Stephen McGinty: It's time for BBC Scotland to make history in the Schama mould
... I indulged my passion for America by working my way through Ken Burns's magisterial The Civil War and The West. This was capped last Christmas by Alistair Cooke's 13-part history of America, first broadcast in 1972, which remains informative and fascinating. Then came Michael Wood's tight-trousered jaunts through the ancient world, In Search of the Trojan War and In Search of Alexander the Great. I must have been infected by the Macedonians' desire to take on the world, for next I embarked on Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man. This landmark 13-part BBC 2 series, made in 1973, is the Everest of documentaries.
CHRISTMAS Day brought Professor Simon Schama and his 15-part History of Britain into the living room, and this has now whetted my appetite for a similarly robust examination of our own past from BBC Scotland.
No doubt BBC Scotland would claim that this is territory already tilled. In 2001, it broadcast a ten-part series, In Search of Scotland, presented by Fiona Watson, which was three years in the making. Yet at a mere 30 minutes per episode, the makers were forced to condense 5,000 years of history into five hours, or slightly longer than the time given to tell of the story of the construction of the Scottish Parliament building.
If BBC Scotland can spend GBP 9 million on the creation of River City and almost GBP 1 million on The Gathering Place, why not invest GBP 2 or GBP 3 million on a comprehensive landmark series on the history of Scotland? At a time when education ministers are foolishly allowing the teaching of history to lapse from the school timetable, it would be a valuable resource tool, a public service and in the right hands, gripping television....
CHRISTMAS Day brought Professor Simon Schama and his 15-part History of Britain into the living room, and this has now whetted my appetite for a similarly robust examination of our own past from BBC Scotland.
No doubt BBC Scotland would claim that this is territory already tilled. In 2001, it broadcast a ten-part series, In Search of Scotland, presented by Fiona Watson, which was three years in the making. Yet at a mere 30 minutes per episode, the makers were forced to condense 5,000 years of history into five hours, or slightly longer than the time given to tell of the story of the construction of the Scottish Parliament building.
If BBC Scotland can spend GBP 9 million on the creation of River City and almost GBP 1 million on The Gathering Place, why not invest GBP 2 or GBP 3 million on a comprehensive landmark series on the history of Scotland? At a time when education ministers are foolishly allowing the teaching of history to lapse from the school timetable, it would be a valuable resource tool, a public service and in the right hands, gripping television....