The Gathering Storm (2002 film)

The Gathering Storm
Screenplay by	Hugh Whitemore (teleplay)
Story by	Larry Ramin Hugh Whitemore
Directed by	Richard Loncraine
Starring	Albert Finney Vanessa Redgrave
Theme music composer	Howard Goodall
Country of origin	United Kingdom United States
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Frank Doelger David M. Thompson
Cinematography	Peter Hannan
Editor	Jim Clark
Running time	96 minutes
Production companies	HBO Films BBC Films Scott Free Productions
Original release
Release	27 April 2002 (2002-04-27) (U.S.) 12 July 2002 (2002-07-12) (UK)
Related
Into the Storm
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The Gathering Storm is a BBC–HBO co-produced television biographical film about Winston Churchill in the years just prior to World War II. The title of the film is that of the first volume of Churchill's largely autobiographical six-volume history of the war, which covered the period from 1919 to 3 September 1939, the day he became First Lord of the Admiralty.

The film, directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Larry Ramin and Hugh Whitemore, stars Albert Finney as Churchill and Vanessa Redgrave as his wife Clementine Churchill ("Clemmie"). The film also features a supporting cast of British actors such as Derek Jacobi, Ronnie Barker (his first role since retiring in 1988), Jim Broadbent, Tom Wilkinson, Celia Imrie, Linus Roache and Hugh Bonneville, and is notable for an early appearance by a young Tom Hiddleston. Lena Headey, Simon Williams, and Edward Hardwicke all make brief appearances amongst the supporting cast. Among the film's executive producers were Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. Originally the film was named The Lonely War.^[1]

Finney gained many accolades for his performance, winning both a BAFTA Award for Best Actor and an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor. Ramin and Whitemore won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing. It won a Peabody Award in 2002 for being "a portrait of a 20th Century hero’s return from political obscurity to direct the destiny of a nation."^[2] In 2016, Mark Lawson of The Guardian ranked it as the most memorable television portrayal of Churchill.^[3] A sequel, Into the Storm, was released in 2009, with Churchill portrayed by Brendan Gleeson, which focuses on the prime minister's days in office during World War II.