TV Worth Watching is a new series highlighting my favorite television viewing. I am a big fan of UK television, so you are sure to see many UK shows and movies featured here. — Douglas
A Very British Renaissance – 1. The Renaissance Arrives
Uk reviews of this 2-part series were less than kind, but I found it fascinating. I a very familiar with the Italian Renaissance — as are most — but the state if Britain in the Renaissance is definitely a blanks spot for me. While I recognized a few names like Han Holbein, most of the people highlighted here are new to me. I have a great love for books and documentaries that focus on particular, defined pieces of history. I love going deeper into the specifics as most shows try to cover as much as possible and leave you with nothing more than a grand overview
From the BBC web site…
When most people think of the Renaissance, they don’t think of England – they think of Italy, and the talent and exuberance of Leonardo and Michelangelo creating glorious works of art.
Now, in a new series for BBC Two, Dr James Fox looks back at a forgotten British Renaissance, celebrating an age that saw Britain shed its medieval shackles and embrace a world of cutting-edge art, literature, architecture and science.
Across three episodes, James reveals the painters, sculptors, poets, thinkers and figures who, he argues, brought a bold and beautiful artistic movement to our shores between the 1500s to the start of the English civil war.
In the opening episode, James explores how the Renaissance arrived, with a handful of influential European artists bringing ideas from the continent in the early 16th century – from the inspiration of Torrigiano, who fled Florence after a fist fight with Michelangelo, to Holbein and his influence on painter John Bettes – thought to be the first English Renaissance-trained artist. Although impossible without this foreign stimulus, this renaissance quickly became quintessentially British – and it was gaining momentum.
A Very British Renaissance Episode 1
More information on A Very British Renaissance – 1. The Renaissance Arrives:
- BBC Web Site
- The Art and Architecture of the British Renaissance
- Life in Renaissance England
- 16th Century Renaissance English Literature
- Death in Paradise
- Pilgrimage with Simon Reeve
- All Creatures Great and Small
- BBC Who were the Greeks? (3 episodes)
- Poirot
- Shock and Awe – The Story of Electricity
- Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England
- Mechanical Marvels Clockwork Dreams
- Springwatch 2013
- Torchwood
- Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course
- Hamlet starring David Tennant
- Zen
- I, Claudius
- Foyle’s War
- Wreck-It Ralph
- The Story of Science from BBC (6 parts)
- Inspector Montalbano (Il Commissario Montalbano) – Italy