everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The Brits do television so well. This is a classic example of that. The film covers the last years of Churchill's last term as prime minister after he had suffered a stroke. It's interesting that the filmmakers would focus on a bad period in the life of a national icon yet still pay great tribute to him while also staying historically accurate. (Can you imagine, for example, Hollywood doing a film based on Ronald Reagan's last years with Alzheimer's?) Nor did they sugarcoat Churchill's dysfunctional family. Randolph comes off as an arrogant, drunken jerk, which he was. There are superb performances all around. This is a very British and a very good motion picture!

Settling down for a nostalgic immersion in a post war period drama, with a martini in my hand, I was surprised to be nodding off after ten minutes or so. I now realize the potential of this movie as a sleeping pill and intend to keep it in the drug cabinet. I have recently watched too many of Michael Gambon's performances slide into apparent mordancy with dismay. A bad double episode of Downton without Maggie Smith is one way to describe this tedious rubbish. There was so much dramatic potential in the story which was routinely squandered, presumably in order to dumb it down for a broader audience. I would have thought that a two hour monologue by the late Les Dawson about his piles would have been more entertaining. Do something else. Don't waste an evening on this.

I cannot understand how few reviewers here are complimentary. Michael Gambon delivers a magnificent performance, true to what we know of Churchill's personality and complex nature. It doesn't matter to me that the actor doesn't look very much like the great man - he PRESENTS a great man in a health crisis to perfection. LIndsay Duncan is 'Clemmie' exactly as I remember her from the public image of the time. The way her hair is done is exquisitely correct. I was eleven and I remember the drama of Churchill's illness from the newspapers. I remember, as a boy, noting that Churchill's personal doctor was a certain Lord Moran who came and went initially at the famous front door of Number 10. We all knew that Chartwell was the Churchill country seat (not his 'ancestral home' which, as we know, was Blenheim Palace where he was born.) It was wonderful that the filming took place at Chartwell. We also knew that Churchill's children were difficult, particularly the boorish Randolph, and that Sir Winston was probably to blame for having neglected them through his undoubted self-absorption. Romola Garai, as always, creates a memorable personality with her entirely believable ace nurse. The casting is superb, the settings perfect and the art direction highly sensitive. And the cars! How I loved the shiny cars of my childhood. There's a pristine, bulbous Austin that I remember admiring as a boy. Delicious visual details are abundant in the film. There were many moments when I was surprised by my own tears, notably when Lady Churchill, having warmed sufficiently to the newly-met young nurse, poured out the story of the child she and Winston had lost; to this wise, down-to-earth, delightful young woman.These were probably the last days of the "right to rule" self-image of the Tory Party. For England's powerful middle classes it was still normal to think of a Labour Government as a temporary aberration. The moment I saw the book that Winston inscribed to his nurse I recalled that not even the first volume of "A History of the English-Speaking Peoples" had yet been published. But it didn't matter in the slightest. It was not a gaffe. It was an inspired and moving moment in the plan of this outstanding film. The acting skills on display in 'Churchill's Secret' are - I submit - breathtaking. Why do we take for granted the artistry of our wonderful British actors? We need to show them our love with the compliments they deserve.

I mainly know about the former British Prime Minister focused in this TV made film through his work during World War II, and the "V for Victory" sign, so I was interested to see a dramatisation of his later years, directed by Charles Sturridge (FairyTale: A True Story, Lassie). Basically set in June 1953, it has been two years since Sir Winston Churchill (Sir Michael Gambon) has been elected Prime Minister for the second time. Winston and his wife Clemeintine 'Clemmie' (About Time's Lindsay Duncan) are hosting a dinner party at Downing Street, when during his speech he starts slurring, and he eventually collapses. Winston's doctor Lord Moran (Bill Paterson) diagnoses him as having a serious stroke, there are fears he may not survive, he is taken to his country home Chartwell for treatment and recovery, but his illness is kept under wraps. Publicly it is said that Winston is suffering exhaustion, the newspaper owners consent to printing this deception, meanwhile Winston's children arrive to watch over him, Winston's son Randolph (The Three Musketeers' Matthew Macfadyen) is drinking and causes feuds, Winston's daughter Sarah (Detectorist's Rachael Stirling) is struggling with her film career, and Clemmie is reflecting on the loss of their infant daughter. The Cabinet is informed of the events concerning Winston and his health, Lord Moran sends plain-spoken Yorkshire nurse Millie Appleyard (Romola Garai) to look after the great man. With the help of Millie and the devotion of his wife, Churchill survives and recovers to address the Conservative party conference later in the year. Winston Churchill retired two years later, and the country was unaware of Churchill's secret until long after his death on 24th January 1965. Also starring The Elephant Man's John Standing as Lord Camrose, Downton Abbey's Daisy Lewis as Mary Churchill, Matilda Sturridge as Rosie Hopper, Me and Orson Welles' Christian McKay as Christopher Soames, Brassed Off's Tara Fitzgerald as Diana Churchill and The Queen's Alex Jennings as Anthony Eden. Gambon gives a great performance as the well-respected British statesman who suffered a terrible illness that was never known about, and many of the supporting cast members get their moments, I certainly had no idea of this hidden event of history, this is well written, and you are drawn in to see how the great man and his family suffered, a most worthwhile drama. Very good!