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The Long View

First broadcast from 20000314 to 20100316.

94 episodes

Series	Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Description
200A	01	Burke, Hare And Dr Knox	20000314		Jonathan Freedland returns with the series which finds the past behind the present. `Burke, Hare and Dr Knox'. Gruesome serial killers in 1820s Edinburgh shed light on issues of organ donation and presumed consent in the 21st century. With crime writer Ian Rankin, Ruth Richardson, Ken Mason, Owen Dudley Edwards and Kenny Ireland.
200A	02		20000321		Jonathan Freedland presents the series which finds the past behind the present. 2: The Burston School Strike. He takes the long view of education and independent thinking in an exploration of the longest ever strike.
200A	03		20000328		The series which finds the past behind the present. Jonathan Freedland and guests Billy Bragg, David Carpenter, Bernard Crick and Sian Thomas set off across the Worcestershire countryside to explore the legacy of Simon de Montfort - 13th-century English statesman and soldier - in the light of devolution today. / The series which finds the past behind the present. Jonathan Freedland and guests Billy Bragg, David Carpenter, Bernard Crick and Sian Thomas set off across the Worcestershire countryside to explore the legacy Simon de Montfort - 13th-century English statesman and soldier - in the light of devolution today.
200A	04		20000404		The series which finds the past behind the present. Jonathan Freedland looks at the Gordon Riots, which took place in June 1780, resulting in the deaths of 200 people. The anti-Catholic riots caused a breakdown of law and order in London for several days.
200A	05	The Gotham Tales	20000411		The series which finds the past behind the present. `The Gotham Tales'. Jonathan Freedland explores the most popular jokes in British history and a best-selling collection of stories about a village fools on the fringes of Nottingham which dates back to the 13th century and earlier. With Fiona Shaw and guests.
200A	06	Dick Whittington	20000418		Whittington was the most famous Lord Mayor of London - until now. Jonathan Freedland explores the man behind the myth and asks whether the current mayoral candidates have anything to learn from their illustrious predecessor.
200C	01		20000912		Jonathan Freedland returns with the series which finds the past behind the present. 1: In 1885 pioneering investigative journalist W T Stead exposed a child prostitution ring in London's West End. Freedland tells his story and asks if children are any better protected in the 21st century.
200C	02	Trial By Jury	20000919		Jonathan Freedland presents a series which finds the past behind the present. In 1670, the landmark Bushell case had a profound effect on trial by jury - regarded by many today as a historic and fundamental right.
200C	03	Offa's Penny	20000926		Jonathan Freedland presents a series which finds the past behind the present. The first single European currency is not the Euro: it was Offa's penny, common coinage throughout Britain and Europe over 1,200 years ago.
200C	04	Bad Cows And Englishmen	20001003		The series which finds the past behind the present. Some 800,000 people caught and died from milk-borne tuberculosis between 1850 and 1960. Jonathan Freedland explores the horrifying evidence and asks if we are any wiser a century on.
200C	05		20001010		The series which looks for the past behind the present. Jonathan Freedland explores the fate of women in debt, through the extraordinary life of Laetitia Pilkington. Guests include Dervla Kirwan and Fay Weldon
200C	06		20001017		The series which looks for the past behind the present. Jonathan Freedland searches for the real Macbeth, the 11th-century Scottish king and source of our most potent myth of power and corruption.
201C	01	Atrocities	20010828		The series which looks for the past behind the present. Jonathan Freedland visits Lincoln, the site of a bloody massacre of civilians 800 years ago. With contributions from Col. Bob Stewart, David Carpenter, Joanna Bourke and actress Fiona Shaw
201C	02	The Tory Party Split	20010904		`The Tory Party Split'. In the series that looks for the past behind the present, Jonathan Freedland visits the scene of a split in the Conservative Party that left it out of power for three decades. With contributions from Michael Ancram, John Fortune, Michael Gove, Boyd Hilton and Emma Nicholson.
201C	03	Mental Health	20010911		Jonathan Freedland examines the lives of Charles and Mary Lamb. Best known for their prose adaptations of Shakespeare's plays, they both suffered from depression, with disastrous consequences.
201C	04		20010918		The series that looks for the past behind the present. Jonathan Freedland finds out how our recent extreme weather compares with the great storm of 1703.
201C	05		20010925		The series that looks for the past behind the present. Jonathan Freedman looks at the rows and disaster that followed Benjamin Franklin's invention of the lightning rod.
