King & Conqueror - BBC: ignore the critics!

Pedantic historians don't understand the rules of drama

The new BBC historical drama series King & Conqueror has come under predictable attack from know-it-all “historians” and the usual “anti-woke” brigade who just can’t stand seeing black, Asian, or LGBT actors on screen. For once, the BBC needs to pluck up its courage and ignore these armchair critics. Most of what they’re saying is ill-informed nonsense.

This is my YouTube review - click and watch - more comments from me below…

I barely had to count to ten before reading a tsunami of rubbish from recently graduated “historians” eager to make a mark on social media by trashing the output of experienced broadcasters. The arguments (and counter-arguments from me) go something like this:

• “The dialogue is inauthentic” - presumably they’d prefer the whole thing in incomprehensible old English or Norman French? Only Mel Gibson thinks an entire movie needs to be in Latin or Aramaic to be genuine. And do we really want a return to the sword and sandals movies of the 1950s where actors spoke stilted pseudo-historical dialogue? Note that I Claudius, the BBC’s classic 1970s drama, was also slagged off by critics at the time because it had Romans using modern terminology.

• “It doesn’t exactly follow the history” - no, because it’s a drama. And drama has its own rules. Three acts, beats, sequences, story arcs, inciting incidents, denouements, etc. Historical fiction/drama is based on history - not following it slavishly. If you want that - watch a documentary. There’s a difference between a drama and a documentary.

• “Edward the Confessor wasn’t like that” - in drama, characters are more plot devices than human beings. And in order to function, certain traits of real characters in history are identified and exaggerated. That makes them more compelling on screen. And the object of the exercise isn’t to see them perform every daily function (like going to the toilet) but to zoom in on dramatic moments.

As active online as those who’ve spent too long in university and not enough time in the real world are the anti-Woke brigade. Every BBC drama is an opportunity to continue their war against all diversity on screen.

• “There were no black Saxons/Normans, etc” - I doubt most of these people know or care what a real Saxon or Norman looked like. They’d only be happy if the majority on screen were blonde and blue-eyed. It should be a cause for celebration that actors from minority groups want to take on these parts. One moment these people are moaning that non-white people don’t integrate or assimilate and then they’re moaning when they do.

• “It’s a woke series” - what does that even mean? And what do these people want to see on screen? King & Conqueror shows the complexity of early medieval politics and, in my view, could have gone further to show influences from the east - for example the Byzantine empire and Abbasid caliphate. I suspect some of these people have been completely seduced by Victorian and 20th century interpretations of medieval history and actually know very little about the reality.

So - what do you think? Tell me!