A New Genre for Television? Creativity in Historical Drama Documentary

Justin Hardy , Manchester University Press

A New Genre for Television? examines the emergence, development and decline of dramatised history documentaries on British public-service television during the 2000s. Justin Hardy argues that these programmes constituted a distinct genre, rather than simply a variation of docudrama, and investigates the creative approaches through which historical research became television storytelling. 

Drawing on interviews with key figures from the BBC and Channel 4, including previously uninterviewed contributors, the book explores the relationship between individual creativity and broadcasting institutions. It traces the movement from brief dramatised sequences towards fuller historical reconstructions, considering the role of filmmakers in shaping the form. The study also looks back to television from the 1960s to the 1990s to investigate its predecessors. 

Following this development through to the genre’s decline between 2008 and 2010, Hardy connects television history with questions about future production. Alongside documenting a period of experimentation, the book considers how its approaches might inform new models for portraying national histories on screen.