Synopsis
David Olusoga examines not whether the British Empire was a force for good or ill, but rather how it has been portrayed on British television.
- Programme: A Timewatch Guide
- Series: 3
- Episode: British Empire: Heroes and Villains
- Channel: BBC Four
- Broadcast year: 2017
- History | Britain: Migration, empires and the people: c790 to the present day | The Impact of Empire on Britain 1688-c.1730 | English expansion and its impact on the British Isles c.1688-c.1730
Licence: ERA Licence required
UK only
Staff and students of licensed education establishments only
Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
More clips from A Timewatch Guide
Anglo-Zulu War | A Timewatch Guide
Anglo-Zulu War | A Timewatch Guide
David Olusoga discusses the events of the Anglo-Zulu war and how it has been depicted in film.
Controversial argument for the benefits of the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide
Controversial argument for the benefits of the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide
David Olusoga discusses controversial argument in favour of British colonial rule in India...
Immigration from the former empire | A Timewatch Guide
Immigration from the former empire | A Timewatch Guide
David Olusoga explores the immigration of people from the empire to Britain.
Kitchener and British Empire Historiography | A Timewatch Guide
Kitchener and British Empire Historiography | A Timewatch Guide
David Olusoga explains how perceptions of empire have shifted throughout different generations.
Shifting historical opinions on the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide
Shifting historical opinions on the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide
David Olusoga explains how historical perspectives of the British Empire have shifted through time.
The partition of India | A Timewatch Guide
The partition of India | A Timewatch Guide
David Olusoga investigates how the partition of India has been represented in film and television.
More resources about Empire and colonies
First English traders in West Africa | Black and British: A Forgotten History
First English traders in West Africa | Black and British: A Forgotten History
David Olusoga investigates the first English traders in West Africa.
Jamestown colony | Empire with David Olusoga
Jamestown colony | Empire with David Olusoga
In Jamestown, David looks at evidence of the first English colonies in the Americas and their tobacco plantations.
4: Heaven's Breed | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
4: Heaven's Breed | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
In this programme we discover how a few thousand British people ruled over India, a country of more than 250 mi...
Lancashire cotton famine | Black and British: A Forgotten History
Lancashire cotton famine | Black and British: A Forgotten History
David Olusoga explains how the American civil war caused a cotton famine in Lancashire.
Shifting historical opinions on the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide
Shifting historical opinions on the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide
David Olusoga explains how historical perspectives of the British Empire have shifted through time.
Slave plantation system | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners
Slave plantation system | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners
David Olusoga discusses the slave plantation system in the Caribbean.
Transportation of Convicts to Australia | Empire with David Olusoga
Transportation of Convicts to Australia | Empire with David Olusoga
David explains how Britian sent their problem convicts abroad to the colonies for cheap labour, and many ...
01: Heart of Oak | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World
01: Heart of Oak | Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World
Dan Snow charts the role the Royal Navy played in Britain's development. How victory over the Arm...
5: Maxim Force | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
5: Maxim Force | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
The 'scramble for Africa' by competing European nations during the last years of Queen Victoria's reign is the com...
Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners
Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners
In 1834 Britain abolished slavery, a defining and celebrated moment in our national history. What has been largely forgotten is that aboliti...
Bunce Island | Black and British: A Forgotten History
Bunce Island | Black and British: A Forgotten History
David Olusoga visits Bunce Island, where the first slave fortress was built in the 17th century.
Controversial argument for the benefits of the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide
Controversial argument for the benefits of the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide
David Olusoga discusses controversial argument in favour of British colonial rule in India...
Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga
Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga
David Olusoga tells the story of the British Empire, from its origins under Elizabeth I to the establishment of colonies in America, th...
Granville Sharp | Black and British: A Forgotten History
Granville Sharp | Black and British: A Forgotten History
David Olusoga discusses Granville Sharpe and Jonathan Strong's roles in the abolition of slavery.
Immigration from the former empire | A Timewatch Guide
Immigration from the former empire | A Timewatch Guide
David Olusoga explores the immigration of people from the empire to Britain.
John Blanke | Black and British: A Forgotten History
John Blanke | Black and British: A Forgotten History
David Olusoga discusses Catherine of Aragon's black servants.
Morant Bay Rebellion | Black and British: A Forgotten History
Morant Bay Rebellion | Black and British: A Forgotten History
David Olusoga discusses the legacy of the slave trade in Jamaica in the decades after abolition.
S3E3: The Empire of Good Intentions | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
S3E3: The Empire of Good Intentions | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
How the liberal politics and free-market economics of the British Empire unravelled, leading to th...
The beginnings of the British slave trade | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners
The beginnings of the British slave trade | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners
David Olusoga investigates the beginnings of the British slave trade in Barbados.
The Father of Australia
The Father of Australia
Drama-documentary starring Clive Russell as Lachlan Macquarie, governor of the British penal colony that would eventually become Australia.
More from David Olusoga
Temperance movement | A House Through Time
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10 Guinea Street resident Owen Pow sets up a milk tavern business in response to the Temperance Movement.
1: The Making of Britain | Union with David Olusoga
1: The Making of Britain | Union with David Olusoga
David Olusoga tells the story of attempts to form a united Britain in the 17th and early 18th centuries, a period defined...
Ring Vaccination and the Eradication of Smallpox | Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer
Ring Vaccination and the Eradication of Smallpox | Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer
In the late 1960s, William Foege was running out of smallpox vaccine in Niger...
The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files
The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files
How black immigrants who made Britain their home came face to face with the government's 'hostile environment'. David Olusoga exposes...
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David Olusoga explores Māori art and the importance of the tattoo.
Kitchener and British Empire Historiography | A Timewatch Guide
Kitchener and British Empire Historiography | A Timewatch Guide
David Olusoga explains how perceptions of empire have shifted throughout different generations.
Independent slave traders in Britain | Black and British: A Forgotten History
Independent slave traders in Britain | Black and British: A Forgotten History
David Olusoga investigates the British independent slave owners.
The beginnings of the British slave trade | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners
The beginnings of the British slave trade | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners
David Olusoga investigates the beginnings of the British slave trade in Barbados.
Indian soldiers in Marseille | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
Indian soldiers in Marseille | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
David Olusoga discusses the experiences of the Indian soldiers arriving in Marseille at the begi...