The Miners' Strike (2004)

Highly Recommended

UK
Television Documentary
Director: Steven Condie
Cinematographers: Neville Kidd, Ian Kennedy, John Warwick
Narrator: Neil Dudgeon

A dazzling, poetically presented documentary, looking at the 1984-85 miners’ strike, concentrating on the Hatfield village colliery, mixing archive footage, reconstructions, and interviews with members from all sides of the conflict, to produce an unmissable portrait of a depressingly bloody time. Iain.Stott

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Lloyd George: The People's Champion (2006)

UK
Television Documentary
Director: Jeff Morgan
Cinematographers: Mike Harrison, Colin Skinner
Presenter: Huw Edwards

Huw Edwards argues that history has done the eponymous politician no favours, positing the theory that he was in fact a great social reformer who just made a few mistakes along the way, in this well-made and interesting if slightly dry documentary. Iain.Stott

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Gods of Brazil: Pelé & Garrincha (2002)

Best Avoided

France/Denmark/UK
Television Documentary
Original Title: Pelé, Garrincha, Dieux du Brésil
Writer/Director: Jean-Christophe Rosé
Narrator: Garth Crooks

An uninspired and rather cheep feeling documentary, consisting entirely of archive footage (admittedly often excellent, but why no interviews?), with a rather poor and perfunctory voiceover that adds no real contextualisation or serious analysis - hugely disappointing. Iain.Stott

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FCB: The Inside Story (2004)

Cautiously Recommended

UK/Denmark/Germany/Spain
Television Documentary
Promotional Title: Barca - The Inside Story
Directors: Daniel Hernandez, Justin Webster
Cinematographer: Jorge Mota
Narrator: Justin Webster

A fly-on-the-wall, warts 'n' all (minus the warts, and not a great deal of the all) documentary following, for a season, the newly elected board-of-directors at Barcelona Football Club, which, despite skirting around potentially difficult issues and only ever showing these slick young men as thoroughly nice guys, is often surprisingly (if perhaps superficially) fascinating. Iain.Stott

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How Vietnam Was Lost (2005)

Recommended

UK/USA
Television Documentary
Original Title: Two Days in October

Director: Robert Kenner
Writers: Allen Rucker, Paul Taylor, David Maraniss
Cinematographer: Buddy Squires
Composer: Mark Adler

How Vietnam Was Lost is a powerful and devastatingly moving account, by those involved (and from all sides), of two disparate events – a sit-in and a jungle battle – in October 1967, which would go on to have a great and lasting influence upon American public perception of the Vietnam war. Iain.Stott

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Ghosts of the 7th Cavalry (2009)

Highly Recommended

UK/Germany/Japan/USA/Australia

Television Documentary
Writer/Director: Tom Roberts
Cinematographers: Petra Graf, Tom Roberts, Jonathan Partridge
Featuring: Major Robert 'Snuffy' Gray

Using the unique story of Major Robert 'Snuffy' Gray, a veteran of three wars and an adopted member of the Lakota Indian tribe, as its centre-point, this beautifully paced and often painfully moving depiction of the broken lives of a number of veterans, paints a portrait of war as an endless and deeply human tragedy. Iain.Stott

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