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Airdate: Stuff The British Stole

History is contested in a new factual series as Marc Fennell explores how relics ended up in British museums -and meets those who want them back.

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New factual series Stuff The British Stole, based on a podcast by Marc Fennell, screens on ABC in November.

Fennell explores how relics housed in museums with polite plaques really came to be there and meets those who want them back.

The six part series is an Australia-Canada co-production by Wooden Horse, WildBear Entertainment and Cream Productions (Canada).

“This TV series has been the greatest adventure and the biggest challenge of my working life. It’s taken me from deserts in the Middle East to ornate European palaces. I’ve traipsed into hidden vaults and the wild landscapes of Canada. Each of these mysteries is an emotional rollercoaster with humour and heartbreak. And that’s because our history is messy. But if we can unravel the truth, we can actually start to see ourselves and our world just that little bit clearer,” says Fennell.

The series takes audiences on a globe-trotting, emotional quest for truth, amidst bitterly contested histories. The episodes are as diverse as the Empire itself – each with a remarkable object at its heart.

Over the series, Marc examines the stories behind some of the world’s most iconic and priceless relics including a scandalous diamond at the heart of the crown jewels that millions of Indians and Pakistani’s claim was stolen. He reveals the wild heist of a Scottish relic that has been crucial to the crowning of almost every British Monarch right up until Charles the 3rd and he pieces together the mystery of arguably the most controversial artwork in Australia – a mosaic looted in the middle of a war that saw Britain and Australia clash.

In the lead-up to new stories from Stuff The British Stole on TV, discover Stuff The British Stole podcast in ABC listen.

Production Credit: An Australia-Canada co-production. Co-produced by Wooden Horse, WildBear Entertainment and Cream Productions (Canada) for the ABC and the CBC. Principal production funding from Screen Australia. Financed with support from the Canada Media Fund, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, Ontario Creates, and Content Mint. Executive producers: Richard Finlayson and Jude Troy (Wooden Horse); Alan Erson and Michael Tear (WildBear Entertainment); and David Brady and Kate Harrison (Cream Productions). Co-producer, Writer, Marc Fennell. ABC Commissioning Editor and Executive Producer: Kalita Corrigan. CBC Executive Director of Unscripted Content: Jennifer Dettman. CBC Executive in Charge of Production, Unscripted Content: Nic Meloney. Acting Head of Factual and Culture: Richard Huddleston. FremantleMedia will distribute the series world-wide.

Tuesday 1 November at 8pm on ABC.

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  1. Having been dragged around to museums and art shows around the globe by my mother from a young age as education (not so sure on that score but you never stop learning I was told) finding it somewhat confusing why, what , and where they came from this will be interesting. I’ll be waiting for the can of worms of controversy to burst through.

    1. If you’re interested in that sort of stuff it would be worth tracking down John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight episode from this week in that case, as he delved into museum acquisition of looted objects, both in the past and in recent years (it wasn’t solely about the Brits either, France and the US also featured).

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