Archive on TV

Archive footage and stills can bring your documentary or production alive. We are delighted to have licensed IWM collection material for a range of British TV programmes available to stream now.  

Catch-up British TV: What to watch 

Art That Made Us (episode 7) on BBC iPlayer

© IWM (Art.IWM ART 4438). To the Unknown British Soldier in France.  Painting by William Orpen (crop)

In December 2021, filming took place in the Art Stores at IWM London for an eight-part arts series for BBC Two presenting an alternative history of the British Isles, told through art. Episode seven explores the period from the First World War up to the late 1950s.  Artist Oliver Chanarin was interviewed about William Orpen’s subversive protest painting, To the Unknown British Soldier in France.

Britain by Beach (episode 3) on Channel 4. 

 On Scotland's east coast beaches, Anita learns of smuggled crown jewels and wartime fortifications in the Firth of Forth.

Life After Life (episode 1) on BBC iPlayer

Set against the backdrop of two World Wars, and based on the novel by Kate Atkinson, the BBC2 adaptation follows Ursula Todd, a woman who is born numerous times. Her journey probes whether a perfect life can ever be lived and if the course of history can truly be changed.

The Mystery of Anthrax Island  on BBC iPlayer

© IWM HU 102366. The decontamination of Gruinard Island, 1986. Porton Down official photographer

During the Second World War, government scientists from Porton Down attempted to weaponise anthrax, creating a deadly strain that they then tested on Gruinard Island, an uninhabited remote site off the coast of Scotland.

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