''Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain'' is a 2007

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

documentary television series presented by

Andrew Marr Andrew William Stevenson Marr (born 31 July 1959) is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and presenter. Beginning his career as a political commentator at ''The Scotsman,'' he subsequently edited ''The Independent'' newspaper from 1996 to ...

that covers the period of British history from the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

onwards. The series was highly praised and resulted in a follow-up series covering the period 1900 to 1945, '' Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain''. A book released by Marr accompanying the series and bearing the same name also details this period of history.

Episodes

Reception

Reviews

Fellow historian

Tristram Hunt Tristram Julian William Hunt, (born 31 May 1974) is a British historian, broadcast journalist and former politician who has been Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum since 2017. He served as the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Sto ...

, writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', complimented Marr for his confrontational, argumentative, personalised history, stating that television history, done well, should be more of an ice-bath than a comforting, warm soak.

Gareth McLean Gareth McLean (born c.1975) is a Scottish journalist and screenwriter who has written for ''The Guardian'' newspaper and on soap operas for the ''Radio Times'' magazine. McLean graduated with an MA (Hons) in English from the University of Aberde ...

congratulated Marr for analysing the times in which he immerses himself, effortlessly communicating his enthusiasm, and hinting at fundamental truths of the human condition, which he stated was the future of factual programming. He was also impressed that Marr maintained his penetrating scrutiny and level of insight throughout the series.

Lucy Mangan Lucy Mangan (born 1974) is a British journalist and author. She is a columnist, features writer and TV critic for ''The Guardian'' and an opinion writer for '' i'' news. Early life and education Mangan was born in 1974 and grew up in Catford, ...

noted that the show shone a light of understanding into hitherto dark and musty corners of ignorance, but criticised the final episode for concentrating too much on

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

's ''People's Princess'' speech after Princess Diana's death.

Complaints

In 2009, Marr's publisher,

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd in the United Kingdom and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC in the United States) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be on ...

, was successfully sued for libel by activist

Erin Pizzey Erin Patria Margaret Pizzey (; born 19 February 1939) is a British men's rights activist and novelist known for her advocacy on behalf of both men's and women's rights and for her work against domestic violence. She is recognized for founding ...

after his book ''A History of Modern Britain'' claimed she had once been part of the militant group

Angry Brigade The Angry Brigade was a British group responsible for a series of armed actions against the establishment in England between 1970 and 1972. Using small bombs, they targeted banks, embassies, a BBC Outside Broadcast vehicle, and the homes of Con ...

that staged bomb attacks in the 1970s. Pizzey became an opponent of the group and threatened to report their activities to the police when they discussed their intention of bombing

Biba Biba was a London fashion store of the 1960s and 1970s. Biba was started and run by the Polish-born Barbara Hulanicki and her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon. After the original company closed in 1975, Biba was relaunched several times, independentl ...

, a lively fashion store. The publisher also recalled and destroyed the offending version of the book, and republished it with the error removed. A viewer complaint that Marr's comment on the

community charge The Community Charge, colloquially known as the Poll Tax, was a system of local taxation introduced by Margaret Thatcher's government whereby each taxpayer was taxed the same fixed sum (a "poll tax" or " head tax"), with the precise amount bei ...

("Unlike the old rates, it would be payable by everyone, not just homeowners") gave the inaccurate impression that householders who were tenants had not been liable for domestic rates. The BBC Editorial Complaints Unit upheld the complaint and promised the error would be corrected before any re-broadcast.

Awards

Book adaptation

''A History of Modern Britain'' is a book written by Marr that coincided with his television documentary series of the same name. It was first published by

in 2007.

References

External links

* * *{{cite book , last = Marr , first = Andrew , title = A History of Modern Britain , publisher = Macmillan , date = 17 May 2007 , isbn = 978-1-4050-0538-8 , url = http://www.panmacmillan.com/titles/displayPage.asp?PageTitle=Individual%20Title&BookID=370502 , access-date = 14 June 2008 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090625162931/http://www.panmacmillan.com/titles/displayPage.asp?PageTitle=Individual%20Title&bookID=370502 , archive-date = 25 June 2009 , url-status = dead 2007 British television series debuts 2000s British documentary television series Documentary television series about economics Political history of the United Kingdom 2007 British television series endings Television series about the history of the United Kingdom Contemporary British history BBC television documentaries about history during the 20th Century BBC television documentaries about history during the 21st Century