History and the Media Conference

Why is so much Television History about War?

History and the Media Conference,
Institute of Historical Research,
London, 16-18 December 2002

Ed Richardson

In the sixteenth century, the Black Death swept across Europe, killing half the population. In the 1980s, the Black Death swept across the television screens of Britain, courtesy of a BBC Timewatch special. It didn't quite feature half the population of Europe. In fact, it featured one horse, one cart, and three bodies - and it turned out that the bodies weren't Equity members, so they couldn't be used.

Despite the defiant chirpiness, despite the sweeping claims to relevance, even to trendiness ('history is the new black - history is the new rock and roll'), the enduring image of this conference was of producer after producer taking the podium to complain about cut budgets, idiot executives, and the woeful state of television today. They were followed by a string of academics, all with something to complain about - the only thing TV directors were interested in was sex; their radical new theories were cut in favour of soppy sentimentalism - I could go on all day (they did). The triumphalist tone set by the conference's organisers found little sympathy with its delegates. Most of them weren't interested in engaging with the issues - they just wanted to get something (or several somethings) off their chest.

For all that, this conference did raise some important questions. Does an obsession with the re-creation of past wars lead to a distorted view of who we are today? Does an avowedly selective approach to history create an equally skewed national identity? Is television history creating a universal narrative (with all the dangers inherent in that), or just propagating clichés? While this session was able to raise questions, however, it was rarely able to answer them - or even to develop them in an intellectually satisfying way. Matters were often settled by invoking clichés, much to the satisfaction of all concerned ('the British aren't triumphalist about war' - tell that to the tabloids).

In the end, the demands of the historian and the demands of television came across as well-nigh irreconcilable. The media representatives at the conference were supremely unconcerned with intellectual rigor or historical veracity. Historians regularly complained that their ideas had been dismissed as 'too analytical' and 'too academic'. 'You've got to hoodwink the audience,' said the director of one high-profile series. 'They aren't supposed to know whether footage is real or not. There are no rules. The only thing that matters is if it's emotionally right'.