---
name: "Martin Smith"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/martin-smith"
roles: ["Director","Editor","Producer"]
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T16:27:13.771048+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Martin Smith

Director and editor.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Editor, Producer

## Fi1m on Martin Smith

> Martin Smith builds historical documentaries from archive material and eyewitness accounts, giving individual lives room within enormous subjects. His contribution to *The World at War* is absorbing and distressing, though the weight of detail asks for patience.

In *The World at War* (1973), eyewitnesses have time to tell their stories alongside the archive footage. Smith's editing helps make those accounts absorbing, without making the history comfortable to watch. We were distressed by the testimony because it made the war difficult to regard as something safely distant. That is the strongest reason to seek out his work: he gives us people to listen to when the scale of the subject might otherwise defeat our attention.

He began as an editor on Granada television programmes, including *World in Action*, in the late 1960s. His first major directing credit was *Red Star* for *The World at War*, followed by *Nemesis*. Those episodes use poetry and personal stories to convey the scale of the Eastern Front and the collapse of the Third Reich. His editorial experience serves the series well: archive and testimony are arranged so that we can absorb a considerable amount without losing interest. Producer Jeremy Isaacs shares the credit for giving individual experience so much space.

There is also a harder, investigative side to the work. Smith directed 18 films for *This Week*, including the Marlboro advertising exposé *Death in the West* (1976). That is a useful corrective to any impression of a director concerned only with accounts of the past. His subsequent historical work included directing and producing episodes of *Vietnam: A Television History* (1983). The nine-hour *The Struggles for Poland* (1987), on which he served as series producer and director, shows how much time he was prepared to give a subject.

Patience does have a cost in *The World at War*: the accumulation of detail can be demanding. Carl Davis's music adds solemnity, though we sometimes wanted less help when the testimony was already moving us. These reservations are small beside what the series achieves, and we recommend it even to those who usually avoid war documentaries. But absorbing television still requires attention, and the density of Smith's editing should not be mistaken for an invitation to hurry. Start there, and allow it more than a few sittings.

## Biography

Martin Smith is a British documentary filmmaker, director, producer and editor. He began his career as an editor on the 1973–1974 ITV series *The World at War* and went on to produce and direct two episodes: 'Red Star: The Soviet Union 1941–1943' and 'Nemesis: Germany February–May 1945'. He also produced and directed the 1976 special 'The Two Deaths of Adolf Hitler'.

Smith made numerous films for Thames Television’s current-affairs series *This Week*, including the 1976 exposé 'Death in the West'. He contributed to the PBS/ATV series *Vietnam: A Television History*, for which he received an Emmy Award as director or producer of 'Peace is at Hand'. He has received BAFTA nominations for work including 'Cold War' and 'Compañero: Victor Jara of Chile'.

*Sources: aboutmartinsmith.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The World at War* (1973), Fi1m 90, Director, Editor, Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-world-at-war.md)

## Also known for

- *Under the Rainbow* (1981), Screenplay

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/martin-smith