Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain

In the first of a six-part series, Andrew Marr revisits Britain at the dawn of the 20th century. He finds the country mourning the death of Queen Victoria; fighting an intractable war against the Boers in South Africa; enjoying the bawdy pleasures of music hall; and worrying about the physical and moral strength of the working class. « read less

Britain gets its first taste of total war. Marr argues that no shock has ever hit these islands with quite the force of what became known as the Great War. It transformed the lives of the British people - most dramatically the millions who fought on the frontline but also those at home who were bereaved, bombed, uprooted and bankrupted. « read less

It can't be long before Andrew Marr is snapped up to star in a BBC drama. It's not just because of the flamboyant arm gestures, well-rehearsed delivery, little asides and love of accents (he does everyone from Winston Churchill to King George V, Stanley Baldwin and Gandhi in this edition). It's his predilection for dressing up. Moments after sporting a horribly unflattering beret as a Green Shirt (precursor to Oswald Mosley's fascists) we see him in a most unbecoming swimsuit. And then it's striped pyjamas. Marr is continuing his broad sweep through our modern history with a look at Britain in the 1930s. To him it was a time when the hat you wore defined you as a person (thankfully he doesn't feel the need to pop on a succession of trilbies and bowlers to illustrate his point). It was also, of course, a time of mass unemployment, the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany, the building of mock Tudor semis in "Metroland", the creation of Butlins Holiday Camps and the discovery of Gracie Fields. Of the latter phenomenon, he concludes, "In history not everything can be explained". But he does his best to explain everything else. Radio Times reviewer - Jane Rackham « read less