The.Life.and.Times.of.Lord.Mountbatten.01of12
Like most people it would be difficult to give Mountbatten a solid thumbs up or down. He had some good things (for himself) and a lot of bad things (for others). I've yet to find credible testimony corroborating accusations of child abuse, though I know credible people who are sure he did.
In the late 60's Mountbatten wished to leave a TV legacy of his life which by any measure was quite extraordinary with or without the fuck ups, like his ineptitude over the Dieppe Landing that cost 1380 mainly Canadian lives with a further 2000 captured from a force of 5000. In those days a toff could just say 'we learned valuable lessons for the future' and nobody questioned it but now we know he made a huge mistake when pressing forward with the landing despite the Germans being alerted.
Mountbatten never thought he did anything wrong and you can see from this TV series that he's a completely solipsistic douchebag, though he does have exquisite manners.
That doesn't mean he didn't have what it takes for other tasks in his life. He was promoted for his failures, and eventually seemed to emerge as a born organizer but he was never very good in battle. He had that ability to tell the chaps he was in charge during an age where leadership was ordained rather than earned.
By the time this 12 part television puff piece had been produced, the bright young things at Thames Television could see he was a pompous fool with many chapters of shame to his history. They pummel him with damning praise through polite questions that you can see over here.
It's worth it to see how the most high are lost to hubris, and fail to see the times they are a changing.
