The First Churchills (1971) Review

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(More customer reviews)Anyone seeking to widen their acquaintance with either history or historical drama need look no further than this wonderful BBC set from 1969.
Based on Winston Churchill's Marlborough: His Life and Times, this production is virtually faultless in scripting, acting, direction, costumes and just about everything else. All the settings are completely believable (putting French television's Les rois maudits into unfavourable contrast); even the battle scenes are convincingly done, although the cast is not huge.
But dominating everything is the magnificent performance of Susan Hampshire as Sarah Churchill, which justly won her an Emmy; right now I can't think of a more commanding performance in any medium, even Paul Scofield's Thomas More. Neither are any of the supporting cast less than first rate -- I must make particular mention of Margaret Tyzack's lonely and rather pathetic Queen Anne, John Standing's lovely sympathetic Sidney Godolphin, and a host of delightfully repulsive political back-stabbers and other minor characters.
I do not have Churchill's huge Marlborough opus to hand, but I do have The History of the English-Speaking Peoples, and in nearly nine hours the only historical error I noticed was a brief glimpse of a lute with machine-heads.
If you loved Elizabeth R and I, Claudius, then this saga of the most brilliant soldier of his day, sandbagged by dim-witted monarchs and spiteful politicians, will not fail to fascinate you too.

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Based on Sir Winston Churchill's biography of his ancestors, the first Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, this classic BBC miniseries is a tender love story played out amid the intrigues of the 17th-century English court. At a time when most marriages were made for money and position, Sarah Jennings and John Churchill married for love. And their love lasted throughout their long lives spent at the epicenter of political power in England. He was a military genius who never lost a battle. She was the intimate friend of a princess who later became queen. This addictive drama follows them from their budding romance in the bawdy court of King Charles II through five decades and five monarchs from the tumultuous House of Stuart. The popularity of The First Churchills helped establish Masterpiece Theatre as a venue for the best of British drama. Starring John Neville (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) as John Churchill with Susan Hampshire (Monarch of the Glen, The Pallisers) in an Emmy®-winning performance as the tempestuous Sarah. DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE an exclusive interview with Susan Hampshire, photo gallery, cast filmographies, and full-color insert with a sampling of the real love letters of Sarah and John Churchill, glossary of historical figures and terms, and House of Stuart family tree.

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