The World at War

The World at War is a 26-episode British documentary television series that chronicles the events of the Second World War and aired between 31 October 1973–8 May 1974 on ITV. Produced by Thames Television in collaboration with the Imperial War Museum, it took four years to make at a cost of around £880,000 (equivalent to £12,900,000 in 2025), making it the most expensive factual series ever made at the time. It was produced by Jeremy Isaacs, narrated by Laurence Olivier and included music composed by Carl Davis. A tie-in book of the same name was written by Mark Arnold-Forster and published in 1973.

Hundreds of hours of interviews were filmed, primarily with surviving aides and assistants to prominent figures, soldiers, sailors, airmen, civilians, concentration camp inmates and other victims of the war. The episodes covered the 15 most prominent battles of the war, along with related topics such as the Holocaust, the political context and civilian experiences of the affected countries. So much footage went unused that Thames Television commissioned a further eight episodes of various lengths, which were narrated by Eric Porter and aired between 30 April 1975–18 August 1976.

The World at War attracted widespread acclaim and now it is regarded as a landmark in British television history. In the British Film Institute's 2000 list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, The World at War placed 19th, the highest-placed documentary on the list.