DR SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB MY VIEW

Even racy period dramas can teach us about the past, says the historian

Rightly or wrongly, raunchy historical dramas still have the power to shock. And I still smile to myself when I recall one critic describing The Tudors as ‘soft porn disguised as history’. He had a point. These dramas are often slated for literally ‘sexing up’ history. But if they encourage viewers to delve deeper into the relevant historical eras, that’s fine by me. Personally, I don’t mind if historical dramas include sex. Because despite the poet Philip Larkin’s wry assertion that ‘sexual intercourse began in nineteen sixty-three’, people in history had sex. We wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t.

We’ve probably been treated to more rollicking, big-budget period dramas in the past few years than ever before, from BBC1’s adaptation of Tolstoy’s War And Peace (2016) starring James Norton and Lily James to BBC2’s Versailles (2016) or this year’s Second World War drama The Halcyon on ITV. Yes, they all featured nudity and were raunchy in places, but they also helped bring the past back to life.

I’m sure BBC1’s Poldark with Aidan Turner serves as a gateway for people wanting to find out more about the 18th century. Many viewers get excited when Ross Poldark takes off his shirt, but the crucial thing is that the programme has a consultant – historian Hannah Greig – to make it as accurate as possible. Harlots, ITV’s recent drama about 18th-century prostitutes with Samantha Morton and Jessica Brown Findlay, was based on the work of Hallie Rubenhold, another historian friend of mine. Her book about the real ‘Covent Garden Ladies’ was the inspiration for the series.

But television is a visual medium, so producers have to make engrossing shows that are easy on the eye. Viewers want war, sex, intrigue and drama, and history has it all. And if some people tune into Poldark because Aidan Turner is nice to look at, then who cares, if they’re then encouraged to find out more about history.

Watching Poldark and similar dramas can also help us empathise with other people and realise that, ‘on this earth, once… walked other men and women, as actual as we are today’, as the late historian GM Trevelyan observed. It’s strange that we as a nation can be so po-faced about sex in historical TV dramas when it’s part and parcel of everyday life. But if these shows turn people on to history, that’s surely a good thing.