television reviews

Not just another Anne Boleyn series

Nov 14, 2021

anniversaries, genealogy, law, religion, television reviews

Anne Boleyn, annulments, BBC2, bigamy, Careys, Diarmaid MacCulloch, Elizabeth II, executions, George Boleyn, Henry VIII, Jane Parker Viscountess Rochford, Leanda de Lisle, Mary Boleyn, mediaeval canon law, secret marriage, The Boleyns: A scandalous family, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Wolsey

This was shown on BBC2 during August and the subject has been covered several times in recent years, not least with our old friend Dr. Starkey. However, I am pleased I watched it for two reasons. The first is that The Boleyns: A scandalous family discussed the situation from the perspective of Thomas Boleyn seeking…
We sailed against the Spanish Armada flying the Union Jack….

Sep 13, 2021

anniversaries, battles, buildings, heraldry, television reviews

anachronisms, Armada, Big Ben, Charles Barry, films, Houses of Parliament, Pugin, Spain, Union Jack, Waterloo, William Pitt the Younger

Oh, puLEEEZE! Not English ships flying the Union Jack when fighting the Spanish Armada! The offending source of this blooper? One of the Drain the Ocean series of TV documentaries (Series 2, episode 7, entitled Secrets of the Spanish Armada) . The picture above is from the episode, but I couldn’t find one of…
London’s Greatest Bridges (with Rob Bell)

Sep 1, 2021

buildings, Science, television reviews

America, architectural history, bascules, Blitz, bridges, Channel Five, Charles Barry, church of St. Magnus, Claudius, concrete, engineering, Gothic facade, Haberdashers, Henry II, Horace Jones, houses, Isambard Brunel, John Barry, London, London Bridge, Marc Brunel, Parliament, Port of London, River Thames, Rob Bell, Roman Britain, Rotherhithe Tunnel, shops, steel, stone, Tilbury, Tower Bridge, towers, wood

The series began at London Bridge itself. From an engineering perspective, Bell explained that the wooden Claudian bridge was the first across the Thames , built on no fewer than twenty-nine artificial islands, making it very difficult to negotiate. It was replaced with a very similar stone unit by Henry II. The Haberdashers were very…
A 14th-century village in South Wales….

Aug 27, 2021

archaeology, television reviews

Alixe Bovey, Cosmeston Mediaeval Village, Gough Map, In Search of Mediaeval Britain, past maps, PBS America, St. Fagan’s, Wales, Welsh Folk Museum

The TV series In Search of Medieval Britain, presented by Dr Alixe Bovey, is being repeated at the moment. In it she follows the Gough Map, thought to be the oldest surviving detailed map of England and Wales. Last night I watched the episode concerning Wales, during which she mentioned Cosmeston Medieval Village. Now,…
Walking “Tudor” England

Aug 10, 2021

battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, television reviews, travel

“Bloody Mary”, “Tudors”, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Arthur “Tudor”, Ashdown Forest, attainder, Austin Friars, bear-baiting, Bishops of London, Bridewell Palace, brothels, Cambridge, cannon, Channel Five, Christopher Hatton, Clifford’s Tower, conspiracies, dancing, de heretico comburendo, Dutch refugees, East Midlands, Edmund Bonner, Edward of Buckingham, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, excommunication, executions, exile, fire, Framlingham Castle, Fulham Palace, Greenwich Palace, Grey-Dudley rebellion, Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes, Hampton Court, Henry Earl of Huntingdon, Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk, Henry VIII, Hever Castle, James VI/I, Jane, John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, John Foxe, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Katherine Howard, Kenilworth Castle, Kenninghall, Kett Rebellion, Leicester, London, Lord Chancellor, Lord Guildford Dudley, Margaret Clitherow, Mary Stuart, Mass, Michelham Priory, naval power, Nicholas Ridley, Northern Earls’ Rebellion, Norwich, Penshurst Place, Pilgrimage of Grace, Pontefract, Portsmouth, recusants, Ripon Cathedral, Robert Aske, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, royal barges, royal hunting estates, Rushton Triangular Lodge, severed heads, Sir Henry Dudley, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Thomas Tresham, Sir Walter Raleigh, Southwark, St. Mary’s Abbey, Stamford, Suzannah Lipscomb, The Globe, Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Stafford, tobacco, torture, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Will Kemp, William Cecil, William Shakespeare, Wyatt Rebellion, Yorkshire Museum

