Big-budget docudramas blending fact and fiction are in vogue, but is there still room, budgets and audience demand for the classic history documentary?

Alan Griffiths

The history genre has long been a banker for TV channels worldwide, mainly in domestic markets. UK audiences, for example, have seen plenty of docs about Henry VIII and the Blitz using talking heads, archive footage and re-enactments.

In the past year, however, newly commissioned history programming has started to offer audiences something different: fact-based docudramas. Series like Netflix’s The Lost Pirate Kingdom, which debuted in March, use high-end CGI combined with drama and a small amount of historical expertise to cinematically depict life in the days before cameras.

The result is a far cry from traditional history documentaries, but what’s behind this blending of docs and dramas?

Alan Griffiths, founder and CEO of UK indie World Media Rights (WMR), which made The Lost Pirate Kingdom, feels the move to a “new genre” is necessary to appeal to today’s viewers. “One of the problems with drama is that it takes egregious leaps in dramatic licence – it makes things up. The general demographic that we’re aiming at – 15- to 30-year-olds – doesn’t like that because it has a big aversion to fake news. They want everything to be authentic,” Griffiths says.

“We decided to take a risk. We said to Netflix, ‘Let’s make something that’s 90% drama but has interviews to prove that nothing is made up.’ We also took it more upmarket in terms of effects. Always assume your audience is smarter and more curious than you think.”

Netflix’s The Lost Pirate Kingdom uses CGI and a cinematic approach

Aside from youth targeting and overall quality, WMR’s move into docudramas is part of a wider company strategy that goes back to its inception. Griffiths set up the firm in 2007 predicting that, eventually, all TV would be shown online. As the TV industry becomes increasingly international, he says series like The Lost Pirate Kingdom are better able to travel than their forerunners.

“In 2007, there was no global market for factual. But Netflix is available all over the world and you have to make content that appeals to people everywhere. Until now, factual series have all been very culturally specific. Something like Andrew Marr’s History of Modern Britain is great for a UK audience, but on the world stage it’s parochial.”

Another key feature of The Lost Pirate Kingdom is its narrative structure. A six-parter, it looks to hook audiences and becomea binge-worthy series. According to Ralf Rückauer, VP of unscripted at Germany’s ZDF Enterprises, which coproduced Pirate Kingdom with WMR, factual series with dramatic appeal are more likely to be picked up by streaming services.

“Shows that mix genres are a better fit for online platforms, as they’re not thinking about specific themes for specific slots. People aren’t interested in a lean-back experience, they know what they want to watch and they watch it,” Rückauer says.

Ralf Rückauer

“With linear channels, something that’s part documentary, part drama is going to confuse their scheduling and at least some of their viewers will be disappointed. Streaming audiences aren’t so interested, they just see something on pirates and decide to watch it.”

As a historical show’s ability to travel becomes more important, streaming platforms are the buyers producers need to impress. Over the past few years, and especially in 2020, audiences have flocked to SVoD services that offer a variety of content with wide appeal. In some cases, producers have tweaked the make-up of their shows with this international potential in mind.

In March, ZDF Enterprises acquired the German docuseries One Day In… from local prodco Story House. The series is a departure from Story House’s previous output, which is known for more traditional techniques like reconstructions and presenter-led storytelling in shows like History of Weapons.

One Day In… is a dramatic series that takes a snapshot of a certain moment in time through the eyes of a historically researched protagonist. The lead characters range from a German medieval knight to someone living in the ruins of Dresden in 1946. The series has also added universal stories to the mix, such as someone living in pre-revolution Paris and German immigrants arriving in New York.

One Day In… exec producer Sigrun Laste says that as well as helping the show’s international appeal, the globalisation and dramatisation of factual history content is helping producers change how people see historical events.

“We always look for appealing moments in time because the core idea of the programme is to stop telling history from above, from the perspective of important people or kings,” she says. “We want to ask, ‘What was life like for ordinary people?’ It’s interesting to discover that there are always parallels and universal topics that repeat themselves. The episode about New York clearly has a more international appeal, but it’s also got something for our domestic audiences as Germans were among the largest group of immigrants there.”

Sigrun Laste

The move to dramatic storytelling in history programming is also part of a drive to bring a wider audience to the genre. Laste says that people who never watched history shows before are being drawn in by the narrative and visuals.

“The drama element is fundamental to these docudramas. It brings the moment in history to life and it also draws in new viewers. The drama is the hook that makes it more tangible for the audience, and the narrative drives the show forward. There’s always something at stake. It’s natural, graphic storytelling, which is a great vehicle to bring someone into a new show,” she adds.

