Episodes

4 episodes in this season

The New British Empire

In With The Old

Modern Victorians

Now Playing

Me, Myself and I

Dominic Sandbrook: Let Us Entertain You

TV Series

2015

Documentary

Now playing

Me, Myself and I

Season 1 · Episode 4 · Nov 25, 2015

The final programme looks at the way in which postwar culture has seen the triumph of an idea that first took hold during the Victorian period: the rise of the individual. Industrialisation may have led to a growth in collective identity, with the emergence of large, unified workforces and powerful unions, but the Victorian period also gave rise to the concept of the individual identity and self-determination. This was, after all, the era of the novel with its first-person narrator and focus on the lives of individual protagonists. It was the age of Samuel Smiles and his emphasis on self-help - 'Every human being has a great mission to perform, noble faculties to cultivate, a vast destiny to accomplish'. These seeds were planted in the Victorian era but reached fruition in the postwar years. Culture, after all, is egalitarian - talent trumps social background or circumstance.

More details

Dominic Sandbrook: Let Us Entertain You

TV Series

2015

Documentary

Now playing

Me, Myself and I

Season 1 · Episode 4 · Nov 25, 2015

More details