Michael Gambon Stars in ‘Churchill’s Secret,” Coming to Masterpiece This September

A feature length drama on the later years in the life of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is coming to Masterpiece this Fall, and its subject matter is probably not what you’d expect.

Churchill’s Secret is set to air on PBS on September 19, and the drama tells the story of a little known part of Churchill’s life. Based on the book The Churchill Secret: KBO by Jonathan Smith, the film is set in the summer of 1953, when Churchill – now Prime Minister for a second time and in his 70s – suffers a life-threatening stroke, a fact which is kept from the public at large.

Told from the viewpoint of his young nurse, Millie Appleyard, the drama follows his battle to recover, the efforts his aides, family and doctors went through to keep the news from the press, and the strain that his great public service wrought upon his private life.

Michael Gambon stars as Churchill, alongside Lindsay Duncan as his wife Clementine, Bill Paterson as his doctor and Romola Garai as the fictional nurse in charge of Churchill’s recovery. The cast also includes Matthew Macfadyen, Daisy Lewis, Rachael Stirling and Tara Fitzgerald as the four dysfunctional Churchill children, who all suffer to varying degrees from living under their father’s shadow.

Watch the ITV trailer below: 

Americans are probably most familiar with Gambon’s performance as Albus Dumbledore in six of the eight Harry Potter films, a role he took over after the untimely death of actor Richard Harris. But, in reality, he’s been in an incredible number of things as part of an acting career that dates back to the 1970s, including The Casual Vacancy, Fortitude, Emma, Luck, The Hollow Crown, The Borderers, Wives and Daughters, Cranford and more.

The drama aired in the UK earlier this year, and Gambon’s performance as the aging Prime Minister seems to have garnered fairly glowing reviews.  

Does it sound like something you’d watch? Let us know!