History of Britain | BAFTAs | Nyree Dawn Porter | Coupling | DVD
Review: A History of Britain (+ Jesus the Complete Story and Jesus Christ
Superstar)
Having missed "Simon Schama's A History of Britain" on it's
initial stateside airing I was pleased to get a second chance recently thanks to The
History Channel's Easter marathon of the series . The episodes aired so far are
only the first wave of three, the second group is about to premiere in Britain so it's
likely we'll be seeing them soon here as well.
Schama, whose previous work includes the books "Rembrandt's Eyes"
and "Citizens : A Chronicle of the French Revolution" has
created a very personal view of England's history, his view, and while some have
criticized his anglo-centricty (the current issue of BBC History magazine
has an interestesting article discussing this) there is no denying that Schama has done an
extraordinary job presenting such a complex and far reaching subject in easy to
understand, TV friendly bites.Schama himself seems like a Monty Python
creation, with his constantly bobbing head and vocal idiosycracies he's a comedy presenter
without the jokes. A few jokes might have helped the series though, the best history
presenters ( James Burke Ken Burns) know that you have to lighten things
up a bit every once in awhile. Schama plays things pretty dry, though thankfully he's not
a bit stuffy.The presentation is occasionally slow going though, the accompanying
re-enactments often amateurishly done and, thus, distracting from the grand pageant of
history being presented.
The first series brought us up into the beginning of the 17th century. Series two picks up where it broke off and presents some of the most interesting, to Americans at any rate, periods of British history including the War for Independance.
The Easter weekend also found a couple of other British productions making the rounds. "Jesus
the Complete Story", an American version of the BBC's "Son of
God" was disappointing both in it's presentation and some of it's
scholarship but there's no denying that some of the computer based reconstructions were
very cool. PBS stations throughout the country also aired a recent production of "Jesus
Christ Superstar" that is of note to telly fans for the participation of Rik
Mayall (The Young Ones, New Statesman) as Herod.
Mayall's sneering showbiz Herod was a suitably nasty take on the character but also
exposed Rik's rather limited vocal range.
News : The BAFTAs
This years nominations for the TV BAFTAs have been announced and while there are a number
of series and performers familiar to American audiences there's still a great deal of,
apparently, terrific programming that we haven't yet seen. Here are the nominees in the
Latest Articles