Favourite Historical TV Shows and Movies

[Gramm838]

Ah yes, I Clavdivs, as my Dad used to call it (that's how it was spelled on the opening credits, I think)

 

[Aquilonian]

... in weight lifting , for example, the athletes are very bulky and flabby... And also stronger. Weightlifting is often confused with body building which is all about aesthetics (although they are, due to their sport far stronger than the norm)

Take a look at this, you might be surprised (they're Olympians so one can say they are pretty much the top if their game)

Can you guess the sport by the shape of the Olympian's body? | Mail Online

Very interesting set of pics. Two points spring to mind.

Firstly, that the human form appears much more variable than many other animals, despite that we're all the same species and can interbreed.

Secondly, that these athletes are highly specialised, and in many cases probably not well-adapted to more normal productive activities, and in Darwinian terms not necessary "fit".

 

[thaddeus6th]

Aquilonian, it's worth mentioning that extreme variance of dogs. All domestic dogs are a single species but their degree of differentiation is enormous.

Also, humans don't have as much of a succeed or die lifestyle as most animals, so we have the opportunity to become superfit or very fat, or starve ourselves to death for cultural reasons, whereas every other animal (just about) is simply trying to survive.

 

[paranoid marvin]

The Caesars (ITV in B&W)
I Claudius
Elizabeth R
Henry VIII (BBC)
The Shadow of the Tower
The Sharpe series
By The Sword Divided
Cadfael
Secret Army
Colditz (tv series)
Enemy At The Door
Das Boot
Culloden

Also good historical films

Amadeus
Waterloo
Excalibur
Braveheart


Not all historically accurate, but I enjoy them all.

 

[Gramm838]

I would not include the Sharpe Series on TV - Scooby Doo trees!

 

[JoanDrake]

I liked Cassanovo, but mainly to ogle David Tennant.

I loved Robin of Sherwood ( the Praed Robin) when I was a kid. Might have been mainly to ogle Michael Praed, though. A theme is emerging...

I really didn't find Michael Praed all that. However, the show was the strangest mixture of Celtic Fantasy and fairly accurate Medieval History I'd ever seen and yes, the music was great. It really founded its own genre


Another strange combo I've seen just recently is the anime Durarara, which combines Irish mythlogy with Japanese cyberpunk and is an engaging romance to boot.

 

[SirSamuelVimes]

I really enjoyed Gettysburg and Gods and Generals. I felt they were both refreshingly historically accurate compared to most historical movies.

 

[Boneman]

Sharpe. Scooby-doo trees?

 

[paranoid marvin]

I really didn't find Michael Praed all that. However, the show was the strangest mixture of Celtic Fantasy and fairly accurate Medieval History I'd ever seen and yes, the music was great. It really founded its own genre


Another strange combo I've seen just recently is the anime Durarara, which combines Irish mythlogy with Japanese cyberpunk and is an engaging romance to boot.

What was even better about ROS was the relationship between Gisburne and Nottingham - hilarious. Some great cameos in there as well.

 

[Gramm838]

Sharpe. Scooby-doo trees?

Next time you watch the TV series - if you do - watch the extras in the background...they go round and round throughout the shot, just like the trees in Scooby Doo

 

[chongjasmine]

Mine is three kingdoms, a series about the three kingdoms period in China.

 

[farntfar]

ClauClau was good, largely due to an excellent cast.

What about A Man for all seasons with Paul Scofield as Thomas More.

 

[Foxbat]

Fall Of Eagles is definitely my favourite historical TV series.

 

[Juliana]

I don't know if it's strictly historical or just 'set in the past', but I adore Dangerous Liaisons... (The '88 movie with John Malkovich)

 

[Michael Colton]

Considering how much I enjoy history and fiction set in other periods, I have never found much television or film of that sort that I enjoyed. I enjoyed The Tudors for its entertainment value, obviously not for its handling of history (which was terrible). Other than that, I would say the film Capote did a masterful job - but I would not call it 'historical,' just set a while ago.

 

[Tirellan]

I'm a big fan of the series of TV recreations of Life on a farm in different periods. Life on a Monastery Farm was, I think, the most recent. Meticuously researched.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I watched I, Claudius and By The Sword Divided, very eager each week for the next episode. Also (which no one has mentioned) The First Churchills.

For The Lion in Winter, I much preferred the movie to the television version. OK, the acting was perhaps a little over the top, but what can you expect of Peter O' Toole?

I'm not sure whether this one counts because the main character isn't historical, but Charles II is a major character so I'll mention it:. Restoration is one of my favorite movies.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Mix of Fact & Fiction
Cadfael
Civilisation (Kenneth Clarke) I can't imagine the BBC let anyone have these opinions today.
A Man for all Seasons (Bolt)
Most of the Dramatisations of Jane Austin
Folye's War (very accurately done)
Some of the Archaeology stuff, I forget what the TV series was called.
I'm sure there was other TV Series & Films. I know I've seen ones on Troy, Elisabeth I of England (the current one being I of Scotland), Shakespeare etc. We have DVDs of them somewhere.

I did watch "I Claudius", it's not really much more a Historical thing than "A Man for all Seasons" or Shakespeare, It's a drama about nasty people.

Very little on the Hitler History Channel (we can't envisage ever going back to Pay TV, which was originally for Animal Planet, Discovery, History etc)

 

[Anne Spackman]

I enjoyed Rome (what happened the second series?) but went off The Tudors after a while. And of course Blackadder is a classic.

The only film that stood out in my mind was Master and Commander. Apart from being a cracking action film, the sense of time and place was very well done.

Rome was a good mini-series. I also liked some of the Sharpe films with Sean Bean.

 

[aThenian]

The More Serious Stuff

The Gathering Storm, a biopic about Churchill - superb.
I also thought the Spielberg film Lincoln was terrific.

Wolf Hall - the BBC dramatisation of the Hilary Mantel novels. They are quiet and dark - arguably a bit dull, depends what you think of Mantel really.

Comedy/Action

A Knight's Tale - I love this, very funny movie about jousting, and includes Chaucer as a character. It's deliberately anachronistic - uses Queen music and Mexican waves for example - but in a clever way, making some good points about Medieval period.
The Musketeers - current BBC series. After a sticky start, it's quite clever on some of the politics/history and the sets look amazing. A lot of fun.

A Question
I once saw TV film/miniseries - not sure - about a friendship/emnity between two officers in the Austro-Hungarian Empire's army - set nineteenth of early twentieth century - think they were in love with the same women, one of them ended up in prison. One of them Hungarian background. Does it ring any bells? It's really bugging me!