201C	06		20011002		The series that looks for the past behind the present. Jonathan Freedman investigates 1879's Tay Bridge disaster, in which 75 people died.
202A	01		20020226		Series that looks for the past behind the present. Jonathan Freedland investigates the destruction of Santo Domingo and draws parallels with the horrific events of 11 September.
202A	01		20020305		Jonathan Freedland is joined by Juliet Stevenson in an investigation of drug abuse, past and present, through the brief life of Victorian artist Lizzie Siddal.
202A	03	Sentencing	20020312		Series which finds the past behind the present. 3: `Sentencing'. Jonathan Freedland is joined by Robert Hardy to explore the rights and wrongs of tough sentencing.
202A	04		20020319		Series which finds the past behind the present. Germaine Greer, Fiona Shaw and Jonathan Freedland discuss the furore surrounding the introduction of the smallpox inoculation.
202A	05		20020326		Series which finds the past behind the present. Jonathan Freedland discusses the first ever stock market crash - the spectacular rise and fall of the Mississippi Company in 1720.
202A	06	Irish Potato Famine 1845	20020402		Series that finds the past behind the present. Jonathan Freedland recalls the failure of the Irish potato crop in 1845, which caused widespread famine and many deaths.
202A	07		20020409		Jonathan Freedland presents the series that finds the past behind the present, with guests including Prof Richard Dawkins.
202A	08		20020416		Jonathan Freedland presents the series that finds the past behind the present.
202C	01	Economic Migrants	20020924		The series that looks for the past behind the present. `Economic Migrants'. The story of the Palatine refugees invited to England by Queen Anne.
202C	02	Church And State	20021001		The series that looks for the past behind the present. `Church and State'. Jonathan Freedland explores the modern relevance of the story of Henry II and Thomas a Beckett.
202C	03	Celebrity	20021008		The series that looks for the past behind the present. `Celebrity'. Jonathan Freedland investigates our fascination with the cult of celebrity.
202C	04	Trade Unions	20021015		`Trade Unions'. Jonathan Freedland recalls a bitter industrial dispute involving Bradford mill workers in 1890, which led to the creation of a party to fight the cause of Labour.
202C	05		20021022		The series that looks for the past behind the present.
202C	06	Crusades	20021029		The series that looks for the past behind the present. As war in Iraq looms, Jonathan Freedland and guests consider the Crusades and their influence on subsequent history.
203A	01		20030318		Jonathan Freedland and guests go in search of the past behind the present, exploring a moment in history which illuminates a contemporary debate.
203A	02	Gangs	20030325		Benjamin Zephaniah joins Jonathan Freedland to reveal a story of thuggery and intimidation in medieval Leicestershire which sheds light on today's gang crime.
203C	01		20030923		Jonathan Freedland returns with a new six-part series of programmes which looks for the past behind the present. Each week he explores a moment in history which throws up close parallels with an issue today, recording on the location where the original story took place, in the company of experts, actors and commentators.
203C	02	The Silent Men	20030930		Jonathan Freedland recalls 1963 when two reporters were jailed for refusing to name their sources.
203C	03		20031007		Jonathan Freedland and guests go in search of the past behind the present, exploring a moment in history which illuminates a contemporary debate.
203C	04	Drugs In Sport	20031014		In the light of the recent World Athletics championships, yet again blighted by drugs, Jonathan Freedland and guests look at cheating in sport and the pressures that persuade young athletes to risk their health in pursuit of success. Even back in the 1890's a cycling coach who looked after two British world champions was accused of masterminding a drugs regime aimed at enhancing their performance. And there were reports of one competitor close to death during a race and another falling off his bike, getting back on and cycling the wrong way round the track.
203C	05		20031021		Jonathan Freedland and guests go in search of the past behind the present, exploring a moment in history which illuminates a contemporary debate.
203C	06	A Wall To Keep Out An Enemy	20031028		Jonathan Freedland and guests go in search of the past behind the present, exploring a moment in history that illuminates a contemporary debate.
204C	01	Mothers And Miscarriages Of Justice	20040907		A mother is accused of murdering her baby. The Courts find her guilty. The judge passes sentence. And then - in an astonishing turn of events - an expert witness comes forward and Anne Green's case returns to court. Jonathan Freedland is joined by Helena Kennedy, Fiona Shaw and Germaine Greer for a seventeenth century story which resonates strongly with recent trials in Britain.
204C	02		20040914
204C	03		20040921
204C	04		20040928		Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present.
