Empire (2012 TV series): Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox television |
{{Infobox television |
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| image = Empire 2012 tv documentary titlecard.jpg |
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| image = [[File:Empire 2012 tv documentary titlecard.jpg|250px|Alt=Series title in brickwork against cracked sand back]] |
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| alt = Series title in brickwork against cracked sand back |
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| genre = [[Documentary]] |
| genre = [[Documentary]] |
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| creator = |
| creator = |
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| voices = |
| voices = |
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| narrated = |
| narrated = |
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| theme_music_composer = |
| theme_music_composer = Chris Nicolaides |
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| executive_producer = Basil Comely ([[BBC]])<br>Catherine McCarthy ([[Open University]]) |
| executive_producer = Basil Comely ([[BBC]])<br>Catherine McCarthy ([[Open University]]) |
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| producer = Julian Birkett |
| producer = Julian Birkett |
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| editor = |
| editor = Andrea Carnevali |
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| location = |
| location = |
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| cinematography = Mike Garner |
| cinematography = Mike Garner |
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| camera = |
| camera = |
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| runtime = |
| runtime = 55–60 minutes |
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| company = The Open University, BBC productions CoProduction |
| company = The Open University, BBC productions CoProduction |
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| channel = [[BBC]]<!-- or network --> |
| channel = [[BBC]]<!-- or network --> |
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| first_aired = {{Start date|2012|2|27|df=y}} |
| first_aired = {{Start date|2012|2|27|df=y}} |
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| last_aired = {{End date|2012|3|26|df=y}} |
| last_aired = {{End date|2012|3|26|df=y}} |
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'''''Empire''''' is a 2012 [[BBC]] and [[Open University]] |
'''''Empire''''' is a 2012 [[Television documentary|docuseries]] co-produced and written by the [[BBC]] and [[Open University]] and presented by Jeremy Paxman. Charting the rise of the [[British Empire]] from the [[East India Company|trading companies of India]] to the rule over a quarter of the world's population and its legacy in the modern world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00p1388 |title=BBC One - Empire |publisher=[[BBC]] |accessdate=2012-03-23}}</ref> |
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==Episode one: A Taste for Power== |
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Paxman asks how a tiny island in the [[North Atlantic]] came to rule over a quarter of the world's population. He travels to [[India]], where local soldiers and local maharajahs helped a handful of British traders to take over vast areas of land. Spectacular displays of imperial power dazzled the local peoples and developed a cult of [[Queen Victoria]] as Empress, mother and virtual God. In [[Egypt]], Paxman explores Britain as a temporary peace-keeper whose visit turned into a seventy year occupation. He travels to the desert where Lawrence of Arabia is still remembered by elder tribesman that brought a touch of romance to the grim struggle of the First World War and the British triumph in Palestine that led Britain to believe it could solve the world's problems that haunts the Middle East to this day. |
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==Episode two: Making Ourselves at Home== |
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Paxman continues his story of Britain's empire by looking at how traders, conquerors and settlers spread the British way of life around the world by creating a very British home. Beginning in [[India]] where early traders wore Indian costume and took Indian wives and their descendants still look fondly on their mixed heritage which in Victorian Britain was frowned upon as inter racial mixing became taboo. In [[Singapore]] he visits a club, now open to all, where British colonials used to gather together, in [[Canada]] he finds a town of Scottish ancestry whose inhabitants proud of the traditions, have shops selling imported Scottish goods, in [[Kenya]] he meets the descendants of the first white settlers who were bitterly resented as pressure for African independence grew and he traces the story of an Indian family in [[Leicester]] whose migrations have been determined by the changing fortunes of the British empire. |
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==Episode three: Playing the Game== |
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Paxman traces the growth of a peculiarly British type of hero - adventurer, gentleman, amateur, sportsman and decent chap and the British obsession with sport. He travels to [[East Africa]] in the following Victorian explorers searching for the source of the [[Nile]]; to [[Khartoum]] in [[Sudan]] to tell the story of [[General Gordon]], and to [[Hong Kong]] where the British indulged their passion for horse racing by building a spectacular race course and to [[Jamaica]] where the greatest imperial game of all cricket became a battleground for racial equality when the West Indies formerly always had a white captain replaced by a black man. |
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==Episode four: Making a Fortune== |
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Paxman looks at how the empire began as a pirates' treasure hunt robbing Spanish ships and ports using [[privateers]] such as [[Henry Morgan]] and grew into an informal empire based on trade and developed into a global financial network. He travels to [[Jamaica]] where sugar made plantation owners rich on the mistreatment of African slaves, then to [[Calcutta]] where British traders became the new princes of India. Unfair trading helped start the independence movement led by [[Mahatma Gandhi]] who's visit to Britain and the mill town of Darwen in 1931 is remembered by two women, who were children at the time, from Lancashire. The [[First Opium War]] when British trade in opium with the Chinese in defiance of Chinese law led to war and Britain's subsequent take over of the island of [[Hong Kong]]. |
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==Episode five: Doing Good== |
