The Great War (1964)

In the early 1960s the BBC embarked on one of their most important and ambitious series ever. It was to be the definitive history of the First World War, complete in twenty-six 40-minute episodes. An inspired account of the world-shattering events of 1914-1918, The Great War is narrated by Sir Michael Redgrave and employs the voice skills of many other leading actors of the day including Sir Ralph Richardson and Marius Goring. The series includes authentic archive footage and stunning photographic images gathered from 37 separate sources around the world. It also features interviews with many veterans of the war (by this time most were still only in their 60s), as well as almost 150 separate extracts from diaries, letters and reports from the war.