Lucy Worsley has brought us a typical British series...of only three episodes! Such short series are often the norm in the UK...and in this case it's a shame, as I really enjoyed her insights into some of the most exaggerated and outright distortions in British history...in essence, fibs.
Episode 1 is about the War of the Roses and the subsequent distortion of the Tudors and Plantagenets for political reasons. Episode 2 about the Glorious Revolution and how it wasn't exactly 'glorious'. And, episode 3 about the Jewel in the Crown...India and how many 'facts' about colonial India are rubbish.
So why did I enjoy these shows enough to give them a 9? Well, there are TONS of documentaries about history but most don't challenge modern assumptions...they just repeat conventional wisdom. But Worsley looks are some of these accepted facts and shows how they are NOT true and were created for propaganda. Challenging and clever, these shows are very watchable though I assume only hard cord history lovers (like me) would watch, care or understand the shows in the first place! Well worth seeing and very well made. Let's just hope they decide to expand on this three episode series!
Episode 1 is about the War of the Roses and the subsequent distortion of the Tudors and Plantagenets for political reasons. Episode 2 about the Glorious Revolution and how it wasn't exactly 'glorious'. And, episode 3 about the Jewel in the Crown...India and how many 'facts' about colonial India are rubbish.
So why did I enjoy these shows enough to give them a 9? Well, there are TONS of documentaries about history but most don't challenge modern assumptions...they just repeat conventional wisdom. But Worsley looks are some of these accepted facts and shows how they are NOT true and were created for propaganda. Challenging and clever, these shows are very watchable though I assume only hard cord history lovers (like me) would watch, care or understand the shows in the first place! Well worth seeing and very well made. Let's just hope they decide to expand on this three episode series!
