The 1969 groundbreaking Civilisation series took viewers on an extraordinary cultural tour through the centuries. Lisa Kerrigan examines its origins and later influence on television documentary.

THE idea that we are living in a historic, even apocalyptic, age exerts a powerful pull on the human mind. Eschatology – the theology of end times – is a religious concept, but crops up in many other ...

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When she was a mere sprout of 14, Mary Beard tuned into the first episode of Sir Kenneth Clark’s famous BBC documentary, Civilisation, and felt a “slight tingle.” “It had never struck me,” she wrote ...

First broadcast in 1969 across 13 episodes, Civilisation took viewers on a tour through 13 countries and back through many centuries, all guided by Lord Kenneth Clark as he expounded, with ...