Impossible Factual digs up PBS US history order

Queen Victoria: Secret Marriage, Secret Child indie Impossible Factual has scored a PBS documentary commission exploring the infamous US-British conflict The Battle of Camden, Broadcast can reveal. 

Forming part of the US public broadcaster’s part-detective, part-true-life drama specialist factual strand Secrets of the Dead, Battle of Camden (w/t) will turn its gaze to the conflict in which the British forces of Lord Cornwallis decimated Horatio Gates’ numerically superior American army, one of the American War of Independence’s bloodiest skirmishes. 

The 1 x 60-minute battlefield archaeology film, made as part of the commemorations for the US’s 250th anniversary this year, will tell the story of the men who fought on both sides of the 1780 battle and features exclusive access to archaeology performed by American Veterans Archaeological Recovery (AVAR) in conjunction with Historic Camden Foundation and South Carolina Battlefield Trust.  

The team of American and British military veterans, now retrained as professional archaeologists, will dig on the site of the battle, and at the site of the Colonial town of Camden, South Carolina, looking for evidence of the lives and deaths of their 18th century counterparts. 

Impossible Factual has secured exclusive access to DNA analysis of the remains of the bodies of 14 fallen soldiers of the battle, unearthed in 2022 and reburied with full military honours in 2023. Genealogy work performed for Historic Camden by Ancestry will reveal the identities of some of the men, in another exclusive for the filmmakers. 

Battle of Camden is produced for PBS networks WNET and SCETV (South Carolina Educational Television). Broadcast understands UK broadcast rights for the doc are still available. 

It is produced and directed by Impossible Factual’s head of documentary Adam Luria, with managing director Jonathan Drake and creative director Steve Maher exec producing for the indie alongside WNET’s Stephanie Carter and SCETV’s Don Godish and Hannah Merchant. 

Luria said: “We are extremely excited to be making this film for Secrets of the Dead. It’s an incredible story that brings together brand-new archaeology, DNA analysis and genealogical research to reveal the lives and deaths of soldiers who lost their lives on both sides of the war for American Independence.  

“These men were buried in unmarked graves where they fell on the battlefield, so being able to restore their identities almost 250 years later is a particularly special experience.” 

Carter added that the Secrets of the Dead doc marks an “important chapter in our nation’s history” as it celebrates its 250th anniversary.  

Impossible Factual is behind recent history docs featuring exclusive evidence and material including Rob Rinder and Fern Riddell-fronted Channel 4 film Queen Victoria: Secret Marriage, Secret Child? and Nat Geo/Paramount+ WWII series Liberation: D-Day to Berlin.