The Story Of China
There are those who like to make sport of American tourists gawping at the ancient landmarks of ye olde British history. I rather suspect the Chinese may feel the same way about us. After all, by the time woad-smeared Britons were greeting Julius Caesar’s invaders, in the Far East a great civilisation was already at the very least more than a millennium old. In The Story Of China (BBC Two, Thursday, 9pm), Michael Wood begins his six-part saga by delving back into that distant past to uncover the ushering in of a great culture, albeit one that was regularly spattered with unimaginable bloodshed. Pity, for example, the captives who were chosen to be human sacrifices as rulers beseeched the powers above for harmony with the heavens. On the credit side, we have the invention of writing and the sophistication of a vast sprawling kingdom whose emperor commanded a third of the world’s population, and if you thought his terracotta army was all rather severe and martial, note the terracotta acrobats and musicians recently discovered buried alongside the clay soldiers.
Meanwhile, the snug-fitting jeans that once made Wood a highbrow sexpot are gone, leaving only his slightly irksome earnest and shining-eyed presence. Still, he has a way with a good yarn, and I’m grateful to learn about the Chinese myth in which the goddess Nüwa created humanity out of mud from the Yellow River, using the leftover bits to make dogs and chickens
NOT TO BE MISSED
Bloody Queens: Elizabeth And Mary (BBC2, Fri, 9pm)
The turbulent relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots is dramatically brought to life through their own words (above left).
Call The Midwife (BBC1, Sun, 8pm)
Helen George puts her recently honed Strictly skills to use, as Trixie leads 1961 state-of-the-art keep-fit classes.
The Golden Age Of Circus: The Show Of Shows (BBC4, Sun, 9pm)
Priceless archive footage reminds us of the extraordinary acts that once entertained us at the circus and carnival (above right).