''Landscapes of England: An Exploration with W.G. Hoskins'' is a BBC television documentary series broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

in 1976 and 1978. Written and presented by Professor

W.G. Hoskins William George Hoskins (22 May 1908 – 11 January 1992) was an English Local history, local historian who founded the first university department of English Local History. His great contribution to the study of history was in the field of lan ...

, the series was a televisual accompaniment to his seminal text ''

The Making of the English Landscape ''The Making of the English Landscape'' is a 1954 book by the English local historian William George Hoskins. The book is also the introductory volume in a series of the same name which deals with the English Landscape county by county. It i ...

'' (1955), examining how human influence has greatly shaped the landscape of distinct regions in England. Hoskins's book ''The Making of the English Landscape'' had formed the basis of a 50-minute ''

Horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

'' episode broadcast in 1972 presented by Hoskins and produced by Peter Jones. Many of the same crew returned for ''Landscapes of England'', which focussed on individual landscapes within England. Two series of six episodes were produced.

Joan Thirsk Irene Joan Thirsk, (''née'' Watkins; 19 June 1922 – 3 October 2013) was a British Economic history, economic and Social history, social historian, specialising in the history of agriculture. She was the leading British early modern agrarian ...

characterises his presentation of the series as "standing out in all weathers, rubicund, benign, usually smiling, though he was once ankle deep in river water." Professor Hoskins also wrote two accompanying books; ''English Landscapes'' () and a series of essays ''One Man's England'' () derived from the twelve programmes. Both series were released on DVD by Simply Media in 2019 with the earlier ''Horizon'' episode as an extra.

Episode list

Series 1

Series 2

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 2272311, title=Landscapes of England 1976 British television series debuts BBC television documentaries