Reality, Identity and Empathy: The Changing Face of Social History Television‪.‬

The last decade has witnessed a remarkable renaissance of public history in Britain. Historical programming commands a dominant position in the terrestrial television schedules; radio remains replete with 'discussions of' and 'journeys into' the past; history and genealogy magazines provide a vibrant media; non-fiction book sales continue their upward ascent; while cinema mines the imperial and military past with renewed gusto and invariably woeful results. More broadly, as in the United States, popular interest in 'living history' is flourishing. New museums in subjects from transport to urban history to popular music are component parts of every regenerating city while debates over anniversaries and commemorations fill the newspapers. The traditional heritage institutes are expanding furiously: membership of the National Trust in Britain has more than doubled in fifteen years to some 3.3 million. Country houses, galleries, and historic sites are all experiencing record visitor numbers. Arguably, this fervent historicism is excelling any previously, typically elite-led engagement with the memory of the past. Current trends far exceed, for example, the Greek revival of the late eighteenth or Gothic revival of the nineteenth century. According to Professor Richard Evans of the University of Cambridge, "Consciousness of history is all-pervasive at the start of the twenty-first century." (1)