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Paxman tells the story of how a desire for conquest became a mission to improve the rest of mankind, especially in Africa, and in Central Africa he travels in the footsteps of [[David Livingstone]] who though a failure as a missionary became a legend. A flood of Christian missionaries followed and founded schools one of which today has 8000 pupils. In [[South Africa]], Paxman tells the story of [[Cecil Rhodes]], a maverick with a different sort of mission, who believed in the white man's right to rule the world and took vast swathes of land for Britain, laying down the foundations for apartheid, run by small numbers of colonial officials, The [[District Officer]]. In [[Kenya]], where conflict in the form of the [[Mau Mau uprising]] between white settlers and the African population brought bloodshed, torture and eventual independence for Kenya and the break up of the empire. |
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==Media== |
==Media== |
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A book |
A book, ''Empire: What Ruling the World Did to the British'', and a region 2 DVD ''Empire'' accompany the series.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} |
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==Reception== |
==Reception== |
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The series |
The series was criticised by some for its handling of controversial material while trying to avoid offense to numerous stakeholders and audiences. Associate editor of ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[Michael White (journalist)|Michael White]], said that "the structure of the programme was ramshackle" and he found the narrative to be "episodic and superficial". He said that Paxman "was diffident charm itself", as opposed to treating "the former subjects of empire with his customary ... abrasiveness". While White also found "the photography pretty as always", he concluded that "the overall effect was curiously patronising, serving to reinforce the impression that the great man was basically on a jolly and going through the motions".<ref>{{cite news|last=White |first=Michael |authorlink=Michael White (journalist) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/feb/28/jeremey-paxman-empire-wasted-chance |title=Jeremy Paxman's Empire: a wasted chance we need to take |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=2012-02-28 |accessdate=2012-03-23}}</ref> |
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Stuart Jeffries, also for ''The Guardian'', offered similar views, concluding that "Jeremy Paxman fails to argue strongly enough".<ref>{{cite news|author=Stuart Jeffries |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2012/feb/27/tv-review-empire-david-hockney |title=TV review: Empire; David Hockney: The Art of Seeing | Television & radio |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2012-02-27 |accessdate=2012-03-23}}</ref> |
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== References == |
== References == |
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== External links == |
== External links == |
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* {{BBC programme}} |
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* {{Official website|http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00p1388}} |
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*{{IMDb title|1996620|Empire}} |
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[[Category:2010s British television series]] |
[[Category:2010s British documentary television series]] |
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[[Category:2012 British television |
[[Category:2012 British television series debuts]] |
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[[Category:2012 British television |
[[Category:2012 British television series endings]] |
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[[Category:BBC television documentaries about history]] |
[[Category:BBC television documentaries about history during the 16th and 17th centuries]] |
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[[Category:Works about the British Empire]] |
[[Category:Works about the British Empire]] |
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[[Category:BBC television documentaries about history during the 18th and 19th centuries]] |
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[[Category:BBC television documentaries about history during the 20th Century]] |
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Latest revision as of 08:39, 14 September 2024
| Empire | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Documentary |
| Written by | Jeremy Paxman |
| Directed by | John Hay Roger Parsons Robin Dashwood David Vincent |
| Presented by | Jeremy Paxman |
| Theme music composer | Chris Nicolaides |
| Composer | Chris Nicolaides |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 5 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Basil Comely (BBC) Catherine McCarthy (Open University) |
| Producer | Julian Birkett |
| Cinematography | Mike Garner |
| Editor | Andrea Carnevali |
| Running time | 55–60 minutes |
| Production companies | The Open University, BBC productions CoProduction |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC |
| Release | 27 February – 26 March 2012 |
Empire is a 2012 docuseries co-produced and written by the BBC and Open University and presented by Jeremy Paxman. Charting the rise of the British Empire from the trading companies of India to the rule over a quarter of the world's population and its legacy in the modern world.[1]
Media
[edit]A book, Empire: What Ruling the World Did to the British, and a region 2 DVD Empire accompany the series.[citation needed]
Reception
[edit]The series was criticised by some for its handling of controversial material while trying to avoid offense to numerous stakeholders and audiences. Associate editor of The Guardian, Michael White, said that "the structure of the programme was ramshackle" and he found the narrative to be "episodic and superficial". He said that Paxman "was diffident charm itself", as opposed to treating "the former subjects of empire with his customary ... abrasiveness". While White also found "the photography pretty as always", he concluded that "the overall effect was curiously patronising, serving to reinforce the impression that the great man was basically on a jolly and going through the motions".[2]
Stuart Jeffries, also for The Guardian, offered similar views, concluding that "Jeremy Paxman fails to argue strongly enough".[3]
References
[edit]- ^ "BBC One - Empire". BBC. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
- ^ White, Michael (28 February 2012). "Jeremy Paxman's Empire: a wasted chance we need to take". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
- ^ Stuart Jeffries (27 February 2012). "TV review: Empire; David Hockney: The Art of Seeing | Television & radio". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
External links
[edit]- Empire at BBC Online
- Empire at IMDb
Categories:
- 2010s British documentary television series
- 2012 British television series debuts
- 2012 British television series endings
- BBC television documentaries about history during the 16th and 17th centuries
- Works about the British Empire
- BBC television documentaries about history during the 18th and 19th centuries
- BBC television documentaries about history during the 20th Century