Ken Burns’ long-awaited 10-part documentary on the Vietnam War begins Sunday on PBS.

Burns, along with co-director Lynn Novick, produced an 18-hour series that "tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film," according to "The Vietnam War" website.

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According to Burns, the series was 10 years in the making, and includes “digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe … historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.”

Burns told Rolling Stone that the idea of a film about the Vietnam War came as he and Novick were editing the series “The War” about World War II.

"I turned to Lynn while we sitting at the editing table and, completely out of the blue, said, 'We have to do Vietnam,'" Burns told Rolling Stone. Novick said, 'I asked, 'Of course, but what part?' He said, 'All of it.' It was like the last part of an unspoken conversation that had been going on a long time."

When: The series begins Sunday.

What time: The debut episode of "The Vietnam War" starts at 8 p.m. ET. The series will at 8 p.m. Sunday-Thursday this week and next, and conclude on Sept. 28.

What channel: The series airs on local PBS channels

Rating: TV-MA-LV (coarse language and violence)

Can I watch it elsewhere: The series will be streamed on the web (desktop or mobile) and PBS apps for smartphones, tablets, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV, according to PBS. You can also choose from the English Broadcast VersionEnglish Explicit Language VersionSpanish-language, and Vietnamese-language version.

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Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC