Winston Churchill: soldier, adventurer, politician, author, husband, father and legendary war leader. A man whose political fortunes rose and fell and rose like the tide, as he switched from Conservative to Liberal and back to Conservative (“anyone can rat, but it takes a certain ingenuity to re-rat,” he said). A man who felt that empire was the key to Britain’s success, but who saw his beloved country racked by colonies fighting for independence, the abdication of a monarch and the change in status brought about by a shift in world power after World War II. Born at the height of the British Empire, his death coincided with its demise.

CHURCHILL is the story of the man behind the legend, intimately told by those who knew him best, including his daughter, grandchildren, personal secretaries and friends. How was this immense and complex character formed?  How did his early life prepare him for the supreme challenges he was destined to face?  What were the forces that drove him?  This three-hour special explores many of the myths that surround Churchill’s life, revealing the complexity of the man who was arguably the greatest Englishman of the 20th century.