Documentaries

2019

Victoria’s Palace

Hosts Julie Etchingham and Trevor McDonald uncover how this royal residence was considerably reshaped by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, showing how their advances are still used by the Royal Family today. Historians Dr. Amanda Foreman and Dr. Annie Gray and Royal Collection curators guide Julie and Trevor around the most important spaces, which are brought back to life for us to enjoy.

2018

BBC Radio 4
Stories from the Royal Collection
From the secret campaign waged by the Prince Regent (the future George IV) against the leading satirical artists of his time (Gillray, Cruickshank and Rowlandson) in order to protect his reputation, to the messages and memoranda penned by Prince Albert about the forthcoming Great Exhibition of 1851 – the Royal Collection and Archive reveal to historian Dr Amanda Foreman the captivating narratives hidden amongst the dry documents and ledgers. Such as the entry for £35 paid to a print-seller to halt his publication of a scurrilous engraving, or the blackmailed threats by another to crucify the Prince Regent in satirical verse unless he stumps up. It’s only when all the documents are laid out – literally – on the beautiful map tables of the Print Room at Windsor Castle, that the full story begins to appear. Amanda, too, sees how Prince Albert was already planning the legacy of his Great Exhibition by drawing up plans for the development of what is today the great museum quarter of London, South Kensington. Art that was sold, then re-acquired, porcelain that was acquired, sold and bought up again… the ebb and flow of art and artefacts from the unique collections of our monarchs are brought vividly to life by the expert team of curators and archivists of the Royal Collection and historian Amanda Foreman.

2015

BBC 2/Netflix
The Ascent of Woman
A groundbreaking four-part documentary series that charts the role of women in society over the course of 10,000 years.  Dr. Amanda Foreman’s landmark series is the first ever documentary to present the history of women from the dawn of civilisation to the modern day.  The Ascent of Woman argues that the history of women isn’t a straight line from Eve’s apple to Margaret Sanger’s Pill. Instead, over the past ten thousand years it has veered wildly between extremes of freedom and oppression, inclusion and exclusion.

2014

BBC Radio 4 – 23 July 2014 (Part I) & 30 July 2014 (Part II)
The Georgians: Restraint, Revolution and Reform
Amanda Foreman examines the formative years of British politics when the most important structures of British life – still valued and recognised today – were established in the shadow of revolution.

In the final part of the series examining the political impact of the Georgian era, Amanda Foreman looks at politics on the ground as she considers the structures of British life that created both control and freedom. She asks why Britain experienced political evolution, not revolution.

2011

BBC Radio 3 – 16 November 2011
What is History, Today? with Amanda Foreman
In the third essay of the series, Amanda Foreman, author of the bestselling biography Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and the American Civil War history A World on Fire: An Epic History of Two Nations Divided, explores her personal feelings about the historian’s role.

2003

Channel 4 Television
Wellington’s Women – Writer and presenter
The Duke of Wellington is famous as a great soldier and the hero of Waterloo. But not all the Iron Duke’s conquests were military. Away from the macho world of war and politics, Wellington was very much a lady’s man. In Wellington’s Women, award winning historian Amanda Foreman explores the story behind the military – the unfaithful husband, the loyal friend, the passionate lover.

2001

BBC Radio 4 – 20 January 2001
Queen Victoria
Victoria was the central figure in an empire which dominated the world, yet for years she had been a recluse. As part of the Victorian Season, historian Amanda Foreman examines Victoria’s complicated and tumultuous reign. Featuring extracts from interviews with people who knew or encountered her, and Victoria’s own voice-traced through her letters and diaries, and even a recording of her on an early gramophone cylinder.

1999

BBC Radio 4 – 13 November 1999
The Demon Drink
The temperance movement was one of the biggest and most powerful mass movements in British history. Historian Amanda Foreman explores how temperance changed our national attitudes towards drinking. She travels to Preston to uncover the remains of the once mighty British National Temperance League.

Channel 4 Television – 31 August 1999
The Secret History (Series 7): The People’s Duchess
Consultant for a documentary about the life of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

1998

BBC Television
News Night: The Abolition of the House of Lords: What the Future Holds
Presenter