One of the baffling things about the BBC is the way they sometimes produce a documentary series on a subject that was covered in another documentary series screen only a few years before. This is certainly the case with a new series on the Crusades, presented by academic historian Thomas Asbridge.
I find it hard to see why another series is needed so soon after Terry Jones' excellent effort in 2008. You can see Jones' series on YouTube here. It's very good, with plenty of talking heads dispensing knowledge in proper BBC fashion and fairly minimal flapping about in fancy dress.
The Crusades are an important topic, of course. And I suppose it could be argued that Terry Jones, being a wacky Python and all that, didn't achieve the gravitas the BBC might have wanted. But Jones is a real historian, with proper books to his name and everything.
So maybe the BBC has suffered from corporate amnesia i.e. somebody commissioned a new series on the Crusades, having no idea one was done in 2008? This might well happen in a great lumbering bureaucracy indulging in managerial musical chairs.
Well, never mind. I'm sure it will all be jolly good and useful. Judging by an interview with Dr Asbridge on Front Row (available here, it's the first item) he's going to do a thorough job, as one might expect from someone who's written a 700 page book. That won't stop someone writing semi-educated bullshit in the Daily Mail accusing the BBC of bias, though. After all, the West was thoroughly trounced, but only after its brave knights committed numerous atrocities against Christian and Muslim alike. Oh, and Richard I didn't give a toss about England, only about the money it generated for him. Facts, showing their infuriating left-wing bias once again.
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