HISTORIAN

orlando Figes was mortified by the BBC’s drama-documentary russia 1917: Countdown to revolution. ‘i was in it, but i wish i hadn’t been,’ says the Birkbeck College professor. ‘a crass, simplistic, cliche-ridden rendering of october 1917.’ Will contributors Martin amis and simon sebag Montefiore similarly disown the Beeb’s feeble effort?