ITV Documentaries

Blenheim Palace - Great War House (2014x21)

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The First World War's impact was vast and far-reaching, and has been examined in great detail already in countless documentaries during its centenary year. Even so, this new documentary turns up a few surprises. It explains how the Great War affected the people of Blenheim Palace, the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. For centuries it existed as a miniature kingdom, until the conflict tore apart the stately homes family and wreaked havoc on the lives of the people who relied on the estate. Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey, seems the perfect person to present this dramatic tale of heroism and tragedy both above and below stairs in one of Britains grandest old houses. Blenheim Palace is one of the grandest of all Britain's great houses. Intended originally for John Churchill first Duke of Marlborough as a tribute from a grateful nation for his victories during the War of the Spanish Succession, it was completed between 1705 and 1722 and designed by Sir John Vanbrugh. For centuries it was a miniature kingdom, but the First World War ripped apart the lives of everyone at Blenheim, the family and those that relied upon them for employment. In this documentary, Julian Fellowes, the author and creator of Downton Abbey, tells the stories of the real men and women of the estate whose lives were changed forever by the Great War. Below stairs he discovers tales of heroism and tragedy, and above stairs the accounts of those who seized their chance to change the course of history. Finally he examines how the First World War was the making of Blenheim's most famous son, Winston Churchill, born here in 1874.