The BEST episodes directed by Peter Watkins
#1 - The War Game
BBC Documentaries - Season 1985 - Episode 1
The War Game is a 1965 television film on nuclear war. Written, directed, and produced by Peter Watkins for the BBC's The Wednesday Play strand, its depiction of the impact of Soviet nuclear attack on Britain caused dismay within the BBC and in government. It was scheduled for broadcast on 6 August 1965 (the twentieth anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing) but was cancelled, the corporation publicly stating that "the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting". It remained unseen on British television until 1985.
#2 - Culloden
BBC Documentaries - Season 1964 - Episode 3
Peter Watkins' documentary portrays the 1746 Battle of Culloden that resulted in the British Army's destruction of the Jacobite uprising and, in the words of the narrator, "tore apart forever the clan system of the Scottish Highlands". Described in its opening credits as "an account of one of the most mishandled and brutal battles ever fought in Britain", Culloden was hailed as a breakthrough for its cinematography as well as its use of non-professional actors and its presentation of an historical event in the style of modern TV war reporting. The film was based on John Prebble's study of the battle.