The Valiant Years


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, playwright William Templeton, Quentin Reynolds, William L. Shirer, an American journalist, war correspondent and historian, and Richard Tregaskis. One of the programme'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.

Awards

  1. The Gathering Storm
  2. Combat Deepens
  3. Dunkirk
  4. French Agony
  5. Take One with You
  6. The Ravens Remain
  7. Struggle at Sea
  8. Hinge of Fate
  9. Alone no More
  10. Out of the East
  11. The Torch is Lit
  12. Sand and Snow
  13. Strike Hard, Strike Home!
  14. Closing the Ring
  15. Be Sure you Win
  16. Turning of the Tide
  17. The Die is Cast
  18. D-Day
  19. Europe Set Ablaze
  20. Triumph in France
  21. Beginning of the End
  22. Final Christmas
  23. Yalta
  24. Tying the Knot
  25. Götterdämmerung
  26. Goodbye, Mr Churchill
  27. The Will to Victory