‘There never was a Churchill from John of Marlborough down who had either morals or principles’, so said Gladstone. From the First Duke of Marlborough – soldier of genius, restless empire-builder and cuckolder of Charles II – onwards, the Churchills have been politicians, gamblers and profligates, heroes and womanisers. ‘The Churchills’ is a richly layered portrait of an extraordinary set of men and women – grandly ambitious, regularly impecunious, impulsive, arrogant and brave.

And towering above the Churchill clan is the figure of Winston – his failures and his triumphs shown in a new and revealing context – ultimately our ‘greatest Briton’.