AJC
Western Thunderer
Hmmmm you have a point but I still stand by the comments I made, because history is being made right now. A lot of good worthwhile history was left out because of time restraints.
Well yes, but including the rise and fall of companies is falling into the realms of institutional history and, in the day job (jobbing academic historian),this is reckoned worthy but dull. On television, it's merely dull. A poor analogy follows: only yesterday we skipped a couple of hundred copies of volumes recording the development of Southampton's local government (we still have more than we'll ever sell should anyone be interested!). With Basset Lowke already part of the programme, how much more do you need? It's a perfectly respectable editorial choice. The previous 'Timeshift' programmes I've seen are meant as insights rather than comprehensive histories and are the better television for it.
A couple of reviews from the papers:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...ft-The-Joy-of-Train-Sets-BBC-Four-review.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2013/jan/23/the-joy-of-train-sets?INTCMP=SRCH
I like the Rice quote in the Guardian review by the way. Must sit down and actually watch the thing tonight.
Adam