1960s War & Politics TV Shows

Combat! is an American television program that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers fighting the Germans in France during World War II. The program starred Rick Jason as platoon leader Second Lieutenant Gil Hanley and Vic Morrow as Sergeant "Chip" Saunders.

From a German prisoner of war camp during World War II, Colonel Robert E. Hogan coordinates an international crew of Allied prisoners running a Special Operations group.

Journalists participate in a round-table discussion of news events in this award-winning public affairs series. It first aired in 1967, making it the longest-running prime-time news and public affairs program on television.

This series chronicles the adventures--in the air and on the ground--of the men of the 918th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Eighth Air Force. First commanded by irascible General Frank Savage--and later by Colonel Joe Gallagher, the son of a Pentagon General--the Group is stationed in England, and flies long-range bombing missions into German-held Europe.

Introducing the Walmington-On-Sea home guard. During WW2, in a fictional British seaside town, a ragtag group of Home Guard local defense volunteers prepare for an imminent German invasion.

An experienced South Pacific Sea Dog by the name of Quinton McHale, was commissioned as a Lieutenant Commander into the U.S. Navy Reserve at the start of World War II. McHale was made the Skipper of the Torpedo Patrol (PT) Boat #73 stationed at the U.S. Naval Installation on the island of Taratupa in the Southwest Pacific. The 73 'Family' included, among others, a con man and amateur Magician, a womanizing hunk, a dedicated Family man, a guitar-playing, moonshine-making Tennessee good ol' boy, and even a deserter from the Japanese Navy, who was an excellent cook.

A series about the adventures of a Polish secret agent, Hans Kloss, who acts as a double agent in the Abwehr during Second World War in occupied Poland.

Jericho is an American espionage series set during World War II. The series stars John Leyton, Don Francks and Marino Masé as secret agents, and aired on CBS from September 1966, to January 1967.

The exploits of four Allied soldiers — three Americans and one Englishman — who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II. Their mission: "to attack, harass and wreak havoc on Field Marshal Rommel's vaunted Afrika Korps".

Garrison's Gorillas is an ABC TV series broadcast from 1967 to 1968; a total of 26 hour-long episodes were produced. It was inspired by the 1967 film The Dirty Dozen, which featured a similar scenario of training Allied prisoners for World War II military missions. Garrison's Gorillas was canceled at the close of its first season and replaced by The Mod Squad in 1968. It managed to gather a cult following in China in the 1980s.

The story chronicles the life of Nagao Kagetora.

A linking together of Shakespeare's history plays — Richard II, 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV, Henry V, 1 Henry VI, 2 Henry VI, 3 Henry VI, and Richard III — chronicling the rise and fall of monarchs over the 86 years between Richard II and Richard III.

Odysseus' journey, told in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. After fighting in the Trojan War, Odysseus spends years trying to return home to Itaka.

Profiles in Courage is an American historical anthology series that was telecast weekly on NBC from November 8, 1964 to May 9, 1965. The series was based on the recently President John F. Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize winning book, Profiles in Courage.

The Gallant Men is a 1962–1963 ABC television series which depicted an infantry company of American soldiers fighting their way through Italy in World War II.

Ensign O'Toole is a military comedy that aired on NBC from September 23, 1962, to May 5, 1963, with 31-year-old Dean Jones in the title role of a nonchalant United States Navy ensign during the early 1960s. Jones, born in 1931 in Alabama and a Navy veteran of the Korean War, played an officer aboard the fictional U.S. Navy destroyer USS Appleby, which roamed the Pacific Ocean.

Czterej pancerni i pies was a Polish black and white TV series based on the book by Janusz Przymanowski. Made between 1966 and 1970, the series is composed of 21 episodes of 55 minutes each, divided into three seasons. It is set in 1944 and 1945, during World War II, and follows the adventures of a tank crew and their T-34 tank in the 1st Polish Army. Although both the book and the TV series contain elements of pro-Soviet propaganda, they have achieved and retain a cult series status in Poland, Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries. The T-34 tank Rudy with the identifying number "102", a German Shepherd dog from Siberia Szarik and to a lesser extent the crew Jan Kos, Gustaw Jeleń, Grigorij Saakaszwili, Tomasz Czereśniak, and their commander and mentor Olgierd Jarosz, as well as other heroes of the series, have become icons in Polish popular culture.

