The Valiant Years was a documentary produced by ABC based on the memoirs of Winston Churchill, directed by Anthony Bushell and John Schlesinger, narrated by Gary Merrill and with extracts from the memoirs voiced by Richard Burton. It ran in the United States from 1960 to 1961, in 27 30-minute episodes and was broadcast in the UK by the BBC from February to August 1961. Its incidental music was written by Richard Rodgers, who won an Emmy for it in 1962. Scriptwriters included Victor Wolfson a dramatist and writer, Quentin Reynolds, William L. Shirer an American journalist, war correspondent and historian, and Richard Tregaskis. One of the program's London-based producers was actor Patrick Macnee, just prior to his being cast as secret agent John Steed in the long-running cult TV series The Avengers.,
6 June 1944. A titanic fleet launched an assault on the beaches of Normandy. Objective: to liberate Europe from Hitler's yoke. Drawing on the lessons learned from the Dieppe raid in August 1942, the mission was a spectacular success.
Prague 1942. The city is occupied by German troops. As the end of the war and the advancing Russian army comes ever nearer, the Czech chief inspector Beran and his assistant Jan Morava are hunting a serial killer. During his investigation, every step Morava takes is observed by Gestapo man Erwin Buback. Buback’s brief is to report to his Nazi superior Meckerle how closely the Prague police is linked to the Czech resistance movement. Then the Soviet troops reach Prague and in the armed rising against the occupiers even the most innocent become murderers.
During the Second World War, a group of youth in the Northeast England town of Garmouth regularly suffer from bomb attacks by the German forces. One of the children raids a crashed German aircraft and takes a fully operational machine gun, intending to set up their own fortress. Playing with it causes a German plane to crash-land; the kids befriend the pilot, who is unaware that they had caused him to crash.
This five-part series traces the story of Asian Americans, spanning 150 years of immigration, racial politics, international relations, and cultural innovation. It is a timely, clear-eyed look at the vital role that Asian Americans have played in defining who we are as a nation. Their stories are a celebration of the grit and resilience of a people that reflects the experience of all Americans.
The series tells the story of a group of British peacekeepers serving in a peacekeeping operation of the UNPROFOR in Vitez, in Bosnia during the Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing in 1993.
1942, Great Patriotic War. Returning from a mission, experienced snipers brothers Alexey and Yegor Broshin encounter the German high-class sniper Wengler. As a result of the duel, Yegor dies, and Alexey is seriously wounded and ends up in the hospital. Having barely recovered, he rushes to the front, but the medical board declares him unfit. Instead of returning to the front line, the command entrusts Alexey with an unusual task - to teach young female cadets how to be a sniper. Alexey undertakes to train his players harshly, sometimes even cruelly.
A dramatization of Vera Brittain's 1933 autobiography Testament of Youth—a memorial to a generation devastated by WWI—chronicles her experiences as a nurse in London and Malta and at the front lines in France. It opens with 18-year-old Vera, the genteel daughter of a paper-mill owner, nurturing "hopes of escaping from provincial young ladyhood." Her plan is to attend Oxford.
The Caesars is a British television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV network in 1968. Made in black-and-white and written and produced by Philip Mackie, it covered similar dramatic territory to the later BBC adaptation of I, Claudius, dealing with the lives of the early emperors of Ancient Rome, but differed in its less sensationalist depictions of historical characters and their motives.
November 11, 1918. The world emerges from the most horrific conflict ever known. While leaders of the victorious countries design a new world order, traumatized societies struggle to find their footing. In the aftermath of war the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires fall apart, currencies fluctuate wildly, and vast numbers of refugees flee misery. Before long, age-old hatreds, fears, and resentments resurface and drive the world to the brink of a new apocalypse.
During the 1937 Second Sino-Japanese War, Fang Yuan seeks revenge for his family’s death and joins the resistance, forming an alliance with Dr. Chen Ruge, whom he initially suspects of being a traitor. As they fight together, their bond deepens, and despite misunderstandings, they reunite after China’s victory in the war.