The Great War: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

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.

Series details

• Title: The Great War
• Format: Documentary
• Language: English
• Genres: War, History
• Premiere date: 1964-05-30
• Final broadcast date listed: 1964-11-22
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: BBC Two
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 40 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 13750
• IMDb ID: tt0057753
• TVDB ID: 79293

Cast and credited roles

• Michael Redgrave — Narrator
• Ralph Richardson — Douglas Haig
• Emlyn Williams — Lloyd George

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1964-05-30; final listed air date 1964-11-22; episode order: 26.

Source and licence

Adapted from The Great War on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.