204C	05		20041005
204C	06 LAST		20041012
205A	01	Identity Cards	20050222	Rptoftoday9.00am	London, 1950 and wartime Identity Cards are still in force. When Clarence Willcock refuses to present his card to a police officer, it leads to a test case in the High Court. The judges ponder whether ID cards are an unnecessary intrusion into private life or a useful weapon in combatting crime. Jonathan Freedland is joined by Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty, Martin Linton MP - who developed the prototype of the new biometric cards - and Peter Byrne, alias PC Andy Crawford in Dixon of Dock Green, to debate ID Cards in 1950's Britain and today.
205A	02	South Africa - Pandemics	20050301		Jonathan Freedland presents a special edition from Cape Town, where he and his guests consider today's HIV infection crisis and look back to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. Why was South Africa hit so severely in both cases and what are the long term consequences of a nation dealing with disease on a massive scale?
205A	03		20050308		In a society that's having to re-think what constitutes blasphemy and moral outrage, a single, powerful voice takes aim at the dramatic arts and cries "enough is enough". His name's Jeremy Collier and his colourful pamphlet A Short View of Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage, published in 1698, had a profound effect on the flavour and content of Restoration Drama. Jonathan Freedland, with the help of historian Justin Champion, actor John Sessions and Don Horrocks of the Evangelical Alliance, takes the long view of the tensions between moral and religious outrage and freedom of expression.
205A	04		20050315
205A	05		20050322
205A	06 LAST		20050329		Jonathan Freedland presents a special edition from Portugal, where he and his guests consider the global response to the Asian tsunami of 2004 and the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.
205D	01		20051011		In this first edition, he focuses on the Conservative Party Leadership contest. Political pundits have been concerned with predicting whether the Conservatives will avoid what some have perceived as the problems in the leadership contests of 1997, 2001 and 2003. But Jonathan and guests look further back for parallels with today's situation. What do the Tory leadership contests of old tell us about the fate of today's candidates?
205D	02		20051018
205D	03		20051025		Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present by exploring a moment in history. [Rptd today 9.30pm]
205D	04		20051101		Jonathan Freedland and guests go in search of the past behind the present, exploring a moment in history which illuminates a contemporary debate. [Rptd today 9.30pm]
205D	05		20051108
205D	06 LAST		20051115
206A	01		20060228	Rptoftoday9.00am, Rptdtoday9.30pm	Jonathan Freedland returns with the series that uses the past to illuminate the present. The founders of Google have a lofty vision of how the internet search engine can transform society. But this was an ambition shared by Whig politician Henry Brougham back in 1826. Brougham created the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and used the newly-invented steam press to make information available on an unprecedented scale. Detractors attacked him for dominating the emerging knowledge economy. Are Google and other internet search engines facing the same criticisms today?
206A	02		20060307
206A	03		20060314		Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. [Rptd today 9.30pm] Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. [Rpt of today 9.00am]
206A	04		20060321
206A	05		20060328
206A	06 LAST		20060404
207A	01		20070102
207A	02		20070109		Today's computer games and on-line entertainment sites are rapidly increasing in sophistication. They enthral millions of young users and disturb many parents, worried that their children are lost in a virtual world they don't understand. Jonathan and guests investigate the controversial reaction to the arrival of an earlier and equally powerful form of escapist entertainment -the 18th century novel.
207A	03		20070116	Rptdtoday9.30pm	Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present.
207A	04		20070123
207A	05		20070130
207A	06 LAST		20070206		Recent months have seen a slew of British military commanders voicing their concerns on everything from their overstretched forces to equipment shortages. Commanders trying to hold the line in military coalition warfare whilst hampered by what they perceive as inadequate funding from Whitehall. Can we find the concerns of General Sir Richard Dannatt and other British commanders today being matched by the difficulties encountered by Lord Wellington two centuries ago in the Peninsular Wars?
207D	01		20071009		As pressure mounts on Gordon Brown to allow a vote on the proposed new EU reform treaty, Jonathan and guests recall Harold Wilson's 1975 referendum on the UK's membership of Europe.
207D	02		20071016		As pressure mounts on Gordon Brown to allow a vote on the proposed new EU reform treaty, Jonathan and guests recall Harold Wilson's 1975 referendum on the UK's membership of Europe.
207D	03		20071023
207D	04 LAST		20071030
	01		20071127		Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. In the current climate of fear surrounding public health and obesity, he recalls the establishment of the first Pioneer Health Centre in 1935, which offered an educational and preventative approach to public health.
