The Museum (2007) | StreamScapeX

Episodes

Season 1, 10 episodes

Episode 1: Taking Care Of The Past
- Now playing
- 30m
- May 10, 2007
Focusing on the conservators who care for some of the BM's most important and fragile treasures.
Episode 2: Bodies Of Knowledge
- 30m
- May 17, 2007
Iron Age bodies preserved in a bog, Sudanese sacrifice victims and 40 or so mummies are just a few of the 8000 plus body parts held in the British Museum. They all help tell us about the past, but do human remains belong in a museum? Two young Tasmanian aboriginals have come to London to reclaim the remains of their ancestors, that have been in the Museum's collection for 125 years. It's an historic occasion. The BM is the first National Museum to hand back human remains since British law was changed in 2004.
Episode 3: The BM Goes East
- 30m
- May 24, 2007
The BM wants to bring some of China's Terracotta Army to London, but will they get the warriors they want, and how much will it all cost? The BM is also facing the challenge of shifting 30 tonnes of enormous, fragile and irreplaceable works of art from London to Shanghai. This episode follows the BM's 'heavy mob' as they try to ensure that the ancient, alabaster, Assyrian reliefs reach the other side of the world intact.
Episode 4: Bursting At The Seams
- 30m
- May 31, 2007
This programme tracks how the BM is constantly being fixed, restored and upgraded to keep it up to the mark.
Episode 5: Putting On A Blockbuster
- 30m
- Jun 7, 2007
A collection of 90 drawings by Michelangelo are being brought together in one place for the first time since they left the artists studio over 400 years ago.
Episode 6: Shopping For Posterity
- 30m
- Jun 14, 2007
The collections of the British Museum don't stand still, but funding for new acquisitions is in crisis. The money allocated to new purchases has decreased from around a million pounds a year in the 1980s to just £100,000 today. This programme follows curator Chris Spring's mission to buy La Bouche du Roi, an anti-slavery installation made of petrol cans. He can't afford it without help from the Art Fund, but will his pitch result in success? Meanwhile Philip Attwood is on a Rotterdam barge buying contemporary medals, and Judy Rudoe receives a Soviet style gift from the modern entrepreneurial Russian industry.
Episode 7: Curators of the Here and Now
- 30m
- Jun 21, 2007
A curator has a stint in jail. The BM wants to inspire people who don't usually visit the collections, so they're taking drugs to Pentonville Prison - all safely contained in an art installation. Meanwhile, Venetia Porter, a five-foot, shaggy-haired whirlwind, is being the guinea pig for another new policy. The Museum wants to show how present cultures are just as important as the past, and her ambitious exhibition of modern art from the Middle East brings together artists from across religious and political divides. Venetia likes being a guinea pig, but will her exhibition be a success?
Episode 8: Old Pots And Puzzles
- 30m
- Jul 12, 2007
The backrooms of the British Museum are bristling with sleuths. Irving Finkel, an expert in the world's oldest writing, is called to Scotland Yard to help the police with their enquiries. In the museum's laboratory, Rebecca Stacey is hunting for a whiff of opium in a small pot three and a half thousand years old. And Colin McEwan is trying to crack a code, the silent language of the Nasca, the ancient and mysterious South American tribe, famous for etching huge symbols in the Peruvian desert. Colin thinks the key to these symbols lies in some dusty boxes on the museum's shelves.
Episode 9: Things Aren't What They Seem
- 30m
- Jul 26, 2007
Mike Neilson is an artist and specialist replica maker at the British Museum, he's responsible for making perfect copies of some of the Museum's most important treasures. The film follows him casting an exact copy of a colossal Egyptian statue of pharaoh Amenhotep III. Mike's work isn't meant to fool anybody, but history is littered with objects intended to deceive. Down in the basement curator John Taylor examines a collection of what seem to be mummified Egyptian animals, but x-rays reveal an entirely different story. Meanwhile, curators from the Museum's Middle Eastern department are called on by customs to help sort out a possible case of smuggling.
Episode 10: Beyond Bloomsbury
- 30m
- Aug 2, 2007
In the British Museum's Great Court a spectacular 18 foot image of the Hindu goddess Durga is being crafted from straw, clay and paint. This programme follows curator Sona Datta through the construction to the climax of the Durga Puja festival when the goddess is immersed in the River Thames - the first time such an event has ever happened in the UK. Each year the BM takes thousands of objects to hundreds of cities, so the public outside London can get up close and personal with star artifacts, and curators can try out new ideas. Jill Cook is in Norwich, encouraging visitors to break the great Museum taboo, and handle her million year old prehistoric hand-axes. Irving Finkel visits his touring exhibition in Leicester where the famous Lewis Chessmen are on display next to Ludo, Mancala and Monopoly.

