A well-oiled Machine Room

摘要

When you decide to make a three-part documentary about Sir Winston Churchill,you know it will have to have very high pro-duction values indeed because, let's face it, the basic idea is not going to score any points for originality. As one of Britain's most important and iconic figures of the 20th Century, Churchill has been done to death. Trans World International's series of three one-hour programmes on the great man, which will be shown on ITV1 in the autumn and later on PBS in the US, oozes quality. The research is extensive - the world's film and photograph libraries were scoured for fresh images and perspectives on the World War Two leader. There are new specially shot interviews with people who knew him personally. Predictably, there are also dramatic reconstructions in which an actor, playing Sir Winston, is glimpsed walking through the grounds of Blenheim Palace or staring pensively out of windows - the viewer never sees him face-on, of course, giving the sequences that fashionable hidden camera effect that was parodied so well by BBC2's Double-Take comedy series. But though this story-telling device may already be a cliche, it is beautifully shot on digi and the narration by Sir Ian McKellan serves as a steady hand on the tiller.