Historical drama and TV's reckoning with the past
BBCHistorical drama and TV's reckoning with the past Alamy Far from being a comforting vision of the past, the best period drama reclaims history for now. From the quietly subversive The Crown and Downton Abbey to the jolting, radical Small Axe, The Underground Railroad and Pose – all on BBC Culture's poll of the 100 greatest series of the 21st Century – television is correcting history's distortions in matters of race, gender, class and power. Alamy In The Underground Railroad, Cora attempts to break free from slavery in the deep South Barry Jenkins' The Underground Railroad and McQueen's Small Axe make the point that racism, whether in the antebellum American South or the UK's recent past, has been and remains deeply embedded in the fabric of society. It's notable that the series' creators are also two of today's finest filmmakers, taking full advantage of what television has to offer: the time to delve into thorny social issues from multiple angles, and the ability to reach a large global audience through drama that engages us with the personal lives and loves of characters over years. Alamy Pose is set in the world of 1980s New York drag balls, tackles the 1990s Aids crisis, and resonates with the present day McQueen and Jenkins, black artists reclaiming black history, and the gay and trans creators of Pose, about the LBGTQ+ world in the late 20th Century, are advocating for change while also representing at least some movement toward that change themselves.
History of this topic
Why are TV dramas covering such recent history?
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