In short: Omnibus: William Blake: The Soul of Albion (2000) & Tolkien: The Master of Middle-Earth (2001)

One of the definite advantages of state-funded – yet in the tradition I’m speaking of still journalistically independent – television of decades past has always been the room this left for sometimes surprisingly in-depth culture programming. Of course, this has been eroded away in decades past in various ways in most European countries, but when the idea of state-funded television as an educational device based on the assumption that people aren’t stupid and can cope with a wee bit of intellectual stimulation, and that ratings aren’t the only thing all TV has to be about was still kicking, it could produce things like the BBC’s long-running series of arts and culture documentations running under the “Omnibus” banner. As far as I understand most of them were produced directly for the BBC, but there were also some examples bought for the UK, because it simply makes more sense to have Americans look at the history of gospel etc. Formally, these documentaries could even get somewhat experimental.

These two particular examples concerning the poetry and visual art of William Blake and the life, writing and influence of J.R.R. Tolkien, respectively, are really more in the late period standard style of these documentaries, mixing a couple of staged shots – mostly used to create mood or illustrate things for which the films have no fitting archive material – with found footage, shots of art (there are some fascinating close-ups of Blake’s work. for example), or in case of the Tolkien doc rather rare interview footage of Tolkien himself, as well as actual experts in aspects of the works of the artists at hand. So yes. expect Peter Ackroyd and Humphrey Carpenter in the Blake and the Tolkien, respectively, though there’s also space to take some by-roads that aren’t as fully expected. There’s also time enough to provide these experts with space to give full thoughts instead of soundbites, which really helps keep these documentaries interesting and informative even a couple of decades later.

There’s a sense of seriousness and genuine interest in the subjects running through these two documentaries, which really are descriptors I would applied to many old Omnibus episodes I’ve encountered.