The Museum

2007
1 season
30m per episode
Documentary

Overview

The Museum is British television documentary series. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the British Museum, narrated by Ian McMillan and first broadcast on BBC Two on Thursdays at 7.30pm from 10 May 2007. It is produced by BBC Wales. It is in 10 half-hour parts. There is an accompanying hardback book by Rupert Smith.

Fun facts

Episodes
Ran for 1 season and 10 episodes (2007)
Source for Episodes, opens in a new tab

Details

Status: Ended
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 10
First aired: May 10, 2007
Last aired: August 2, 2007
Original language: English
Countries: GB

Network

Episodes

Season 1, 10 episodes

Episode 1: Taking Care Of The Past
- Now playing
- 30m
- May 10, 2007
Focusing on the conservators who care for some of the BM's most important and fragile treasures.
Episode 2: Bodies Of Knowledge
- 30m
- May 17, 2007
Iron Age bodies preserved in a bog, Sudanese sacrifice victims and 40 or so mummies are just a few of the 8000 plus body parts held in the British Museum. They all help tell us about the past, but do human remains belong in a museum? Two young Tasmanian aboriginals have come to London to reclaim the remains of their ancestors, that have been in the Museum's collection for 125 years. It's an historic occasion. The BM is the first National Museum to hand back human remains since British law was changed in 2004.
Episode 3: The BM Goes East
- 30m
- May 24, 2007
The BM wants to bring some of China's Terracotta Army to London, but will they get the warriors they want, and how much will it all cost? The BM is also facing the challenge of shifting 30 tonnes of enormous, fragile and irreplaceable works of art from London to Shanghai. This episode follows the BM's 'heavy mob' as they try to ensure that the ancient, alabaster, Assyrian reliefs reach the other side of the world intact.
Episode 4: Bursting At The Seams
- 30m
- May 31, 2007
This programme tracks how the BM is constantly being fixed, restored and upgraded to keep it up to the mark.
Episode 5: Putting On A Blockbuster
- 30m
- Jun 7, 2007
A collection of 90 drawings by Michelangelo are being brought together in one place for the first time since they left the artists studio over 400 years ago.
Episode 6: Shopping For Posterity
- 30m
- Jun 14, 2007
The collections of the British Museum don't stand still, but funding for new acquisitions is in crisis. The money allocated to new purchases has decreased from around a million pounds a year in the 1980s to just £100,000 today. This programme follows curator Chris Spring's mission to buy La Bouche du Roi, an anti-slavery installation made of petrol cans. He can't afford it without help from the Art Fund, but will his pitch result in success? Meanwhile Philip Attwood is on a Rotterdam barge buying contemporary medals, and Judy Rudoe receives a Soviet style gift from the modern entrepreneurial Russian industry.
Episode 7: Curators of the Here and Now
- 30m
- Jun 21, 2007
A curator has a stint in jail. The BM wants to inspire people who don't usually visit the collections, so they're taking drugs to Pentonville Prison - all safely contained in an art installation. Meanwhile, Venetia Porter, a five-foot, shaggy-haired whirlwind, is being the guinea pig for another new policy. The Museum wants to show how present cultures are just as important as the past, and her ambitious exhibition of modern art from the Middle East brings together artists from across religious and political divides. Venetia likes being a guinea pig, but will her exhibition be a success?
Episode 8: Old Pots And Puzzles
- 30m
- Jul 12, 2007
The backrooms of the British Museum are bristling with sleuths. Irving Finkel, an expert in the world's oldest writing, is called to Scotland Yard to help the police with their enquiries. In the museum's laboratory, Rebecca Stacey is hunting for a whiff of opium in a small pot three and a half thousand years old. And Colin McEwan is trying to crack a code, the silent language of the Nasca, the ancient and mysterious South American tribe, famous for etching huge symbols in the Peruvian desert. Colin thinks the key to these symbols lies in some dusty boxes on the museum's shelves.
Episode 9: Things Aren't What They Seem
- 30m
- Jul 26, 2007
Mike Neilson is an artist and specialist replica maker at the British Museum, he's responsible for making perfect copies of some of the Museum's most important treasures. The film follows him casting an exact copy of a colossal Egyptian statue of pharaoh Amenhotep III. Mike's work isn't meant to fool anybody, but history is littered with objects intended to deceive. Down in the basement curator John Taylor examines a collection of what seem to be mummified Egyptian animals, but x-rays reveal an entirely different story. Meanwhile, curators from the Museum's Middle Eastern department are called on by customs to help sort out a possible case of smuggling.
Episode 10: Beyond Bloomsbury
- 30m
- Aug 2, 2007
In the British Museum's Great Court a spectacular 18 foot image of the Hindu goddess Durga is being crafted from straw, clay and paint. This programme follows curator Sona Datta through the construction to the climax of the Durga Puja festival when the goddess is immersed in the River Thames - the first time such an event has ever happened in the UK. Each year the BM takes thousands of objects to hundreds of cities, so the public outside London can get up close and personal with star artifacts, and curators can try out new ideas. Jill Cook is in Norwich, encouraging visitors to break the great Museum taboo, and handle her million year old prehistoric hand-axes. Irving Finkel visits his touring exhibition in Leicester where the famous Lewis Chessmen are on display next to Ludo, Mancala and Monopoly.

