Monday, 21 October 2013

A Very British Murder with Lucy Worsley

BBC4 series aired 23rd, 30th September and 7th October 2013


It was thanks to a fellow bloggist and their enthusiastic response that I began to watch A Very British Murder with Lucy Worsley. I was a tad sceptical at the beginning, for experience has taught me that historians don’t always find the transition into ‘presenter’ that easy, hence we have the likes of Jeremy Paxman fronting the BBC’s World War One centenary season. I digress – back to Worsley!
The programme picks a topic that has become a part of popular culture. As Worsley states, the ‘preoccupation with murder has a long history’ and thanks to successful literary works and television programmes, the murder mystery is a well-received genre in contemporary society. A Very British Murder taps into this fascination and through the use of primary evidence unravels the historical origin of society’s fascination with murder.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01ftzlq
However unlike a typical documentary A Very British Murder uses a number of different techniques to engage its audience. Perhaps the most notable is the incorporation of dramatized scenes to illustrate specific case studies. For example Worsley adopts the role of the servant character in the Marr murder (Ratcliffe Highway in 1811) in order to narrate the story. What I particularly liked in this segment was how the viewer was invited further into the story through the use of camera shots. The style of filming replicated the techniques used in modern crime dramas where the viewer is given a first-hand perspective; the camera becoming the characters eyes and gradually revealing to the audience details of the scene as if they were actually in that situation.
I was however, a little more uncertain of the re-enactment of The Murder in the Red Barn when Worsley donned the role of Maria Marten. I love that she was really enthusiastic and welcomed the opportunity to get that involved in the story, there is just part of me that couldn’t help feeling it lowered the tone a little. It was the only part in the whole series where I thought “oh no”. But that was just my response, I know from having spoken with others that they responded well to that fact that Worsley didn’t see herself above getting that involved and yes I commend her for that. She clearly has huge enthusiasm for what’s she’s doing and that really does come across on screen.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01ftzlq
I also enjoyed the incorporation of visual sources, material artefacts and the direct references to primary source material. As a historian watching this sort of thing I like to know where the information has come from and while the incorporation of other ‘experts’ goes some way towards this, it’s nice to see a piece of archival material once in a while. Just to pick up on the role of the experts, I would also say that this was really well done. When Worsley spoke to contributors there was equal participation. Worsley’s questions were well pitched; you know they were coming from someone with knowledge and so the conversation was able to progress naturally. You see some presenters asking questions they clearly don’t understand and receiving responses they get even less, and that wasn’t the case here and I found that really refreshing. 
I would definitely recommend this programme as one to watch if you get chance. It plays to contemporary interests, is fronted by a female historian and uses an inviting range of techniques to really engage its audience. I hope more history documentaries follow this example!
Just quickly, I also want to respond to a comment made about how Worsley didn’t maintain a continuity of dress throughout the programme. It is often the case that a presenter will wear the same clothes throughout a series, so when my fellow bloggist commented on how nice it was to see that Worsley hadn’t stuck to this ‘rule’ I was intrigued. However, when later watching the programme I found myself putting together a filming schedule in my head and enquiring about locations and their relation to one another. Now I don’t know if this was just me, but I found it very distracting – anyone else?

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