FLATTENED VISIONS FROM TIMELESS MACHINES1

1. This is Pierre Sorlin's description of history in the media, presented at the IAMHIST conference in Leeds in 1999. See Tibbetts and Welsh 102.

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Notes

1. This is Pierre Sorlin's description of history in the media, presented at the IAMHIST conference in Leeds in 1999. See Tibbetts and Welsh 102.

2. According to the BBC's Timewatch editor, John Farren, the history genre has ‘gone stale’ in the last year. He cites as evidence falling audience figures, the failure of recent Hollywood ‘swords and scandals films’ and the disenchantment of the 16–35 age group with history programmes (Farren). Obtaining actual viewing figures for specific programmes is not straightforward but the trade publication Broadcast regularly provides figures for the most watched programmes in different genres.

3. Technology is fundamentally changing the nature of history in the media. Television programmes come in packages with ‘multi-platform’ considerations central to the commissioning and production process. Not only are books and educational material spun off but the websites associated with programmes connect the viewer to a range of other aspects of the programme's theme, including links to other sites and material, unused footage and discussions of one kind or another which provide the opportunity for users to broaden their knowledge and understanding. It is possible that through such technical developments the ‘gap’ between popular and academic history is being broken down.

4. See Bell; Johnson; Steedman; Scannell.

5. It is worth emphasizing that the debate about history on British television is highly impressionistic and based on generalizations about the nature of the output. We know very little about the range and variety of television programmes that have been broadcast on specific historical themes since the re-start of the television service in the late 1940s, let alone the items that have provided historical background to issues in the news and the fictional formats located in specific historical periods or dealing with specific historical personalities and incidents.

6. Genealogy and heritage television is more than simply television programmes. The BBC's ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ project provides advice at the end of the programme which turns viewers into amateur family historians with a comprehensive guide, complete with its own video for beginners, into researching one's own family history. BBC Wales has gone a step further with its ‘Capture Wales’ project, which encourages viewers to make videos on their own family history with the broadcaster's assistance.

7. The 1980 Broadcasting Act set out the remit of the new channel, including the establishment of a separate and distinct television service for Wales which would combine Welsh language programmes with the re-broadcasting of Channel 4 output.

8. In 1997 new constitutional arrangements allowed the devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament and Assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland.

9. Wales: Power and the People (2007); Land of My Mothers (2007); Bread of Heaven (2004); The Story of Welsh (2003) and Wales: The Making of a People (2002) have been shown on BBC Wales, with some also broadcast on BBC 4.

10. A.J.P Taylor, described as the ‘grand-daddy of telly dons’, first presented his Oxford University lectures to a TV audience in a three-part series, Challenge, on the Russian Revolution for ITV in 1957. This was followed by the 13-part Alan Taylor Lectures: When Europe was the Centre of the World (ITV, 1957–58) and the six-part, First World War (ITV, 1961). Taylor subsequently made programmes for both BBC and ITV throughout the 1960s, 1970s, ending in 1985 with his final lecture series, How Wars End, broadcast by Channel 4 in 1985. Other presenters who were stars of the genre in its early years include Alistair Cooke whose programme America was broadcast by the BBC in 1972; Kenneth Clark's Civilisation (BBC, 1969), Robert Kee's Ireland – A Television History (BBC, 1980) and J.M. Roberts’ Triumph of the West (BBC, 1985).

11. Dr Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man was a 13 episode series broadcast by the BBC in 1973 in which the presenter provided his personal account of the history of science and technology. It was commissioned by BBC 2 Controller, David Attenborough, as a sequel to Civilisation.

12. See Ramsden; Badsey; Hanna; Heathorn.

13. For a discussion of the development of the industry since the 1980s see, for example, Curran and Seaton; Hood; Born.

14. See, for example, Stone; Hobsbawm ‘Revival of Narrative’; Marwick; White.