Why do you Re-enact?
This whole idea of recreating lost worlds lies at the heart of a "debate" that sometimes gets played out in the newspapers - should history programmes seek to re-enact? To my mind, it's a false debate. That is what our job is - to explore what has gone before, and to tell the best, most interesting stories in the most vivid way possible, without losing any accuracy. We ask our audience quite regularly what they think, and mostly they agree they like the re-enactments - as long as they are sufficiently well done, and don't get in the way of the story. The biggest dislike is unconvincing fake facial hair! (To such an extent that we were roundly criticised for the beards of the re-enactors in the Gunpowder Plot - most unfair, as not only were the beards accurate for 1606, they were real!)

There is a serious point at the heart of this "debate". Some critics claim that television is dumbing down; the tide is ebbing from some mythical golden age, where families sat hushed to consume highbrow programming of amazing quality, with a uniformly agreed agenda of self-improvement. They didn't. People have always watched TV to be "informed, educated and entertained". The best history programmes do all three at once. My wish for Timewatch is that it will continue to attract a broad audience who have some interest in history, who will give us 50 minutes of their time, and will leave feeling satisfied that they have heard a good story, and learned something new along the way.

Why that story?
The $64,000 dollar question, then, is how do we choose the stories? It's quite simple really, and this is why I REALLY love my job. I am "pitched" many hundreds of stories by publishers, academics, authors, BBC producers, independent TV producers, BBC factual commissioners, friends, family, people I meet at parties. Many of these would make great films.

And I just choose the 12 stories I like the most, (and that more importantly I believe my audience will like the most.) Some of the obvious ingredients are emotion, name recognition, personal stories, fresh revelations, a sense of quest, the occasional real scoop. And literally anyone may have the story that does the trick. At a recent BBC awayday, the Editor of EastEnders, Kate Harwood, mentioned that her grandfather had commanded the British ships in WW2's first naval encounter, the Battle of the River Plate. Her family had all his diaries and letters. Was I interested? This story formed the basis for the second programme in the current Timewatch series.

What do the next 25 years hold?
Television is changing faster now than at any point in its short history. Within a few years, maybe even months, digital advances mean we'll be downloading programmes to computers, mobile phones, a plethora of new channels. With so much choice available, being a trusted brand like Timewatch is ever more crucial. So is keeping in touch with what our audience is thinking. So we're encouraging our fans to come and find us on our website, and to sign up for a newsletter that offers them on-line previews, behind the scenes filming information, and the sources of our research. We also invite them to private screenings, and discuss what they think of selected films. Eventually I'm sure they'll be able to download our old films through the website. We may be a history show - but we have a great future.

25 years from now I won't be the Editor of Timewatch. But I'd love to think I'll still be watching it. And that you will too.

  < previous   Page 2 of 2