In Which We Serve

The trailer is not worth watching, the Stills Gallery miniscule and the biographies limited to four (Coward, Mills, Johnson, Lean). What matters is the documentary, which has been made with care and consideration. Sheridan Morley discusses historical titbits behind the making of the film, how Coward had asked his friend Winston Churchill how he could help the war effort and Churchill had told him to go on writing plays, because that's what people liked.

Undeterred, Coward consulted another friend, Louis Mountbatten, who told him about his experiences of being torpedoed in HMS Kelly. Coward went away and wrote a four-hour script, which was later cut back more than half by introducing the flashback idea. He played the Lord Louis role and Mountbatten gave him his hat to wear. Without his influence, Morley suggests, the film would never have been made.

John Mills, Lucy Fleming (Celia Johnson's daughter) and Ronald Neame, who was the cinematographer, contribute fascinating anecdotes. Coward was determined to be taken seriously and a lack of punctuality would not be tolerated. When the original Dr Who, Norman Hartnell, arrived late for a family get-together scene, he was sacked on the spot and an assistant to the producers, a non-actor, had to fill in - it shows!