Plot summary

June 1944. Allied Forces stand on the brink: a massive army is secretly assembled on the south coast of Britain, poised to re-take Nazi-occupied Europe. One man stands in their way: Winston Churchill (Brian Cox). Behind the iconic figure and rousing speeches: a man who has faced political ridicule, military failure and a speech impediment. An impulsive, sometimes bullying personality - fearful, obsessive and hurting. Fearful of repeating, on his disastrous command, the mass slaughter of 1915, when hundreds of thousands of young men were cut down on the beaches of Gallipoli. Helen Garrett (Ella Purnell) is Churchill's secretary.Obsessed with fulfilling historical greatness: his destiny. Exhausted by years of war and plagued by depression, Churchill is a shadow of the hero who has resisted Hitler's Blitzkrieg. Should the D-Day landings fail, he is terrified he'll be remembered as an architect of carnage. Political opponents sharpen their knives. General Eisenhower (John Slattery) and Field Marshal Montgomery (Julian Wadham) are increasingly frustrated by Churchill's attempts to stop the invasion.Churchill argues that allied forces will have to commit 250,000 men, 7000 ships and swarms of planes to secure the beaches of France with an estimated civilian casualty loss of 160,00o people. Not to mention that the failure of invasion would expose Britain to invasion from Germany. Alan Brooke (Danny Webb) is the chief of staff for the British forces. he arranges for a meeting between Churchill and Eisenhower. They trade insults where Eisenhower basically says that Churchill's plans and tactics are not in line with modern warfare. Even Brooke decides to not follow Churchill's orders on alternate invasion plans.King George VI (James Purefoy) must intervene. Only the support of Churchill's brilliant, yet exasperated wife Clementine (Miranda Richardson) can halt the Prime Minister's physical and mental collapse. The untold story of Britain's most celebrated leader, uncovering the true nature of Churchill's herculean war-time status and his vital relationship with "Clemmie" - his backbone and total confidant...the love that inspired him to greatness.96 hours before the World War II invasion of Normandy, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill struggles with his severe reservations with Operation Overlord and his increasingly marginalized role in the war effort. His protests to Eisenhower and Alan have fallen on deaf ears. He takes his frustrations out on his staff and his wife. Alan has even refused to let his men carry gas masks. Churchill is increasingly out of sync with the war planning by Alan & Eisenhower.As a final gambit Churchill tells Eisenhower that he and the King will accompany the troops on HMS Belfast to the French beaches on D Day. Eisenhower is angry at the suggestion. A few hours later King George himself calls upon Churchill and asks him to withdraw himself & the King from HMS Belfast and the landing party.D Day - 48 hrs, there is a meeting of the strategic command on a go, no-go decision on D day itself. The weather is forecast to be bad. The Navy wants to launch, but the air-force is dithering due to rough weather conditions. Eisenhower decides to hold the invasion for 24 hours, when there is a forecast break in weather.Clemmie is the only one keeping Churchill away from doing more damage to himself and destroying his sterling legacy. Churchill prays that night for the weather to remain worse. The next morning the forecast is good, and Eisenhower decides to launch D Day landings. The group photographs for posterity does not include Churchill and that bites him.Churchill is increasingly bitter about the callousness with which Eisenhower seems to be sending thousands of men to their deaths, until Helen protests to Churchill that at this stage she does not want to hear about the possible death of her fiance who is participating in D Day, especially not from Churchill. This seems to have a strong effect on Churchill and changes his outlook. The next day Churchill delivers one of his finest speeches celebrating the valor of allied troops and the war effort & his determination to lead England in the middle of new threats of V8 rockets from Germany. He and Clemmie make up later and spend the rest of their lives together.