History on TV: Stitch in Time

SIT host Amber Butchart

British TV manages to produce regular streams of young, brash, irreverent historians who actually get to conceive and make programming  about things they actually know. (Imagine that in Canada!) 

One example worth a look is "A Stitch in Time," available on that cornucopia of sudsy British TV, Acorn, which is now making one-month streaming privileges available free.

Each episode of "A Stitch in Time" takes a painting that displays some historical fashion trend, and then works with tailors to recreate the garment in question and with curators, art historians, and period experts to flesh out the historical context.

It's also impressive in that it seems to be entirely a female production. A recent episode I saw did not have a single male on screen throughout, even though the costume in question was one originally worn by King Charles II.

In admiring "A Stitch in Time," I'm claiming no great gender progressivism on my own part. I started my historical career in historic sites work, where I got to wear a good deal of reproduction costuming and gained a longstanding interest in historical costume. But if you have seen "Great British Battles," or anything by David Starkey, say, you can't help but observe that history run by women doesn't exactly look like history run by men.