An epic chronicle of the dysfunctional Plantagenet family from the accession of the young Henry to the death of Richard, last of the Plantagenets. The vacillations of the priestly Henry lead to ungentlemanly behaviour, civil war, treason, murder, regicide, fratricide, and the relentless pursuit of power so characteristic of the Renaissance.

Sword of Honour is a three-part miniseries produced as part of the anthology Theatre 625, and broadcast on BBC2, based on Evelyn Waugh's 1952–61 novels of the same name. It stars Edward Woodward as 35-year-old Englishman Guy Crouchback, who returns home from Italy at the start of WWII, determined to fight the good fight. Horrified by Nazi barbarism and emotionally shattered by a painful divorce, Crouchback eagerly accepts a post with the elite Royal Corps of Halberdiers.

The Caesars is a British television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV network in 1968. Made in black-and-white and written and produced by Philip Mackie, it covered similar dramatic territory to the later BBC adaptation of I, Claudius, dealing with the lives of the early emperors of Ancient Rome, but differed in its less sensationalist depictions of historical characters and their motives.

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The series is about the operation code-named "Trest", which under the leadership of F.E.Dzerzhinsky was carried out by the VChK to identify and eliminate the counter-revolutionary and monarchist underground on the territory of the USSR, associated with foreign white-emigrant organizations.

In the Soviet airbase, occupied by the Nazis, a resistance group occurs, led by a modest girl Anna Morozova. For each victory (important, albeit small on a scale of the war) they have to pay a heavy price.

An investigation into the nature, details and reasons for the collaboration, from 1940 to 1944, during World War II, between the Vichy regime, established in the south of France and headed by Marshal Pétain, and Nazi Germany.

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Vittorio Cottafavi's four part series on the life of Christopher Colombus

There are two sides in every war and millions of different stories to share from each battle fought. From Iwo Jima to the Siege of Malta, each episode of Battleline tells the story of extraordinary events of World War II from the point of view of both the victor and the vanquished.

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The Valiant Years was a documentary produced by ABC based on the memoirs of Winston Churchill, directed by Anthony Bushell and John Schlesinger, narrated by Gary Merrill and with extracts from the memoirs voiced by Richard Burton. It ran in the United States from 1960 to 1961, in 27 30-minute episodes and was broadcast in the UK by the BBC from February to August 1961. Its incidental music was written by Richard Rodgers, who won an Emmy for it in 1962. Scriptwriters included Victor Wolfson a dramatist and writer, Quentin Reynolds, William L. Shirer an American journalist, war correspondent and historian, and Richard Tregaskis. One of the program's London-based producers was actor Patrick Macnee, just prior to his being cast as secret agent John Steed in the long-running cult TV series The Avengers.,

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One of the most comprehensive World War 1 documentary series ever made recalls the causes conduct, and aftermath of "The War to End All Wars". Along with the social, political, and economic fabric of the times, the roles of key figures are analyzed in depth. Produced during the Golden Age of CBS TV documentaries, this series, narrated by Robert Ryan, contains some of the highest quality World War 1 footage known to exist.

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Three members of the National Committee Free Germany form a secret commando that comes to Berlin from Minsk to take up the fight against the SS in the last days before the end of the war.

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Court Martial is an ITC Entertainment and Roncom Productions co-production crime drama television series set during World War II. The series details the investigations of a Judge Advocate General's office. It aired for one 26-episode season from September 5, 1965 to April 4,1695 on London's Associated Television (ATV). Twenty episodes were shown on ABC in the United States between April 8 and September 2, 1966. The series had its genesis in a two-part episode of NBC's Kraft Suspense Theatre, "The Case Against Paul Ryker", which was later re-edited into a 1968 theatrical feature, Sergeant Ryker. The series won the1966 British Society of Film and Television TV award for Best Dramatic Series.

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For Whom the Bell Tolls is a British television series first aired by BBC in 1965, based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. It stars John Ronane, Ann Bell, Julian Curry, Glynn Edwards and Joan Miller. The film was adapted for television by Giles Cooper and was directed by Rex Tucker. It consisted of four 45-minute episodes, the first of which aired on 2 October 1965. According to the BBC archives none of the episodes of the film still exist.