History buffs find ‘far and away’ the best WW1 documentary of all time | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

History enthusiasts reckon they’ve found one of the best World War One documentaries ever – and it’s available to stream online.

Fans over on Reddit were discussing the best war documentaries of all time, after user wild_horses23 posted: “I feel like there’s so much content out there about WW2 that WW1 hardly gets any of the attention. What films can you recommend for me to watch about WW1?

“I’ve seen Lawrence of Arabia, which was incredible, but it would be cool to see movies that focus on other aspects of the war as well.”

One name that repeatedly popped up on the list was 2018 release They Shall Not Grow Old – colourised archival footage created by Peter Jackson.

One fan suggested: “Peter Jackson cleaned up and colourised a bunch of WW1-era film to make a documentary called They Shall Not Grow Old that is far and away the best documentary.”

Someone else agreed: “100x this. The only audio comes from recordings of soldiers or voice actors reading out dispatches from soldiers. No narration. It humanised the war in a way I’ve never seen before.”

The documentary is currently available to rent on Amazon Prime Video, along with being rentable on YouTube and Apple TV. It uses state-of-the-art technology in conjunction with materials provided by the BBC and Imperial War Museum to bring WW1 to life.

Other suggestions included BBC documentary The Great War, along with World War 1 in Colour and The Great War in Numbers.

Someone else chimed in: “The Great War YouTube channel is the best documentary series. It treats each week of the war as a news broadcast, with specials mixed in.”