Lucy Worsley Investigates: The American Revolution

“Whether history presenters should ever resort to gimmickry to keep viewers interested is a point for debate, but Lucy Worsley has a reputation for bringing the past to life without dumbing it down. Her trademark when she was making her name on BBC Four was delivering cogent facts while jovially wearing period costumes, to make sure history wasn’t homework. There isn’t much of that hoopla in Lucy Worsley Investigates: The American Revolution. Worsley remains in her own wardrobe, leaving the donning of 18th-century robes and long, dusty wigs to the actors playing Benjamin Franklin and George III in the show’s brief, mercifully dialogue-free dramatic reconstructions. This two-parter isn’t an investigation, either – or at least it is only in the way any history documentary is, as Worsley goes through the normal light-factual procedures by visiting relevant locations in the UK and the US, finding in each an expert with a point to make and an artefact to illustrate it.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian

“Romantic that she is, Prof Lucy repeatedly compared the American Revolution to a break-up between lovers. She must have seen some pretty dramatic separations in her time, because this one involved battles, riots, massacres and 342 chests of tea, dumped into Boston Harbour. When the revolutionaries tore down a statue of George III and beheaded it, the metal was melted down and turned into musketballs. As divorces go, this one was acrimonious.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“In a year that will doubtless have lots of specials about the American Revolution, Worsley’s is a fresh, upbeat and economical canter through the facts, from Benjamin Franklin’s “air baths” (the reconstruction of him standing naked at his window each morning explained what that meant) to the John Wilkes liberty teapots. Episode two features contributions from the former politician Ruth Davidson and Paterson Joseph, author of The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho. We reach the point when Britain had lost the colonies and George III even considered abdicating. “In telling this story I have been struck by Britain’s stubbornness, sometimes blindness,” she says. Interesting. Surely even the most basic marriage guidance counsellor will tell you, it’s all about give and take.”
Carol Midgley, The Times