They Shall Not Grow Old was released in 2018.
Peter Jackson directed and produced the documentary using archival footage of British soldiers in the First World War, much of it held by the Imperial War Museum. The project transformed silent, damaged black-and-white film through restoration, colourisation, sound design, and carefully edited veterans’ testimony.
The documentary premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on 16 October 2018 and was shown in selected UK cinemas at the same time. It was later broadcast by BBC Two on 11 November 2018, the centenary of the Armistice that ended the First World War. These release details can cause confusion because the film received wider screenings in the United States during December 2018 and a broader American theatrical release in 2019.
Jackson dedicated the film to his grandfather, William Jackson, who served in the First World War. The title comes from Laurence Binyon’s 1914 poem “For the Fallen,” whose words are used in the Ode of Remembrance. The documentary was Jackson’s first film as a director focused primarily on historical documentary material.