When I joined the Thames Television Documentary Department some years after The World at War had been made, the influence of the series was everywhere. Many of the programme-makers who had worked on it were still there. Its success had prompted Thames to set up a History Unit to go on producing history series, and I was privileged to cut my teeth as Researcher on extraordinary series like Palestine (producer-director Richard Broad, 1978), on the British Mandate in Palestine before the creation of Israel; and The Troubles (producer-director Richard Broad, 1981), on Britain’s troubled relationship with Ireland over many centuries.
The World at War had been a phenomenal success. Its 26 episodes had cost an estimated £880,000 – making it at the time the most expensive documentary series ever made. The series was first shown simultaneously in the UK and the US from the autumn of 1973 every week to spring 1974. It had an immense impact, with reviewers claiming that ‘no superlatives’ could sum up the quality of the programmes. More than one UK reviewer called it ‘definitive’. In the US, The Baltimore Sun called it ‘the best war documentary ever shown on TV’.
The series intercut superb archive footage, hunted down in archives around the world, with the personal testimony of those caught up in events. It was scored by Carl Davis, whose memorable theme tune still stands out today. And the commentary was read by Laurence Olivier, recorded between productions at the National Theatre, at which he was then Director. Olivier hated the work. He was used to performing for an audience and did not like being stuck in a tiny sound-recording studio reading lines when the cue-light flashed. Initially he read the scripts as though he was on stage, totally over the top. They were re-recorded, and his final deliveries give the concisely worded commentaries both drama and authority.
