David Olusoga

ITV's pledge to transform inclusivity

In September, when dance troupe Diversity took to the stage for prime-time TV’s most controversial four minutes of 2020, one woman was watching especially intently – Ade Rawcliffe, ITV’s freshly promoted group director of diversity and inclusion.

“I was told they were going to do the dance. I thought it was incredibly moving, a wonderful creative expression,” she says of the group’s routine inspired by some of the year’s seminal events, not least the global Black Lives Matter protests.

A House Through Time to return for a fourth series

Historian and presenter David Olusoga will return to explore the lives of residents within a single house and uncover the untold stories of the previous occupants through detective work, contemporary documents and genealogical records.

The four-part series will see Olusoga head to Leeds for series four, a city filled with historical ties to the Civil War and technological advancements.

Mary Beard: The scholar who loves sharing stories

Mary Beard’s career began with a piece of cake. On a trip to the British Museum with her mother, a curator noticed her struggling to see one of the exhibits, a 3,000-year-old piece of carbonised cake from Ancient Egypt.

“He got his keys out, he opened the case, he got the bit of cake out and he showed it to me.” It was a “light-bulb moment” for the then five-year-old, and a lesson in the joy of sharing. “People will see you wanting to know something and they’ll get their keys and unlock the case.”

What does the future hold for history programming?

“Genres go through cycles and I feel a lack of confidence about the genre at the moment across British broadcasting,” argued the BBC’s history commissioner Tom McDonald.

The exec, who also commissions specialist factual and natural history shows for the BBC, praised the efforts of other broadcasters – “When Channel 4 do history they do it very well and differently to us; Channel 5 do some really fantastic history” – but he added that “the ecosystem only works if everyone is doing it.

“I don’t worry about finding the next generation of on-screen historians,” he continued.

The Great History Debate

How times have changed.

Now presenters travel across the globe to bring back stories, sometimes reflecting the dress and even the food of the era. And the long running classic documentaries with archive and voiceover, have largely given way to a rich explosion of formats from lavish reconstructions and living history to compelling personal journeys.

BBC Two to explore black history of Britain

David Olusoga

A Black History of Britain will look at the long relationship between the British Isles, Africa, North America and the Caribbean.

The series will use new genetic and genealogical research alongside original records and interviews to build a new national narrative.

“This series will unveil a new type of black British history, because to me black history is everyone’s history,” said Olusoga. “It's the long, often tragic and always surprising story of Britain’s relationship with Africa and her peoples.”

Major new history series Civilisations announced

Simon Schama, Mary Beard, David Olusoga will present major new history series Civilisations on BBC Two and PSB

Art historian Simon Schama will lead Civilisations, presenting six episodes of the ten part BBC Two series, while classicist Mary Beard will present two programmes putting the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome into a global context, looking at early material from Iran, China and Mexico. RTS Programme Award nominee David Olusoga will present two episodes examining the relationships between Empire, military history and global cultures.