Civilisations (TV series)
| Civilisations | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Documentary Art History History of Art |
| Presented by | Simon Schama Mary Beard David Olusoga |
| Opening theme | Tandis Jenhudson |
| Composer | Tandis Jenhudson |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Denys Blakeway, Michael Jackson, Mark Bell, Jonty Claypole |
| Producers | Melanie Fall, Ian MacMillan |
| Production location | Global |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | |
| Release | 1 March 2018 – present |
Civilisations is an 2018 British art history television documentary series produced by the BBC as a follow-up to the original 1969 landmark series Civilisation by Kenneth Clark. It is presented and narrated by Simon Schama, Mary Beard and David Olusoga,[1] while the main music score and theme music was composed by Tandis Jenhudson.[2]
The first trailer was released on 7 February 2018.[3]
Production
On 25 March 2014 Director-General of the BBC Tony Hall announced a commitment to a new version of Kenneth Clark's original Civilisation.[4] The new Civilisations series was officially announced by the BBC on 20 December 2015.[5]
While Clark's original Civilisation focused on the influence of western European art, Civilisations presents a global perspective on the role that art has played in shaping civilisations across the world, filming across 6 continents, and in 31 countries.
The series is a co-production with The Open University, who provided academic input into the programmes.[6]
Civilisations AR
As a companion to the series, the BBC will be releasing Civilisations AR an augmented reality app that will enable users to view and explore art and historical artefacts from around the world. It was developed internally by the BBC Research and Development team based in London, in collaboration with Nexus Studios.[7]
The app's exhibits include:
- an Egyptian mummy from the Torquay Museum
- Rodin's The Kiss from the National Museum of Wales
- the Umbrian Madonna and Child from the National Museum of Scotland
Civilisations Festival
The Civilisations Festival is a season of events organised by the BBC in partnership with museums, galleries, libraries and archives across the UK, created to coincide with Civilisations.[8] It runs from 2 to 11 March 2018 and the trailer for the festival was released on 8 February 2018.[9]
Broadcast
Preview
The series was launched at a preview event at the National Gallery in London on 6 February 2018.[10] Sir David Attenborough, who commissioned the original series with Kenneth Clark, made a special guest appearance, saying he "cannot wait to see the series". He also stated that the BBC could not simply have reproduced the approach of the original series, stating "Society has changed. We have an international society, a multi-ethnic society. You can't just do it in the way we did it."[11]
British television
Civilisations will premiere on 1 March 2018 on BBC Two and BBC Two HD.[12]
Episodes
| Episode Number | Episode Title | Presented by | Description |
| 1 | The Second Moment Of Creation | Simon Schama | |
| 2 | How Do We Look? | Mary Beard | |
| 3 | The Eye Of Faith | Mary Beard | |
| 4 | Picturing Paradise | Simon Schama | |
| 5 | The Triumph of Art | Simon Schama | |
| 6 | First Contact | David Olusoga | |
| 7 | Radiance | Simon Schama | |
| 8 | The Cult of Progress | David Olusoga | |
| 9 | The Vital Spark | Simon Schama |
Reception
The List gave the series 4 of out 5 stars, based on preview viewings of the first two episodes. It said of the series: "it's a visual feast as the cameras sweep across ruined cities and townships or focuses in for tight close-ups to emphasis the exquisite details of relics, pottery and sculpture. Even more inspiring is the breadth of knowledge, beautiful nuggets of information and insights into ancient worlds. Accessible and intelligent, Civilisations conveys a message of globalism, revelling in the variety of our species' ingenuity on an international scale. It's more theory and presenter-led than the likes of Life on Earth or Blue Planet, and proves the human race is just as fascinating as the animal kingdom."[13]
Soundtrack
Former BAFTA Breakthrough Brit Tandis Jenhudson[14] composed the original music for the series, as well as the main title theme (which features soprano Caroline Kennedy). A digital soundtrack will be released in March 2018 and his score will also form the soundtrack of the BBC Civilisations AR augmented-reality app on both iOS and Android.[2]
References
- ^ "BBC - Civilisations: Masterworks of beauty and ingenuity". BBC. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ a b "About | Tandis Jenhudson | Composer". Tandis Jenhudson | Composer. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ "First look at BBC's epic new art history series Civilisations". Radio Times. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ "BBC - Tony Hall announces greatest commitment to arts for a generation - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ "BBC - Simon Schama, Mary Beard and David Olusoga to present BBC Two series Civilisations - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ "Civilisations on OpenLearn". OpenLearn. The Open University. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
- ^ "BBC launches augmented reality app". BBC News. 2018-02-07. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ "BBC - Civilisations Festival - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ "Civilisation Festival, Media Centre Clips". BBC. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ "BBC Civilisations Press Launch". www.theculturediary.com. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ Furness, Hannah (2018-02-07). "New BBC Civilisations to ask whether Britain's culture is built on 'looting and plunder'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ "BBC - Civilisations - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ "TV review: Civilisations, BBC Two". The List. 2018-02-19. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
- ^ "Tandis Jenhudson". www.bafta.org. Retrieved 2018-02-20.