Reality–Experiential History Documentaries:The Trench(BBC, 2002) and Britain's Modern Memory of the First World War

Reality–experiential history documentaries appeared on British television during the ‘memory boom’ of the late 1990s. In the intervening years, the marketing of history and heritage has paid off in the increased consumption of historical images in films, books, articles, the Internet, television, and increasingly sophisticated museum exhibitions. In response to the growth of heritage consumerism, and the related popularity of genealogical research, history documentaries on television departed from the established grand narrative forms by developing programmes that converted historical events into a range of idiosyncratic personal experiences by placing ordinary men and women into re-enacted but authentic historical environments. Reality–experiential programmes such as 1940s House (Channel 4, 2001) and The Ship (BBC, 2002) have proved to be so popular that it is not unreasonable to suggest that television has become the most influential hypermarket outlet for the consumption of memory.