Star-studded cast reveal Churchill’s Secret
|||Debashine Thangevelo
ITV Choice is fast-gaining popularity for its compelling dramas and period sagas – whether fictional or based on real-life people.
Churchill’s Secret falls into the latter category. Adapted from Jonathan Smith’s The Churchill Secret: KBO, this historical drama is told from the personal observations of Millie Appleyard, a young nurse attending to Sir Winston Churchill, who suffers a life-threatening stroke during his second term in office. This is kept secret from the world, while foes in the know were already plotting to find his replacement.
Going by the promos that have been showing on the channel in the build-up to tonight’s airing, this drama is well-cast with Lindsay Duncan (Clementine Churchill), Michael Gambon (Sir Winston Churchill) and Romola Garai (nurse Millie Appleyard). It is also skillfully directed, encapsulating the powerful and vulnerable journey of the prime minister. At the same time, the emotional burden it places on his long-suffering wife, Clementine, and adult children is exposed.
The story is set in 1953, amid historical events: the death of Stalin and the queen ascending the throne. It is quite a crucial time for Churchill, too, as he was in the midst of finding a way out of the Cold War.
On inhabiting this influential character, the 75-year-old Gambon (best known for his role as Professor Albus Dumbledore in the last six Harry Potter instalments) says: “I’m terrible. I never do any research, although I did read through a book on Churchill. You look at him and see what shape he was, how he walked and all the sort of things that actors do. Then you try and copy that as much as you can. You listen to how he spoke. I don’t know what I’ve done with that. I can only do what I do best, what I think I’m doing. And that’s how it all ends up. You just hope and pray you are doing it properly.
“Then you find yourself in a rehearsal room with the other actors, who all happen to be friends of mine, which is wonderful. I couldn’t believe it. I thought they had all been arranged especially for my benefit.”
He was also rather chuffed to be working with director Charles Sturridge.
The inimitable actor shares: “Every day I turned up to play Churchill as best as I could. I was obsessed with the way he walked and the way he sat down. The voice is a bit strange. It goes up and down. I’ve also tried to make my voice bigger and not move my top lip much.”
Shedding light on Clementine’s relationship with her husband, Duncan reveals: “It’s clear, at this point, she would cheerfully duck out of the public life and, equally, would like that for Winston. I think she felt, politically, and in terms of his reputation, he had done very well and maybe it was time to bow out. But, at the same time, having been married to him for 50 years, she knew perfectly well he lived for work.”
Churchill’s Secret airs on ITV Choice (DStv channel 123) tonight at 8pm.