The Gathering Storm is a BBC–HBO co-produced television biographical film about Winston Churchill in the years just prior to World War II. The title of the film is that of the first volume of Churchill's largely autobiographical six-volume history of the war, which covered the period from 1919 to 3 September 1939, the day he became First Lord of the Admiralty. The film was directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Hugh Whitemore. Larry Ramin and Whitemore won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing. Among the film's executive producers were Ridley Scott and Tony Scott.