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Documentary series · BBC

Civilisation

British documentary TV series on Western art and philosophy (BBC 1969)

Verification status: Imported automatically from public Wikidata and Wikipedia records; not yet reviewed by an editor. Fields we could not find are marked “Not verified”.

Research date: 2026-11-08

Synopsis

Civilisation: A Personal View by Kenneth Clark is a 1969 British television documentary series written and presented by the art historian Sir Kenneth Clark.

Its thirteen episodes outline the history of Western art, architecture and philosophy since the Dark Ages. It was produced by the BBC and aired from February to May 1969 on BBC2. Then, and in later transmissions in Britain, the United States and other countries, it reached an unprecedented number of viewers for an art series. Its production standards were praised and set the pattern for subsequent television documentary series. The New Yorker described it as revelatory for the general viewer.

Clark's 1969 book Civilisation: A Personal View, based on the series, has never been out of print, and the BBC's DVD issue of the series in 2005 has remained in the catalogues.

Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Key facts

Official title
Civilisation
Alternative titles
Not verified
Original release
1969-02-23 – 1969-05-18
Country of production
United Kingdom
Language
English
Genres
documentary television program
Seasons
Not verified
Episodes
13
Directors
Michael Gill, Peter Montagnon, Ann Turner
Producers
Not verified
Production company
British Broadcasting Corporation
Presenters
Kenneth Clark
Official website
Not verified
Official trailer
Not verified

Streaming

Listed service
BBC
Original or licensed
Original — public records list BBC as the original network or distributor (BBC Two).
Available now in UK
Not yet checked
Available now in Ireland
Not yet checked
Available now in US
Not yet checked
Past availability
Not verified

Episodes, events and timeline

Episode titles, summaries, running times, key events and a timeline have not been researched for this series yet. We'll add them only once they can be checked against reliable sources.

Sources