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http://Channel 5 has been accused of...eastern front.
http://Channel 5 has been accused of...eastern front.
Channel 5 has been accused of supporting “grave-robbing” over plans for a TV show featuring amateur archaeologists unearthing war graves on Europe’s eastern front.
The UK channel has scheduled the first episode of Battlefield Recovery to air on Saturday at 7.05pm. But archaeologists have launched a campaign calling for executives to cancel the show, which they say brings their profession into disrepute.
The programme is believed to be a rebranded version of a production called Nazi War Diggers, which drew so much criticism when the National Geographic Channel planned to broadcast it in May 2014 that it was scrapped by the broadcaster.
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It features a team of historians, relic hunters and a military antiquities dealer travelling to battlefield sites with metal detectors and unearthing human remains and military hardware.
Production company Clearstory is believed to have offered the four one-hour shows to a number of broadcasters, including Channel 5 in the UK and the History Channel in Australia and New Zealand.
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</ASIDE> The History Channel bowed to pressure from archaeologists on Thursday and tweeted: “Due to feedback from our community, we have decided to drop Battlefield Recovery from our schedule. Thank you for sharing your views.”
Campaigners now want Channel 5 to do the same. Dr Tony Pollard, director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at University of Glasgow, said: “The show attracted quite a lot of opposition the first time round. It was a sad indictment of the way TV was going with reality shows and exploitation.”
Pollard, who appeared in BBC Two’s Two Men in a Trench archaeology documentaries, said: “These people who are carrying out these excavations are not archaeologists. If a massive broadcaster such as the National Geographic channel can see sense and pull it, it’s a real disappointment that a terrestrial British channel is showing it.
“The whole thing is hugely distasteful, and is going for that double axis of death and human remains and interest in ‘sexy’ artefacts. They know which buttons to push.”
He added that Clearstory – which had approached him to consult on the show but he had refused – might have “tried to raise the bar” by changing the name from Nazi War Diggers, but the show remained just a “motley crew of metal detectorists and militaria collectors”.
He said: “There was a publicity image of this group posed around an unearthed skeleton – it’s truly distasteful. True archaeologists would tackle such projects with far more sensitivity and treat the dead with much more respect.”
Many archaeologists condemned Channel 5’s decision to show the programme on Twitter.took to Twitter to condemn Channel 5 for showing the programme.</svg>
The UK channel has scheduled the first episode of Battlefield Recovery to air on Saturday at 7.05pm. But archaeologists have launched a campaign calling for executives to cancel the show, which they say brings their profession into disrepute.
The programme is believed to be a rebranded version of a production called Nazi War Diggers, which drew so much criticism when the National Geographic Channel planned to broadcast it in May 2014 that it was scrapped by the broadcaster.
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It features a team of historians, relic hunters and a military antiquities dealer travelling to battlefield sites with metal detectors and unearthing human remains and military hardware.
Production company Clearstory is believed to have offered the four one-hour shows to a number of broadcasters, including Channel 5 in the UK and the History Channel in Australia and New Zealand.
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</ASIDE> The History Channel bowed to pressure from archaeologists on Thursday and tweeted: “Due to feedback from our community, we have decided to drop Battlefield Recovery from our schedule. Thank you for sharing your views.”
Campaigners now want Channel 5 to do the same. Dr Tony Pollard, director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at University of Glasgow, said: “The show attracted quite a lot of opposition the first time round. It was a sad indictment of the way TV was going with reality shows and exploitation.”
Pollard, who appeared in BBC Two’s Two Men in a Trench archaeology documentaries, said: “These people who are carrying out these excavations are not archaeologists. If a massive broadcaster such as the National Geographic channel can see sense and pull it, it’s a real disappointment that a terrestrial British channel is showing it.
“The whole thing is hugely distasteful, and is going for that double axis of death and human remains and interest in ‘sexy’ artefacts. They know which buttons to push.”
He added that Clearstory – which had approached him to consult on the show but he had refused – might have “tried to raise the bar” by changing the name from Nazi War Diggers, but the show remained just a “motley crew of metal detectorists and militaria collectors”.
He said: “There was a publicity image of this group posed around an unearthed skeleton – it’s truly distasteful. True archaeologists would tackle such projects with far more sensitivity and treat the dead with much more respect.”
Many archaeologists condemned Channel 5’s decision to show the programme on Twitter.took to Twitter to condemn Channel 5 for showing the programme.</svg>
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