A History of Scotland

[TheOfficialBren]

I loved this series. I've watched it many times. It does leave some huge gaps and skips over too much of the early history in my opinion BUT it is a great series none-the-less.

I wish American history series' were this well-produced and this objective. What I liked most about it was the objectivity. Mr Oliver says in the first episode (regarding the romance of history): "...that's not history;it's mythology..." [sic].

He does take the wind out of a few sails but that is what makes his approach more legitimate in my opinion. I doubt my countrymen will ever use this approach in a documentary series. That ghastly History Channel series "America:The Story of Us" was well-produced but not even close to objective (or as enjoyable) as this series.

I highly recommend "A history of Scotland" (as stylised by the BBC) despite Mr Oliver's naysayers. He is a sharp archaeologist and a brilliant presenter. I enjoy his programmes and hope to see many more from him. I loved "Two Men In A Trench," as well.

[artificer]

Thank you for the links to these!
I look forward to whenever I can find the time to actually sit and watch them. And by 'watch' I mean actually watch and not just pass out in front of the tv like I usually do when I try to watch something at the end of another very long day.

ith:

[Nathan]

I've been enjoying these. Thanks for posting the fresh link! Neil Oliver is a good broadcaster.

[creagdhubh]

Thanks for posting the fresh link! Neil Oliver is a good broadcaster.

***

[English Bloke]

I've just bought this series on DVD although it will be a couple of weeks before I can get home and watch some of it. A number of the online reviews criticise it for the parts that it omits and intimate that it's not a true history, but an anglisised version presented by a token Scotsman to give greater authenticity to the English lies... I'll reserve judgement till I've seen it myself.

I like Neil Oliver's delivery, I particularly enjoyed his contributions to the BBC series "Coast". (A fascinating insight into the Coastline of Britain. I'd recommend that as well if you haven't already given it a shufti). I also bought his "A History of Ancient Britain: Series 1" and "A History of Ancient Britain: Celtic Britain" at the same time so it shall be a proper history-fest on my next trip away... There's not much else to do in the evenings if you don't do East-Enders and Corrie (British soaps, in case you don't know).

[Carlo]

I've just bought this series on DVD although it will be a couple of weeks before I can get home and watch some of it. A number of the online reviews criticise it for the parts that it omits and intimate that it's not a true history, but an anglisised version presented by a token Scotsman to give greater authenticity to the English lies... I'll reserve judgement till I've seen it myself.

I like Neil Oliver's delivery, I particularly enjoyed his contributions to the BBC series "Coast". (A fascinating insight into the Coastline of Britain. I'd recommend that as well if you haven't already given it a shufti). I also bought his "A History of Ancient Britain: Series 1" and "A History of Ancient Britain: Celtic Britain" at the same time so it shall be a proper history-fest on my next trip away... There's not much else to do in the evenings if you don't do East-Enders and Corrie (British soaps, in case you don't know).

I hope you'll enjoy them. I did enjoy the lot.

To the critics
How I hate people who can't accept that history is not what they want it to be but something that happened to many people with different backgrounds. We see that the human brain doesn't work that well when it comes to names or the colour of a car involved with an accident. How should we remember stuff that did not even happen to us? The records we have give us a hint but maybe we lost the better records or the one we have might even be a forgery.
This series is "A History of Scotland" not "The one and only true History, that tells all of it in 6 hours without any mistake or false fact not even in good faith presented as such, of Scotland".

Anyway enjoy. I did.