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+--- Thread: Looking for a site (with burials) / archaeologist for new History Channel show (/showthread.php?tid=3974)
Looking for a site (with burials) / archaeologist for new History Channel show - BAJR - 14th June 2011
Had a long and lovely discussion with Amy, who was looking for help to get a site - with the excavation of burials - for this summer. I asked her to give some details: well here we are.
Just to give you some background, I work at ITV Studios the in-house production team at ITV in London. We develop and produce series and one off documentaries for ITV and all other terrestrial channels ? the BBC, Channel 4 and five. We also take ideas to digital channels and have a good relationship with the History Channel. I?ve worked on two history documentaries for ITV1, [I]Words of the Titanic[/I] and [I]Words of the Blitz[/I] which was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award. And we have a good reputation for building and maintaining relationships with people and institutions we access and work with on all our programmes.
At the moment I?m developing a series on the topic of Death and Society for the History Channel. It?s been fascinating reading and researching the topic in the last few weeks and having buried my head in books I?ve finally emerged with a rough idea for a series. The channel are keen for it to be character lead, with interesting stories and to create a sense of the ?then and now? whilst being appealing and accessible for the viewer.
So, it?s a 6 x 60 minute series, in which we plan to illuminate the mysterious world of death and burial, both now and then, by intercutting access to archaeologists working on digs that involve excavating ancient and long-forgotten human remains with the goings-on at a contemporary funeral parlour.
We also plan for there to be a ?C-story? at the heart of each episode which will help anchor the content to a theme. For example- Momento Mori and Grave Goods. The C stories will provide every episode with factual backbone ? so we might meet an expert on grave goods at the Museum of London in this episode, for instance.
At the moment I?m on quite a tight deadline to find some charismatic and camera-savvy archaeologists and digs or projects involving the excavation of human remains that we can film this summer.
We?re aware that the subject matter is extremely sensitive and we intend to treat it as such. So the filming team will be very small ? just two people with one camera. And I will either be there or at the end of the phone to make sure that it runs smoothly and everyone is happy. But any digs that we do get access to we will of course need to clear for filming with the landowner or client
email her on Amy.Miller@itv.com if you are interested or can help
Looking for a site (with burials) / archaeologist for new History Channel show - Dinosaur - 14th June 2011
Do people out there actually get to know in advance they're gonna get skellies? - wow! Mine always seem to turn up at random....
Looking for a site (with burials) / archaeologist for new History Channel show - Jack - 15th June 2011
Yep.....even large complex barrows! Guess research digs would know better than commercial ones. Usually when we spot traces of burial we advise the client to avoid disturbing them!
Not sure how the Ministry of Justice's current interpretation of the conditions of a burial license would sit with filming the excavation of burials. I think you should check this first.
The program could however highlight the current silly situation where all burials (no matter how old) excavated in this country have to be re-buried after is it two years? and left to rot in the ground. Rather than allowing remains to be curated and studied.
Looking for a site (with burials) / archaeologist for new History Channel show - kevin wooldridge - 15th June 2011
I think (in all seriousness) that its a waste of time looking for an archaeologist to front this show and what is needed is probably a lay-person with an inate curiosity.......can I suggest Sir Bruce Forsyth!! Or Anne Widdecombe!! Or even the pair of them!! I know I would watch the resulting mash.....the show could even feature celebrity corpses just to keep the public interested .... and not forgetting the tasteful weekly vote where the remains get the chance to feature on a Museum shelf for a continuing week or are shuffled off for instant reburial....
Looking for a site (with burials) / archaeologist for new History Channel show - BAJR - 15th June 2011
Quote:Ministry of Justice's current interpretation of the conditions of a burial license would sit with filming the excavation of burials. I think you should check this first.
I have warned them
They do however have a couple of bites. though commercial work would not be best suited. That said, just dug a lovely Roman cemetery... unexpected though!