Memory, Television and the Making of the BBC’s The Story of Wales

The production of television history programming is a rich site for examining the dynamic relationship between history and memory. This article approaches these dynamics through original, empirical research of a specific case study, BBC Wales’ The Story of Wales (Green Bay for BBC Wales, 2012). It analyses the commissioning, production and presentation of a landmark national history programme within the specific context of a small nation (Wales) and provides insights into how television intervenes in the construction, revision and remembering of the national past. The role of national histories in the construction of memory and national identity is important at a time when the legitimacy of nations and states is under question and when governmental and political settlements are under construction as is the case in the post-devolutionary United Kingdom.