C4 eyes fresh take on history

Channel 4 has banished the “comfort blanket of fusty” history programming and commissioned a raft of series that explore “history behind the headlines”, including a box set-style royal series.

History commissioning editor Rob Coldstream, who ordered Windfall Films’ forthcoming adventure series Mutiny, called for indies to focus “a fresh lens on the past to offer new insight into our times”.

He said that “talking-head documentaries about the First World War” no longer worked for the broadcaster. “I’m trying to get history out of the textbooks, out of the corridors, out of the dusty libraries and into today,” Coldstream added.

The Execution Of Gary Glitter director has ordered a slate of seven documentaries that meet this criteria. Spun Gold is making The Royal House Of Windsor, a “meaty six-part boxset” telling the story of the royal family over the past 100 years. The series includes new research and unique access to the Royal Archives, as well as interviews with extended family members.

C4 has also ordered four documentaries, a one-off feature and a strand of six Random Acts shorts marking the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

Rupert Everett will chart the changes in gay life and culture over the past 50 years in Swan Films’ 50 Shades Of Gay (w/t), while Alley Cats TV’s Coming Out (w/t) follows flamboyant pop artists who fought to win mainstream status for queer culture.

Blast Films’ Epidemic (w/t) will explore the coalition of politicians, doctors and gay men who came together to fight AIDS in the 1980s, while Testimony Films’ Not Guilty tells the stories of 15,000 British men living with criminal records for offences committed under the defunct anti-homosexuality laws.

Meanwhile a property feature one off from Spun Gold will profile important buildings in Britain’s gay history while six shorts directed by LGBTQ directors will be shown both on C4 and as part of the Tate Britain’s Queer British Art 1861-1967 exhibition.

The success of ITN Productions’ Broadcast Award-winning Interview With A Murderer, which drew an audience of 1.7 million (7.6%) and uncovered new evidence about the 1978 murder of paperboy Carl Bridgewater, has led Coldstream to commission more “historical scoops”.

True Vision North is shining a light on the murder of Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko through the 90-minute Hunting KGB Killers, and Brave New Media TV will look at an M15 spying operation on Edward VIII in Spying On The Royals.

Coldstream also wants more big-budget Mutiny-style pitches.

The 5 x 60-minute series, which launches in March, follows nine men recreating Captain William Bligh’s 1789 4,000mile voyage from Tonga to Timor.

Coldstream said: “Mutiny shows us measuring ourselves against the past – can we match up to the epic feats of our predecessors? Those men are reliving a historical experience and that creates new living history for us.”