{"id":27896,"date":"2025-11-07T14:04:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T14:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/?p=27896"},"modified":"2026-01-06T16:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T16:35:26","slug":"new-series-sheds-fresh-light-on-the-shaping-of-the-british-empire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/around-ou\/tv-radio\/new-series-sheds-fresh-light-on-the-shaping-of-the-british-empire\/","title":{"rendered":"New series sheds fresh light on the shaping of the British Empire"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Friday 7 November, a new three-part BBC\/OU co-production, Empire with David Olusoga<\/em>, begins on <\/strong>BBC Two and iPlayer at 9.00pm<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this new series, historian and broadcaster David Olusoga explores the rise, rule and lasting impact of the British Empire \u2013 one of the most powerful and far-reaching forces in world history.<\/p>\n

Drawing on rich archives, expert insight and personal stories from across the globe, Olusoga examines how the Empire\u2019s ambition shaped both Britain and the wider world, and how its legacies continue to influence society today.<\/p>\n

Across three episodes, the series traces the Empire\u2019s origins in the 16th century through its global expansion across the Americas, Asia and Africa. It explores the movement of people \u2013 from the transatlantic slave trade to convict transportation to Australia \u2013 and concludes by examining the Empire\u2019s decline and the enduring legacies that continue to shape the modern world.<\/p>\n

Series \u201cmakes big themes come alive\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The production was supported by academic consultant Karl Hack, Professor of History at The Open University, who provided expertise and insight during its development.<\/p>\n

Professor Karl Hack said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed contributing to the development of this series. It explores the British empire both as a global phenomenon and a lived experience, providing a compact and thought-provoking overview of what remains an impossibly large and sometimes hotly contested topic, with its never-ending impacts across the centuries.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis series makes big themes \u2013 enslavement, settlement, the fate of first peoples, immigration to Britain, and Britain\u2019s role in constructing our globalised world – come alive through key events, and through individuals\u2019 and groups\u2019 stories.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The series supports several OU qualifications and modules including: Q01 BA (Honours) History<\/a>, F89 MA in History<\/a>, Q97 BA (Honours) History and Politics<\/a>, R14 BA (Honours) Arts and Humanities<\/a> and R65 BA (Honours) History and Languages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Supporting Online content:<\/strong><\/p>\n

An exclusive interview with David Olusoga<\/a><\/p>\n

Commissioned by\u00a0Dr Caroline Ogilvie, Director, Broadcast & Partnerships<\/strong><\/p>\n

Academic Consultant: Professor Karl Hack<\/strong><\/p>\n

Media Fellow: Dr Emily Bullock<\/strong><\/p>\n

Broadcast Project Manager: Matthew Ray<\/strong><\/p>\n

OU Connect Content Producer: Patrick Kearney<\/strong><\/p>\n

Header image credit: BBC \/ Hillgate Films and Voltage TV<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Friday 7 November, a new three-part BBC\/OU co-production, Empire with David Olusoga, begins on BBC Two and iPlayer at 9.00pm. In this new series, historian and broadcaster David Olusoga explores the rise, rule and lasting impact of the British Empire \u2013 one of the most powerful and far-reaching forces in world history. Drawing on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":27898,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[232,860,1525,1640],"class_list":["post-27896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-radio","tag-bbc","tag-faculty-of-fass","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27896"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27903,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27896\/revisions\/27903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}