‘Plunder’ of Empire tackled in follow-up to BBC landmark
HALF a century ago, Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation took BBC viewers on a tour de force of Western culture, setting a standard for arts broadcasting and educating a generation along the way.
This year, Civilisations, the 21st century version of the show, is to look askance at the history of British civilisation, questioning whether it is built on “looting and plunder” and who, really, are the barbarians.
One episode, presented by Prof Mary Beard, is to tackle explicitly the behaviour of the collectors of the British Empire, the “imperialists, archeologists and fanatics” who stocked Britain’s museums and private collections with treasure from around the world.
According to the BBC, it will ask: “How far is British civilisation built on looting and plunder, or admiration and openness?”
Prof Beard, who will present two of the nine Civilisations episodes as well as the extra show Civilisations on your Doorstep, said she was particularly interested to focus on reading the idea of civilisation “against the grain”, looking “from the other side of the dividing line” to see history’s losers as well as winners.
Simon Schama, who presents five of the nine shows, said of Clark’s legacy: “What would possibly be added by a new series?... Of course the answer is the rest of the world.” He added: “It’s taken three years of thinking, writing, filming and editing, every shoot, every encounter with great art, a daunting challenge and an immense satisfaction.”
Two other episodes will be presented by David Olusoga, the historian and broadcaster whose shows will tackle themes of “contact, trade, interaction, empire and race”. The new version will be accompanied by the Civilisations Festival, where the BBC will partner more than 250 museums, galleries, libraries and archives.
At a preview last night, Sir David Attenborough, who commissioned the original series, praised the BBC on the updated version, saying he “cannot wait to see it”. It could not, he added, have simply reproduced the Clark approach, telling an industry audience: “Society has changed. We have an international society, a multi-ethnic society. You can’t just do it in the way we did it.”