Episodes

E1 Episode 1: Taking Care Of The Past

E2 Episode 2: Bodies Of Knowledge

E3 Episode 3: The BM Goes East

E4 Episode 4: Bursting At The Seams

E5 Episode 5: Putting On A Blockbuster

E6 Episode 6: Shopping For Posterity

E7 Episode 7: Curators of the Here and Now

E8 Episode 8: Old Pots And Puzzles

E9 Episode 9: Things Aren't What They Seem

E10 Episode 10: Beyond Bloomsbury

Overview

Fun facts

Details

Network

More like this

Episodes

E1 Episode 1: Taking Care Of The Past

E2 Episode 2: Bodies Of Knowledge

E3 Episode 3: The BM Goes East

E4 Episode 4: Bursting At The Seams

E5 Episode 5: Putting On A Blockbuster

E6 Episode 6: Shopping For Posterity

E7 Episode 7: Curators of the Here and Now

E8 Episode 8: Old Pots And Puzzles

E9 Episode 9: Things Aren't What They Seem

E10 Episode 10: Beyond Bloomsbury

Episode 1: Taking Care Of The Past

Episode 2: Bodies Of Knowledge

Episode 3: The BM Goes East

Episode 4: Bursting At The Seams

Episode 5: Putting On A Blockbuster

Episode 6: Shopping For Posterity

Episode 7: Curators of the Here and Now

Episode 8: Old Pots And Puzzles

Episode 9: Things Aren't What They Seem

Episode 10: Beyond Bloomsbury

Episode 1: Taking Care Of The Past

Episode 2: Bodies Of Knowledge

Episode 3: The BM Goes East

Episode 4: Bursting At The Seams

Episode 5: Putting On A Blockbuster

Episode 6: Shopping For Posterity

Episode 7: Curators of the Here and Now

Episode 8: Old Pots And Puzzles

Episode 9: Things Aren't What They Seem

Episode 10: Beyond Bloomsbury