970 Liberation Yuri Durov 1972 Young Winston Simon Ward 1973 The Battle of Sutjeska Orson Welles Days of Betrayal Jan Vitek 1976 The Eagle Has Landed Leigh Dilley Plays a stand-in for the real Churchill 1978 Picassos äventyr Sune Mangs 1979 Sekret Enigmy Józef Zacharewicz 1983 Le Bourreau des cœurs René Douglas 1984 Katastrofa w Gibraltarze Wlodzimierz Wiszniewski 1987 Jane and the Lost City Richard Huggett 1989 Casablanca Express John Evans 1990 Stalingrad Ronald Lacey 1994 Caro dolce amore John Evans 2000 Shaheed Uddham Singh: Alais Ram Mohammad Singh Azad Joe Lamb 2002 Two Men Went to War David Ryall 2004 Churchill: The Hollywood Years Christian Slater 2005 Allegiance Mel Smith 2007 Sinking of the Lusitania: Terror at Sea Martin Le Maitre Docudrama 2009 Inglourious Basterds Rod Taylor 2010 The King's Speech Timothy Spall Paradox Alan C. Peterson L'Appel du 18 Juin Christian Rodska TV Movie 2012 FDR: American Badass! Paul Willson The ABCs of Death Torgny Gerhard Aanderaa "H is for Hydro-Electric Diffusion" Bad Ass Tyler Tuione 2015 Queen of the Desert Christopher Fulford 2017 Churchill Brian Cox Darkest Hour Gary Oldman Won Academy Award for Best Actor Viceroy's House Gerry George The Mystery of the Britannic George Fokin Documentary 2018 Suffragette Ray Burnet The Battle for Britain's Heroes Gerry George 2019 The Professor and the Madman Brendan Patricks Operation Cicero Gerry George 2020 The Good Traitor Nicholas Blane 2021 Sardar Udham Tom Hudson Audience u královny Vladislav Benes Operation Mincemeat Simon Russell Beale2024The Ministry of Ungentlemanly WarfareRory Kinnear 2026 De Gaulle Simon Russell Beale Fortitude Michael Sheen
Television Major biographical tv shows and tv movies Below are shows and films on television which serve as major biographical portrayals of Churchill, as opposed to other films which mention Churchill only as one part of a separate plotline.
The Gathering Storm (1974 film). TV film by BBC, with Richard Burton as Churchill. 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 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.
World War II: When Lions Roared is a 1994 American war television miniseries, directed by Joseph Sargent, and starring Michael Caine, John Lithgow and Bob Hoskins as the three major Allied leaders, Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill respectively. The Gathering Storm (2002 film) The Gathering Storm is a BBC–HBO co-produced television biographical film about Winston Churchill in the years just prior to World War II. Into the Storm (2009 film) is a 2009 biographical film about Winston Churchill and his days in office during the Second World War, with Brendan Gleeson as Churchill. Into the Storm is a sequel to the 2002 television film The Gathering Storm, which details the life of Churchill in the years just prior the war.
Table of television films
Year Country Title Actor Notes 1960–1963 The Valiant Years Richard Burton Documentary 1974 Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill Warren Clarke Episode "Lady Randolph" The Gathering Storm Richard Burton 1975 Days of Hope Leo Britt this is a relatively negative portrayal of Churchill that highlights his attitude towards the coal miners during the strikes of 1921 and 1926 Edward the Seventh Christopher Strauli 1977 Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years Arthur Gould-Porter 1978 Edward & Mrs. Simpson Wensley Pithey 1979 Churchill and the Generals Timothy West 1981 The Life and Times of David Lloyd George William Hootkins 1983 Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years Robert Hardy The Winds of War Howard Lang 1983 Number 10 Terence Harvey 1984 The Last Bastion Timothy West 1986 Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy Malcolm Terris 1988 The Woman He Loved Robert Hardy War and Remembrance 1989 Bomber Harris 1991 'Allo 'Allo! John James Evanson Episode "Up the Crick Without a Piddle" The Treaty Julian Fellowes 1992 A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia Michael Cochrane The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Julian Fellowes 1994 World War II: When Lions Roared Bob Hoskins 1995 Hiroshima Timothy West Annie: A Royal Adventure! David King 1998 Mosley Hugh Simon 2002 Bertie and Elizabeth David Ryall The Gathering Storm Albert Finney Won Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie 2004 Dunkirk Simon Russell Beale Ike: Countdown to D-Day Ian Mune 2005 Wallis and Edward David Calder 2006 Agatha Christie's Marple – The Sittaford Mystery Robert Hardy 2006 Above and Beyond Joss Ackland 2008 Family Guy Seth MacFarlane Episode "Road to Germany" 2009 Into the Storm Brendan Gleeson Won Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie 2009–present Horrible Histories Jim Howick, Jalaal Hartley 2010–2011 Doctor Who Ian McNeice Episodes "The Beast Below", "Victory of the Daleks", "The Pandorica Opens", "The Wedding of River Song" 2012 Titanic Colm Gormley Titanic: Blood and Steel Robert Whitelock 2013 Murdoch Mysteries Thomas Howes Episode "Winston's Lost Night" 2013–2014 Peaky Blinders Andy Nyman, Richard McCabe, Neil Maskell 2014 37 Days Nicholas Asbury The World Wars Ian Beyts, Tom Vickers 2015 Up the Women Harry Peacock Episode "Train" 2016 Churchill's Secret Michael Gambon The Crown John Lithgow Won Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Super Science Friends Adam Shaheen Drunk History Louie Anderson Episode "The Roosevelts"
