Kevin Rudd was Howard's legacy: doco

In a new documentary about John Howard, commentator Gerard Henderson remarks that the principal legacy of the Howard years may have been Kevin Rudd.

Series director Nick Torrens agrees that the nation Australia had become under Howard wasn't about to produce an inspirational leader like United States President Barack Obama.

"This particular time, following almost 12 years of the Howard government ... threw up not a Whitlam-esque or Keating-ite inspirational leader that American politics threw up after Bush, but threw up a very, very cautious conservative," he said.

"What we had become obviously was not going to support one of those inspirational leaders."

The three-hour series, Liberal Rule - the Politics That Changed Australia, screens on SBS television over three weeks beginning on Tuesday and follows the ABC series, The Howard Years, which screened late last year.

In the ABC series, the 11 years of conservative rule was tackled chronologically, dealing with the key events such as 9/11, the long-running industrial dispute on the nation's waterfront, refugees and elections as they arose.

The SBS series has sought to tackle this period thematically, starting with the political evolution of Howard, followed by his desire to reclaim the nation's political narrative for the conservatives and concluding with the role of international events and relationships.

For both the ABC and SBS, Mr Howard was a willing participant. For the ABC series he was interviewed for some 20 hours. For SBS he was interviewed for three full days in a week.

"He was genuinely conscientious within the parameters he set himself. He has obviously decided how he viewed his past and he is entitled to do that," Mr Torrens said.

"Within those parameters he was really helpful."

Mr Torrens said he was quite amazed by Mr Howard's extensive explanation of his own views of Australian society and people, and how he believed the narrative had been hijacked by the left.

"He really had to reclaim that narrative. I had never heard that said before anywhere, elements of it yes," he said.

"He talked about the fact that you must use, in his words, the bully pulpit of the prime minister ... to speak about what you believe in."

Mr Torrens said he believed some of Mr Howard's ambitions in what have been termed the culture wars, such as raising fervour for the flag and Australia's military history, had proved incredibly successful.

"It's up to everybody whether that is a good or bad thing," he said.

"I think we have become slightly more Americanised as a society and that is a great generalisation. And you can't blame all that on John Howard."