Suzannah Lipscomb has just completed another series on Channel Five, this time visiting the sites related to the “Tudors”. In the first episode, she concentrated on Henry VIII and the naval power he inherited from John Howard, Duke of Norfolk. The second was principally about the penultimate “Tudor”, Mary I, as well as Edward VI…
Royal History’s Biggest Fibs

Apr 20, 2021

anniversaries, battles, religion, television reviews

Act of Union, Anne, Bourbons, East India Company, Elizabeth I, executions, French Revolution, George III, George IV, Glorious Revolution, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Lenin, Marie Antoinette, Nicholas II, Phillip II, Reformation, Regency, Richard III, Russian Revolution, Stalin, Victoria, Wars of the Roses

Lucy Worsley, having covered the Wars of the Roses, the “Glorious Revolution” and Britain in India, has returned with a further series. This time, the episodes earlier this year having been about the Reformation, the Armada and Queen Anne, she covers the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, reversing the contemporaneous “spin” on the French Revolution, the…
Ant and Dec’s DNA Journey

Mar 21, 2021

archaeology, battles, buildings, genealogy, Science, television reviews

Aed Findliath, Alistair Moffat, Anthony McPartlin, Crimean War, Declan Donnelly, Dixie Carter, DNA analysis, Elizabeth Wydeville, Fermoy, First World War, Graves, High Kings of Ireland, Ireland, ITV, Jim Wilson, Kings of Connacht, Leitrim, Londonderry, Mail on Sunday, McGowans, McLauchlins, Military Medal, New York, Philadelphia, Robert Barrett, Rosslare, soldiers, Somme, Texas, Tyneside Irish regiment, Ui Briuin, United Nations, Vikings, wrestling

This programme, which has recently been repeated, began in 2017 with the duo meeting the legendary Borders historian Alistair Moffat, who just happens to be the uncle of a friend of theirs. Following DNA tests, it was revealed that McPartlin’s great-grandfather, Peter, had joined the 103rd (Tyneside Irish) Brigade and fought at the Battle of…
The Great British Dig – History in Your Garden

Mar 13, 2021

archaeology, buildings, religion, Science, television reviews

Andy Robertshaw, burials, Caroline Wilkinson, Christian convert, Domesday Book, facial reconstruction, gun emplacement, Hadrian’s Wall, Hugh Dennis, Lenton, Maidstone, Masham, Newcastle, Nottinghamshire, Priories, pubs, Sean Bean, Second World War, South Shields, Time team, Trow Point, Vikings, William I

This excellent series began with a pilot last April, with Hugh Dennis and three archaeologists looking for a Roman settlement on the site of a former inn in Maidstone’s Florence Road. It resumed in February with the small team moving to Benwell, Newcastle, to locate a Hadrian’s Wall fort, followed by a Viking burial ground…
Secrets of the Royal Palaces (C5)

Mar 7, 2021

art, battles, buildings, television reviews, The play’s the thing

Anna Whitelock, Balmoral, Buckingham Palace, Channel Five, Culloden, George II, Glencoe massacre, Jacky Klein, Jacobite rebellions, Janina Ramirez, Kate Williams, Mary II, Secrets of the Royal Palaces, Viscountess Hinchingbrooke, William III, Windsor Castle

I am rather enjoying this series, with visits to Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Balmoral and others, historians such as Kate Williams, Janina Ramirez and Anna Whitelock and art specialists like Jacky Klein as well as Viscountess Hinchingbrooke and several eminent journalists. There is a lot of useful information about English and British monarchs from the…
Stonehenge removed and rebuilt….

Mar 5, 2021

archaeology, buildings, Science, television reviews

BBC2, blue stones, Preseli Hills, Stonehenge, Wales, Waun Mawn, Wiltshire

Stonehenge is an endless source of curiosity and speculation, with theories abounding and routes/methods considered in considerable depth. Even Merlin gets a look-in, believing by some to have flown the stones from Wales to Wiltshire by means of magic. Well, that’s always a possibility, because Merlin was, perhaps still is, the greatest wizard there ever…