A History of Modern Britain ; Television ++ Tue 9pm BBC2

Gilbert, Gerard, The Independent (London, England)

With the confirmation of Tony Blair's departure putting the media into a retrospective mood, the timing seems serendipitous for Andrew Marr's new series which takes a longer view of our modern island story. It's a good moment to slot the Blair decade into the greater picture of how, in Marr's words, "a shabby optimistic people" of 1945 turned into the Britons we are now. This week's opening episode is titled "Advance Britannia", Winston Churchill's concluding exhortation to the nation on VE Day. In many ways Marr came this way last year with his The Queen at 80, although his scope this time is far broader and, one suspects, more congenial.

The former BBC political editor …

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Publication information: Article title: A History of Modern Britain ; Television ++ Tue 9pm BBC2. Contributors: Gilbert, Gerard - Author. Newspaper title: The Independent (London, England). Publication date: May 19, 2007. Page number: Not available. © 2009 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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