Jean-Louis Guillaud

A talk show presented by Michel Drucker

Les Grandes Batailles is a series of historical television programs by Daniel Costelle, Jean-Louis Guillaud, and Henri de Turenne, broadcast on French television in the 1960s and 1970s, depicting the major battles of World War II, as well as the Nuremberg Trials. The project for the series actually began with an official government commission for a program on the Battle of Verdun in 1966. Ten other programs about World War II followed. The writers and producers of the series were Henri de Turenne and Jean-Louis Guillaud, both journalists. They entrusted the production of the series to the young director Daniel Costelle.

In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about a new era of modernity. One of his first decisions was to break up the ORTF with the creation of three new television channels: TF1, Antenne 2 and FR3. Three new public channels but autonomous and competing. It is a race for the audience which is engaged then, and from now on the channels will make the war! This competition will give birth to a real golden age for television programs, with variety shows in the forefront. The stars of the song are going to invade the living rooms of the French for their biggest pleasure. This unedited documentary tells the story of the metamorphosis of this television of the early 1970s, between freedom of tone, scandals, political intrigues and programs that have become mythical.