I honestly believe I have The Best Job in the World of Television. I get to commission (i.e. choose) twelve shows every year, then oversee how they are made, working with some of the most talented, smart and motivated people in television. They are all extremely good at their jobs, love what they are doing and appreciate how lucky we are to do what we do. Added to that, we have a large, devoted fan-base of viewers who give us a lot of clear feedback about what we are doing, and a very appreciative set of bosses within the BBC, who have been very supportive of the team's fabulous work, particularly over the last couple of years. Even the Director General is (allegedly) an avid fan. So what's not to enjoy?

Timewatch doesn't obey any set formula, but has always embraced the latest techniques to bring history to life. For example, during the 80s it first used "re-enactments". In the past 3 years, the advent low budget, high quality computer generated imagery (CGI) has allowed us to tackle stories that we might not have attempted before. One of my favourite examples was The Killer Wave of 1607, a film which traced the forgotten floods of that year as detailed in the chronicles, and followed two scientists who'd become convinced that they had been caused by a Tsunami. It was impossible to imagine this film without recreating the sense of the damage the floods wrought, and this we did by combining CGI with re-enctments filmed in a submersion tank. The critics judged them “chillingly effective". I agreed. Sometimes history on TV has to chill your bones to succeed. Other times, you simply want to see what something really looked like, and the CGI in Britain's Lost Colosseum, or the recent Gunpowder Plot succeeded brilliantly in bringing amazing lost buildings back to life.

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Content last updated: 09/01/2006

The man behind the programmes

John Farren has been the Editor of Timewatch for 3 years. Previously he worked on a wide variety of programmes within the BBC, from biography series Reputations to more populist programmes like Airport and Children's Hospital. John has also worked outside the BBC for Channel 4 and ITV. But this is his best job ever!