Peter Watkins, who has died aged 90, was a remarkably talented, visionary film-maker who made a literally explosive impact on British television in the 1960s with two BBC drama-documentaries about events of historical significance – Culloden, confronting a bloody battle of the past in an era of rifles, broadswords and cannon fire, and The War Game, imagining a future conflict in the nuclear age.
He was not only a pioneer of this blend of drama and documentary, but also of using hand-held lightweight cameras to chase the action and give a sense of immediacy and authenticity – he called it the “reconstructed newsreel”. His casting of non-professional actors added to the realism.
