History in popular television drama: The flemish past in Wij, Heren van Zichem

Abstract

Can history be reconciled with the laws of mainstream television? If so, how do popular programmes relate to and influence historical consciousness? To explore these issues, this chapter reflects on the position and importance of history on television in Flanders, the Dutch-language community in Belgium. It focuses on the monopoly period of public broadcasting, from 1953 until 1989, when history was a crucial domain for television. Despite evolutions within this period, it presents remarkable continuity and coherence as to the broadcasting philosophy and policies leading to the production of innumerable historical programmes. After providing an overview of historical programming, this chapter takes a closer look at the most successful period serial, exploring the impact of contextual factors and historical actors (producers, audiences, critics) on the representation of the past. To conclude, this chapter reflects on the potential impact of such period drama on the formation of a national historical consciousness.