Romola Garai as Anne and Eddie Remayne as Ralph in Stephen Poliakoff’s new film Glorious 39

Near the beginning of Stephen Poliakoff’s new film, Glorious 39, a boy goes to see two old men. “What do you want to ask both of us, Michael?” says one. The boy pulls out a family album and starts turning the pages. “I am very interested in history,” he says. No British filmmaker or writer of his generation is more interested in history than Poliakoff. It has been the subject of his best work, not only his latest film but also his great television dramas Shooting the Past, Perfect Strangers and The Lost Prince. Increasingly, though, it seems that Poliakoff is not only more interested in modern British history than anyone else, but is the sole remaining mainstream dramatist engaging with the topic at all.

Poliakoff began his career alongside David Hare, Ian McEwan