Laste reveals that, according to the data, traditional history viewers now make up a small component of One Day In…’s audience. She also thinks the fact that audiences have more choice than ever is driving the blurring of fact and fiction, as it’s simply more appealing to a wider audience.

Another series that shows the power of internationally targeted history content is Age of Samurai: Battle For Japan, which was released on Netflix in February. Produced by Canada’s Cream Productions, the series heavily dramatises well-researched real-life events. Kate Harrison, Cream’s president, says historical drama series such as Vikings have inspired factual series to do something similar.

“We’ve seen that audiences love immersive historical experiences and Vikings did that very successfully. Our samurai series would normally have to compete against a blockbuster film about samurai. As a result, the big players in history are leaning into these drama series. The factual side ultimately has to keep up with them, as talking heads simply aren’t as interesting,” says Harrison.

Kate Harrison

Companies like Cream understand the need to make shows that will appeal to as many people as possible. A very specific factual history series, Harrison points out, will just not be as attractive to audiences as a dramatised retelling of the same story. But how will this change in the future? Harrison sees the genre having a wider focus as it broadens appeal even further.

“There are a lot of ways to tell current stories by looking at the past, and people are more interested in what’s going on in the wider world than ever before. The access is also better than ever; people can choose between streamers and linear channels. So history is always going to have an audience,” she says.

The broadening of history programming’s scope is largely due to on-demand services needing a show that can work all over the world. With SVoD historical content sometimes looking more like scripted drama, how is the attitude of linear channels towards history changing?

The UK’s Blakeway Productions, owned by Zinc Media Group, has a longstanding relationship with the local pubcaster Channel 5 for historical content. The channel is known for either archive-based historical shows like World War II in Colour or history shows led by well-known figures such as Dan Jones or Tony Robinson. Zinc Media’s creative director, Emma Hindley, says the way Blakeway makes history shows has also changed recently, but not in the same way as docudrama series.

“As little as five years ago history was a white man standing on a hill, often talking about ancient history. Recently two things have happened: the focus has become much more contemporary and it has also become more focused on social history, looking at the lives of real people rather than monarchs,” Hindley says.

Tony Robinson’s History of Britain centres on the lives of ordinary people

One such show Blakeway sold to Channel 5 recently was season two of Tony Robinson’s History of Britain, which tells the story of the UK through the eyes of ordinary people. Hindley sees this as traditional history content but with a more modern focus. She says there is still room for archive footage and talking heads; what matters is the treatment of the subject and the focus of the series. Like streamers, however, she sees wide appeal as crucial.

“History shows should never feel like homework, they should appeal to as many people as possible and we should be looking at and interrogating everyone’s perspective of it. Ultimately, all television should be entertaining, even the saddest documentary. However, SVoDs’ international demands mean they have to do shows on a very broad subject. We can sometimes be more specific but look at it from a more appealing angle,” says Hindley.

OTT buyers want as wide a scope as possible, but what about the linear buyers that Blakeway has a relationship with? Like Hindley, Channel 5’s factual commissioning editor, Lucy Willis, says her channel’s output has become much more contemporary.

“Over the last five years we’ve reinvented history at the channel. We really know our audience and we pitch our history at the right level for them,” says Willis. “One of the things that we’ve been doing is focusing on narrative-driven history or stripped events. We did the first one of those a few years ago about Pompeii, which was presented as a three-part boxset over three nights. We scheduled it at 21.00, in a primetime slot, which we would definitely not have done before. The continuing narrative kept audience members coming back and we’ve really come to own that style.”

Lucy Willis

Interestingly, however, Channel 5 rarely focuses on international history as its duty is to primarily serve a domestic audience. Willis admits this narrows Channel 5’s options slightly, but echoes Hindley in saying it’s about how you look at the same story from different perspectives. The broadcaster wants to hit the middle ground between docudramas and traditional history shows, and Willis feels there are more ways than drama to keep the audience interested. She sees the channel’s role as bringing the traditional history series into the modern day, and a factual programme’s originality is crucial to it being commissioned.

“If it’s a subject that we’ve done before, how are you going to do it in a different way? Is there something fresh? Have you got new evidence, new documents, new archives, something that’s just going to make it feel different? As a commissioner, that’s what gets you really excited and makes you think a show ticks all boxes,” she says.

Linear broadcasters like Channel 5 seem to be the best place for traditional history shows, albeit with a new angle on the subject. As well as freshness, Willis is looking for producers to step away from contemporary history and reimagine the ancient history doc.

“It’s really important that we don’t forget important historical periods,” she adds. “We all get so excited by the Murdoch dynasty or series about Putin that we actually forget the Second World War or the Ancient Egyptians. You can be telling a story from 2,000 years ago and discover people had the same emotions and dilemmas as we have today. We can’t ignore that side of history.”