Born in Norbiton, Surrey, England; educated at Christ College, Cambridge and RADA, London. Began his career in advertising as an assistant producer and turned to amateur filmmaking in the late 1950s. In the mid-60s Watkins was commissioned by BBC-TV to make two feature-length docudramas incorporating a quasi-newsreel style and nonprofessional actors. The second of these, THE WAR GAME (1967), graphically portrayed the nightmare of nuclear war and was banned from broadcast. It was subsequently released in theaters and earned a best documentary Oscar in 1966. Watkins enjoyed modest success with the commercial feature film, PRIVILEGE (1967), but has subsequently worked primarily in the documentary genre, based in various Scandanavian countries. His film RESAN / THE JOURNEY (1986) is a 14-hour epic that addresses such issues as the arms race and global hunger. His most recent films is LA COMMUNE (PARIS, 1871) (2000). Children from his first marriage are actor Gérard Watkins (b. 1965) and film editor Patrick Watkins.  Documentary (Features) 1966: THE WAR GAME - Producer 1 nomination, 1 Award