Politics documentaries
Churchill: Winning the War, Losing the Peace
Weeks after winning World War II in 1945, Winston Churchill found himself in a new battle: to be re-elected British Prime Minister.
He was confident of being rewarded for his leadership against Hitler and the Nazis. But as this BBC history documentary reveals, Churchill was humiliated and lost the general election.
Why did his countrymen turn so vehemently on their Great British Bulldog?
Zelensky: The Making of a President
In just over three years, Volodymyr Zelensky has gone from Ukraine’s best-known comedian to one of the world’s most recognizable leaders. He’s rallied his country in its fight for survival against Russia and has gained global respect and admiration.
This in-depth documentary tells the fascinating story of the Ukrainian president’s transformation. The BBC’s former Ukraine correspondent Jonah Fisher who followed Zelensky closely during his rise to power, explores one of the world’s most incredible political journeys.
Mad Dog: Inside the Secret World of Muammar Gaddafi
His oil income was a billion dollars a week, and he used torture and murder to silence the opposition. Is this why Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi was called a ‘mad dog’ by Ronald Reagan?
No other dictator so cannily threatened to turn Western powers to cowed appeasers. This dense, powerful documentary interviews those he bereaved, the ones who tried to stop him – and the people who assisted his tyranny.
Gandhi
How did a man so loyal to the British Empire that he acted as a recruiting sergeant in World War 1 eventually lead the Indian people to a revolution that would end British rule forever? And how, when his blueprint for India would be largely ignored, is he still revered as the ‘Father of the Nation’?
Journalist Mishal Husain uncovers the complicated legacy of Mahatma Gandhi in this biographical documentary on BBC Select.
The Cult of Conspiracy: QAnon
This QAnon documentary investigates how the political movement and conspiracy theory that began on the fringes of the Internet, spread into the real world following the election of Trump.
In 2017 a figure called “Q”, claiming to be a patriotic government insider, started posting cryptic prophecies and clues known as “Q drops” on anonymous websites.
Followers grew exponentially, ardently believing in unfounded theories such as Trump being a prophet, the Democrats running a pedophile ring in secret tunnels under Washington, and the existence of an elite group or “cabal” of baby-eating Satanic worshippers that needed to be stopped.
But how do such wildly untrue conspiracies gain traction? And who would believe them? Filmmaker Ben Zand travels across America to meet some of QAnon’s diehard followers.