There has been a rumbling in the industry for a while now that history is dead – overwhelmed by reality TV, drama, and sport. And yet. Switch on your TV or go online any day of the week and history just refuses to die. Indeed, as Mark Twain might have put it, reports of its death have been a little premature.
That’s not to say that history documentaries won’t have to change. More character-driven. Celebrity led. Certain periods and topics definitely out of fashion. The need to engage younger audiences and integrate social media. But despite all of this, history is not ready to lie in its grave.
Fabula TV director Tony McMahon comments:
“Nobody can deny that the market hasn’t changed over the last five years, especially since the Covid pandemic. And this is partly due to the corporate landscape in TV changing but also public taste. We live in a time of crisis and so history is getting sharper edges and people want to understand the present with reference to the past. The 20th century, especially post-war, is getting more popular. But there’s an enduring appetite for the mysteries of Ancient Egypt, for example, that will not go away.”
History documentaries will need to increasingly address issues that Gen-Z and Millennials feel deeply about. Colonialism. Imperialism. Restitution. The environment. And preservation of cultural sites. And there’s a rich source of material on all these topics.
