Five history documentaries you need to binge

Clap board (2017). Credit: Jakob Owens

Getting your TV history fix can be a painful chore, but we’ve got a list of exactly what you want

History documentaries can be, well quite awful to be honest. Some are cringey (either due to boring historians, painful re-enactments, or both), most are about Elizabeth I or Henry VIII, and occasionally they’re accused of being whitewashed (Tourmaline, a transgender activist, filmmaker, and writer, claimed the famous 2015 Marsha P. Johnson documentary was her idea that had been stolen). And yet, sometimes there are gems. We picked out five documentaries (old and new) to get you through.

1. The Queen

Before Ru Paul’s Drag Race too over our screens, before the iconic 1990 film Paris is Burning, and even before the 1969 Stonewall riots, The Queen provides an artefact window into LGBTQ culture. Set in 1967, the documentary details the five days leading up to the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest. This was a competition organised by Flawless Sabrina, an LGBTQ activist; the film itself was funded by one of the judges, Andy Warhol. This is a rare moment for people in 2020 to truly see what the climate of the 60s, and ideas of queerness, were before the liberation movement.

Available on: Netflix

2. A House Through Time:

Renowned historian David Olusoga, has been tracing the histories’ of houses, and the lives of their residents, for three seasons; the latest instalment, delving into an 18th century home in Bristol, once again shows how fascinating the lives of “ordinary” people are. Digging deep into newspapers and archives, and speaking with living descendants, Olusoga intertwines these personal narratives into wider discussions of the past and present with ease.

Available on: BBC Two and iPlayer

3. Warrior Women with Lupita Nyong’o

If you’re a lover of Marvel, then this is right up your street. This epic documentary follows Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o discovering that the badass Wakanda female warriors in Black Panther, Nyong’o played Nakia, are inspired by truly remarkable, and cutthroat, female Agoji warriors from Benin, West Africa. This documentary serves as a rumoured precursor to an upcoming blockbuster film, starring Nyong’o alongside Viola Davies, based on these women.

Available on: All 4

4. Wu Zetian: China’s Forgotten Emperor

Concubine. Empress. Tyrant. Intellectual, Wu Zetian is one of the most interesting political players you have probably never heard of. In Channel 4’s 2016 documentary, China’s only female emperor is brought into the mainstream – controversial rise (and posthumous fall) and all. By giving a more historically balanced portrayal of this controversial figure, viewers can look beyond the traditional Confucian narrative, which merely saw her as a lecherous, power hungry woman.

Available on: All 4

5. Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution

A summer camp that spring boarded some of America’s most influential disability rights activists has finally been spotlighted in an award-winning documentary. Beginning in 1971, Camp Jened was a free-thinking and inclusive summer camp in New York for teenagers with disabilities. However, it becomes so much more; it inspired these young people and their councillors to fight for equality. The documentary focuses on Larry Allison, Judith Heumann, James LeBrecht, Denise Sherer Jacobson, and Stephen Hofmann.

Available on: Netflix