Churchill's People is a series of 26 historical dramas produced by the BBC, based on Winston Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. The series was first broadcast on BBC1 in 1974 and 1975. It was produced to mark the centenary of Churchill's birth.
The series was considered misconceived for multiple reasons, such as the studio-bound production which offered little in the way of realism and the lack of available funding. Each episode dealt with a particular period in British history, and the quality was consequently variable. Much of the acting was criticised, despite the involvement of Richard Johnson, Robert Hardy, Alan Howard, Colin Blakely, Anna Massey, Gemma Jones, and Edward Fox, amongst others. The series was reviewed at some length in the programme TV Hell, which revealed that viewing figures had plummeted from 2 million at the series' launch to less than half a million by the fifth episode. The programme was swiftly buried in a later time-slot for the remainder of its run.
Nancy Banks-Smith in The Guardian described it as having "little to offer us but blood, horsehair and history. Though a hell of a lot of each."
Episodes #TitleOriginal air date1Pritan 30 December 19742The Lost Island6 January 19753The Coming of the Cross13 January 19754King Alfred20 January 19755The Saxon Dusk27 January 19756The Conquerors3 February 19757A Sprig of Broom10 February 19758Silver Giant, Wooden Dwarf17 February 19759On the Anvil24 February 197510The Wallace3 March 197511Shouts and Murmurs10 March 197512A Wilderness of Roses17 March 197513The Whip of Heaven24 March 197514A Rich and Beautiful Empire31 March 197515America! America!7 April 197516March On, Boys!14 April 197517The Agreement of the People21 April 197518A Bill of Mortality28 April 197519The Derry Boys5 May 197520The Fine Art of Bubble-Blowing12 May 197521O Canada19 May 197522Liberty Tree26 May 197523Mother India2 June 197524Mutiny9 June 197525True Patriots All16 June 197526Death of Liberty23 June 1975
References
External links
TV Cream on Churchill's People