Bennett's George III on the small screen: An inquiry into televisual adaptations of the past

This article aims to initiate a discussion about the extent to which adaptation studies could help analyse and make transparent the intricate processes involved in today's history making. In order to do so, it presents, as a case study, an analysis of a televisual history programme, which relied heavily on a stage play for its biographical portrayal of a king. Television is chosen as the point of departure because, on the one hand, it is one of the most important mediums involved in conveying the past to the public, and on the other, it has been neglected by scholars of historiography and film to a considerable extent.