Stream It Or Skip It?

Churchill At War is a four-part docuseries, directed by Malcolm Venville, that examines Winston Churchill’s role as British prime minister during World War II. The series combines digitally colorized and restored footage, readings of Churchill’s writings using an AI-generated version of the PM’s voice, expert interviews, and dramatic reenactments in order to explain just how influential Churchill was in standing up to Adolf Hitler, bringing the Americans into the fight, and ultimately prevailing in the massive, bloody conflict.

Opening Shot: Colorized World War II footage of the Blitz, when Nazi forces carpet-bombed London.

The Gist: Among the experts interviewed for the series are former US president George W. Bush, former British PM Boris Johnson, former CIA director David Petraeus and historian Jon Meacham.

The first episode examines Churchill’s early life, born into privilege in the 1870s, and his almost inevitable career serving the crown, in both the military and the government. As we see in the reenactments (where Churchill is played by Christian McKay), he was the First Lord of the Admiralty during World War I, but he gave up that post to return to active service with the Army, while maintaining his parliament seat. He stayed in government and became Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The decade of 1929-39 were considered his “wilderness years”, where Churchill was a back-bencher with little influence. But even then, he made his opinions on Indian independence (he was against it) and the rise of Hitler well known. His years of warnings about Hitler’s desire to annex most of Europe went unheeded during Neville Chamberlain’s term as PM, where he hoped that appeasement would foster peace. But when the UK declared war on Germany in 1939 after Hitler invaded Poland, Churchill was poised to become the next PM.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There have been many docuseries and documentaries about Winston Churchill, including Winston Churchill’s War.

Our Take: Normally, we get grumpy when we see scripted reenactments and hear about AI-aided voice tracks in a docuseries. But Churchill At War mixes all of its elements well to create a dramatic narrative about Winston Churchill that engages viewers, and gives perspective on what he accomplished from the perspective of the times in which he lived and served.

That’s an important distinction. While there’s plenty of analysis which puts Churchill’s career in a modern context, most of the experts interviewed talk about his career almost as it happened in real time. How a person was perceived in his or her own time often gets lost to history, especially for towering figures like Churchill.

He’s known as one of the greatest PMs the UK ever had, mainly because of how steadfast he was in the face of German bombing and the existential threat of Hitler’s rule. But he was 66 years old when he started his first term as PM, and in the decade before his first term, he was often dismissed by Chamberlain and his fellow members of parliament. Hearing about those years puts his viewpoint and the timing of his rise into its proper context.

Like any leader that’s become legendary over the decades, Churchill had flaws and unpopular positions, or ones that look even worse in the light of history than they did at the time. His views on Indian independence, for instance, weren’t all that well-received even back in the 1930s, but seems even harsher now. But what he did to resist the march of Hitler through Europe, how he got his country through the Blitz and a real existential threat, and eventually prevailed will always be his legacy, and the decisions he made during that time will be interesting to see this group of experts dig into.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: As we see a reenactment of Churchill staring out to the ocean, we hear his AI-created voice say, “All I hope is that it is not too late. I’m very much afraid that it is.”

Sleeper Star: George W. Bush has an excellent take on Churchill’s history, and given the fact that he (like it or not) presided over wars as a world leader, he has a perspective other experts don’t have.

Most Pilot-y Line: That being said, it’s interesting that Boris Johnson, one of the worst PMs in British history, is considered an expert on one of the best. We just chuckled every time we heard his voice or saw his mop-topped countenance.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Churchill At War does a good job at repackaging well-examined material in enough of a new way to keep viewers engaged, and maybe even learn some things about Winston Churchill they didn’t already know.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.