How We Built Britain (BBC) [DVD]

Once again David Dimbleby takes to the road to drive his Land Rover through Britain and reveal some of the best places of interest it has to offer. Moving on from his previous series, A Picture of Britain, this time he invites us to explore the built environment.

In six glorious episodes we are conducted through the purposeful castle and cathedral building era of the post Norman Conquest, visiting the homes and public buildings of rich and poor alike throughout successive ages. We examine British architecture and its relationship to the people who lived at the time the buildings were constructed. This is not merely an opportunity to admire great buildings but to visit asylums, music halls and even sewers!

This series is a very high quality production which I found thoroughly compelling to watch. The photography is absolutely first class and David Dimbleby's commentary is conducted with humour and charm. This is the kind of production which leads me to believe television still has something to offer.

In my opinion, as a professional TV producer and director and an avid film buff from 'down under', I can't fault this amazing 6-part series in any way. In a word it's FANTASTIC!

David Dimbleby in his watermelon pink shirt does a sterling job (as usual) with his friendly and informative on-camera-location presentations. The production values are first class with some of the most beautiful camerawork I've ever seen in any English or International TV documentary. Congratulations BBC, the aerial shots are mind-blowing. The music score is excellent too, and one would believe that a mammoth budget was spent on its composition, orchestration, and recording.

The complete series is presented in widescreen 1.85:1 (anamorphic) and is one of the best transfers I have seen in a long, long time, with sharp, clean images and glorious colour. I can heartily recommend this series to anyone who loves Britain and would relish a trip through Britain's past to savour its heritage buildings, its beautiful countryside, and its famous towns and cities. Enjoy!

Written and presented by David Dimbleby, this is a sister series to his "A Picture of Britain" with many of the same production team on-board. The concept is broadly the same too, in that the different episodes focus on a different part of the country, but this time there is a distinct chronological element as well. For example, the first episode focuses on East Anglia but also deals with its medieval architectural exuberance

So the second episode looks at the sixteenth-century transformations in architecture that took place in the heart of England, from Wiltshire up to Cheshire; the third episode is the odd one out since it is wholly concerned with Scotland and not with any particular period; the fourth reviews eighteenth-century classicism in a westcountry context; the fifth is in the north looking at Victorian buildings; whilst the sixth and final view is of twentieth-century building in the south of England (including London). This brings us right up-to-date with the Jubilee Line extension.

This is not a programme about the technical aspects of architecture - alas - but about the context in which buildings arose. As Dimbleby relates in the short fifteen-minute interview that serves as an `extra', those in power expressed it by the buildings they built. In the Middle Ages it was the church; in the present-day it is the multinational corporation. He often strays from his path too, so that his is more often than not a social rather than an art-historical essay. Not that what he has to say is without insight or interest, for example that, "The Victorians believed that for every new problem, there was a building to solve it"; or, with regard to modernism, "We may not have liked what we saw, but we were prepared to take risks." And he is not without some academic background in the subject, pointing out in the interview that he once did a course in Gothic architecture at the Sorbonne.

The series is awash with the almost continuous and marvellous soundtrack provided by composer Andrew Blaney. There are also the usual breathtaking aerial shots and atmospheric photography. One can argue that this is chocolate-box Britain: it is, but sometimes I like to scoff a whole boxful. Dimbleby is his usual engaging self. He is not scared to show his fears: he is clearly uncomfortable with the Blackpool rides and felt more at home with the tea-dancing. Dressed in pink shirt with pink and blue socks, and driving again his Land Rover about the British countryside, this does, however, bode badly for his green credentials; and his talking to the camera whilst driving is a bad habit that might lead him into trouble one day.

There is very little on detail. The brush with which Dimbleby paints his canvas is very broad indeed. For instance, Robert Adam is just a name mentioned in passing. There is much jumping too: in the second episode we switch speedily from the knot garden in Cheshire's Little Moreton Hall to the dry stone walls of the Cotswolds. And in a sense, the title is a misnomer, for this programme is not about HOW we built Britain, but rather WHY.