				20030401	Far from being a modern phenomenon cutting edge, garden makeovers were very much in vogue in the 18th century, nowhere more so than at Painshill in Surrey. This is where presenter Jonathan Freedland meets, among others, Home Front's Diarmuid Gavin to find about an extraordinary garden designer called Charles Hamilton, whose vision included paying a hermit to live in the garden looking picturesque. Unfortunately, Hamilton's living gnome had other ideas. [Rptd tonight at 9.30pm] " / "Far from being a modern phenomenon cutting edge, garden makeovers were very much in vogue in the 18th century, no where more so than at Painshill in Surrey. This is where presenter Jonathan Freedland meets, among others, Home Front's Diarmuid Gavin to find about an extraordinary garden designer called Charles Hamilton, whose vision included paying a hermit to live in the garden looking picturesque. Unfortunately, Hamilton's living gnome had other ideas. Then Weather. [Rpt of 9.00am]
				20030408	Jonathan Freedland and guests go in search of the past behind the present, exploring a moment in history which illuminates a contemporary debate. [Rptd tonight, 9.30pm] " / "Jonathan Freedland and guests go in search of the past behind the present, exploring a moment in history which illuminates a contemporary debate. [Rpt of today, 9.00am]
				20030415	Jonathan Freedland and guests go in search of the past behind the present, exploring a moment in history which illuminates a contemporary debate. [Rptd today 9.30pm] / Jonathan Freedland and guests go in search of the past behind the present, exploring a moment in history which illuminates a contemporary debate. [Rpt of today 9.00am]
			20081125		Jonathan Freedland explores the parallels between the financial crises of today and 1929. Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. He explores the parallels and differences between the stock market crash of 1929 and the current credit crunch.
			20081202		The parallels between today's airport expansions and the mid-19th century railway boom. Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. He explores the parallels and differences between current attitudes to airport expansion and the controversy and debate that surrounded railway expansion in the mid-19th century.
			20081209		Jonathan Freedland takes the Long View of retail at Christmas in a period of austerity. Jonathan Freedland takes the Long View of retail at Christmas during a period of economic austerity. He examines what shops today can learn from the bleak festive season of 1930. Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present.
			20081216		Comparing celebrity chefs with social agendas and Victorian chef Alexis Soyer. Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. He examines the parallels between today's celebrity chefs with social agendas and the 19th century chef Alexis Soyer, who became a household name and captured the British public imagination with his revolutionary approach to cooking and eating.
			20090210		Exploring the creation of the Bank of England and the first inflation rates, set in 1694. Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. With interest rates at their lowest for 300 years, Jonathan explores the creation of the Bank of England and the economic turmoil which led to the setting of inflation rates for the first time in 1694. Jonathan visits the Bank of England with an economic historian and a financial journalist, among others. They look at the early justification for the existence of the Bank - to lend to the government at a reasonable rate and to keep interest rates in check - and why we are now going full circle.
			20090217		Jonathan Freedland tells the story of the short-lived Victorian club New Brighton Tower. Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. He examines the parallels between the relationship between football and business today and the story of a Victorian club with expensive imported players which folded when its profits fell. The company that owned the New Brighton resort on The Wirral set up a football club, New Brighton Tower, to maintain profits during the winter months. The founders set about buying up quality players from other top clubs but were initially denied entry to the Football League and tickets to their home games at their massive stadium proved too expensive for the local population, with attendances barely scraping 1,000. With the club not making money as planned, and having failed to gain promotion to the first division of the League, the company disbanded it in 1901. Jonathan takes local historian Tom Sault and footballing lecturer Rogan Taylor to the Wirral to tell the story of New Brighton Tower and to draw parallels with today's uneasy mix of the worlds of sport and business.
			20090224		He examines the parallels between the murder of Liverpool youngster Rhys Jones in 2007 and another murder of a child by another child in Liverpool in 1883. Michael Burns was an innocent bystander, set upon by a gang of youths and left for dead in one of the city's 'no-go areas' for police. This 'shocking brutality among boys' created a new moral panic in 19th-Century England.
			20090303		Jonathan is joined by Billy Bragg to consider House of Lords reform now and in the 1600s. Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. He is joined by Billy Bragg to consider House of Lords reform now and in the 17th Century, examining the story of Lord Howard, a corrupt peer who was sent to the Tower. In the light of recent cash-for-influence allegations, Jonathan and guests debate what can be learnt from the experience of the 1640s, when the Lords came under similarly intense scrutiny. HsitoricAl Readings are provided by Tim Bentinck who plays David in The Archers and who is also the 12th Earl of Portland. He was one of the hereditary peers who was disqualified from sitting in the Lords following the reforms of 1999. Jonathan's other guests are the historian Dr Jason Peacey, Andrew Piece, assistant editor of the Daily Telegraph, Sir Christopher Kelly, chairman of the committee on Standards in Public Life and cross-bench peer Baroness Ilora Finlay of Llandaff.
