The Master Builders
From the British Museum, Peter France presents three films which reveal the way visionaries and others dealt with the 'outsider' as they set out to perfect a society, a state and a national image at the turn of the 19th century. To achieve the first, English reformers constructed a new prison system - only to find that within 20 years it was a total failure.
To achieve the second, the Brothers Grimm falsified their country's original folk tales to define behaviour ' acceptable to the architects ' of the new Germany.
And to achieve the third, satirical cartoonists vilified the national characteristics of the Welsh, the Scots and the Irish to build up the concept of pure Englishness.
Film directors JON BENTLEY
JANE THYNNE. ANTONIA BENEDEK DAVID F. TURNBULL
Series producer ROY DAVIES Editor BRUCE NORMAN