Theatre Winnie (1988) – Robin Hardy (premiere run in 1988) Never So Good (2007) – Ian McNeice (premiere run in 2007) Turning Point (2009) – Matthew Marsh Three Days in May (2011) – Warren Clarke (premiere run in 2011) The Audience (2013, London) – Edward Fox (replacing Robert Hardy, who withdrew prior to press night for health reasons) The Audience (2015, Broadway) – Dakin Matthews Sylvia (2018) – Delroy Atkinson When Winston Went to War with the Wireless (2023) – Adrian Scarborough
Music The Kinks recorded "Mr. Churchill Says" for their 1969 album Arthur. The YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History featured Dan Bull as Churchill in its fifth season; Churchill battled against Theodore Roosevelt, played by EpicLLOYD. Iron Maiden included parts of Churchill's famous speech "We shall fight on the beaches" in live versions of the song "Aces High" from the 1984 album Powerslave. Supertramp included parts of Churchill's famous speech "We shall fight on the beaches" in the song "Fool's Overture" from the 1977 album Even in the Quietest Moments.... "Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello "Stop the Cavalry" by Jona Lewie
Radio Peter Sellers included Churchill as his standard PM for The Goon Show. Churchill is depicted as he was during World War II. In The Goon Show, he is of course treated humorously, having a very African foreign secretary called Basil (played by Ray Ellington in Red Bladder mode). In addition he is responsible for supporting Neddie Seagoon's harebrained plans for long-range, jet-propelled guided NAAFI's, atomic dustbins, and throwing batter puddings at Clement Attlee. Churchill's Other Lives, documentary series, played by Roger Allam (2011)
Literature H. G. Wells, in his 1933 novel The Shape of Things to Come – a forecast of the future as it seemed to Wells on the basis of the 1934 situation – assumed that Winston Churchill's career was over and that he would have no active role to play in the Second World War, which Wells foresaw as breaking out in 1940, lasting until 1950 and culminating in the collapse of all parties to the conflict and a breakdown of European civilization. Wells assumed that Randolph Churchill, Winston's son, would take part in a valiant but doomed effort to avert the war, delivering a "brilliant pacifist speech [which] echoed throughout Europe", but failed to end the war.The Shape of Things to Come references , telelib.com; accessed 3 July 2014. The protagonist of George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty Four is named Winston Smith. He is mentioned as being about forty years old in 1984, i.e. he was born in the last years of WWII and presumably was named for Winston Churchill. Churchill is a significant character in the 1995 novel Redemption by Leon Uris Players, a 1999 Doctor Who novel by Terrance Dicks The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2012) Churchill is mentioned in the Grandpa's Great Escape, 2016 by David Walliams
There are various alternative history works depicting a Nazi German victory or an otherwise widely different course of WWII posit various ultimate fates for Churchill: In Len Deighton's 1978 SS-GB, Churchill refuses to escape Britain even when Nazi victory is certain. He is captured by the Nazis and executed, at his last moment defiantly making the V for Victory sign. In Len Deighton's 1981 XPD A group of former SS officers attempt to seize power in West Germany, in which they intend to publish some wartime documents about a secret meeting between Churchill and Hitler in June 1940. In James P. Hogan's 1985 The Proteus Operation, Lord Halifax cravenly surrenders to the Nazis without fighting. Churchill, holding no official position of any kind, organizes some of his neighbors for a foredoomed defiance, confronting the German soldiers who arrive in their countryside with an assortment of shotguns and all of them getting killed. Time travelers from a bleak world of the 1970s return to 1939, contact Churchill and Roosevelt and provide information enabling them to do better and defeat the Nazis, creating the history we know. In Leo Rutman's 1990 Clash of Eagles, Churchill escapes via the Bahamas. When the Nazis follow up their conquest of Britain with an invasion of the US, occupying New York City and much of the East Coast, the exile Churchill urges the Americans to go on resisting. A similar role is given to Churchill also in the Nazi-dominated 1960s of Robert Harris' 1992 Fatherland. Churchill and most of the British royal family escape to Canada where he leads a Government in exile. In Harry Turtledove's Worldwar series (1994–2004), in 1942 Extraterrestrials invaded Earth, forcing humans to stop fighting each other and unite to face the common threat. Churchill managers to beat off a large scale Extraterrestrial invasion of Britain, but must concede the reptile invaders – who prefer warm climates – in permanent occupation of most of the British Empire.