			20090707		Jonathan and his guests ask how governments can best help the unemployed. Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. Jonathan and his guests ask how governments can best help the unemployed and visit the site of a 1930s labour camp set up to 'recondition' unemployed men and prepare them for a return to work.
			20090714		Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present.
			20090728		Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. Jonathan examines the policing of demonstrations and asks what lessons can be learned in our own time from the 1855 Hyde Park disturbances. The newly established police force was criticised in Parliament and the press for using excessive force to control the crowd, goading the public and coralling the protestors into a confined space. Jonathan and guests compare that controversy with the criticisms being levelled at the police force today in light of the G20 protests. Jonathan Freedland examines the policing of demonstrations.
			20090804		Jonathan Freedland examines the railways at a time of recession. Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. Jonathan takes the Long View of the railways at a time of recession, asking what lessons can be learnt in our own time from the experience of the Great Western Railway in the 1860s. A once-prestigious and highly-profitable enterprise, GWR had over-extended itself and the company faced bankruptcy. As debates rage over the future of the East Coast Main Line, Jonathan and guests compare the action taken to rescue the railways in the 19th century with the challenges faced today.
			20100223		The long view of national debt, from Waterloo to today's financial crisis. Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. As the nation's finances drown in red ink, Niall Ferguson, Will Hutton and Stephanie Flanders join Jonathan to take the long view of national debt. Amid the splendour of Apsley House, home of the Duke of Wellington, they compare the causes and consequences of rising debt and deficit levels from the battlefield of Waterloo to today's financial crisis.
			20100302		Taking the long view of football authorities' response to calls for camera technlogy. class="blq-clearfix"> Between 1880 and 1890, the game of football was transformed by a growing professionalism. Suddenly disagreements which had previously been settled in a gentlemanly way between captains were becoming rancorous. Professional teams who were now paying wages and getting crowds of several thousands wanted to win. The goalposts needed changing and in came the cross tape. But that wasn't good enough, so the cross bar was installed. Then came referees to make the decisions previously agreed by captains. But when, on 26 October 1889, a game between Everton and Accrington at the Anfield ground in Liverpool descended into a near riot over a disputed goal, an engineer in the crowd thought he had the answer. John Alexander Brodie's Goal Net was patented a year later. He met the Football Association and, after some initial trials, they decided that the net was a very good way of assisting referees and encouraged all clubs to use them. So what holds back today's authorities from using the modern camera technology that might have changed Ireland's fate in the recent World Cup play-off? There was another disputed goal at the African Cup of Nations, Cameroon losing out on that occasion. Rugby has adopted cameras and a fourth official with access to the pictures, cricket is moving that way and tennis has taken up the referred line call. So should football take the Long View and use the available technology or is the reticence to do something more indicative of our culture and time? Are we as ready as the Victorians to accept the new?
			20100309		Examining the changing culture and politics behind the commemoration of the fallen. Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. As the small Wiltshire town of Wootton Bassett becomes the focus of the nation's commemoration of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, Jonathan journeys to Towton in Yorkshire, scene of the bloodiest battle on British soil, and of the 'repatriation' of the fallen to consecrated ground by Richard III 23 years later. With Dr Carl Watkins, Andrew Boardman and Andrew Meek, Jonathan discovers the reasons behind this unprecedented act of commemoration, and traces the changing culture of such acts, through the wars of the 20th century to the present 'Highway for Heroes' in Wootton Bassett.
			20100316		Jonathan Freedland takes the Long View of Kraft's takeover of Cadbury. Jonathan Freedland takes the Long View of the recent purchase of Cadbury by Kraft, comparing the deal with the takeover of Boots the Chemist by an American company in 1920. When the founder of the chain, Jesse Boot, put it up for sale it prompted a storm of controversy in the local and national press. A rival chain responded by marketing itself as the 'biggest British chemist', playing on the idea that Boots had betrayed their national roots. The takeover prompted a period of austerity in the company as the American owners embarked on an efficiency drive. Jonathan draws on the lessons of the Boots takeover, asking how important it is for national brands to remain in British hands. Guests include Lord Digby Jones and Stefan Stern of The Financial Times, and readings are provided by James Coombes, former Milk Tray Man.