Rent The Great Fire (2017)

More Heat than Light - The Great Fire review by CV

This is self-consciously a popular documentary where presentation is on an equal par with content. Fire is the theme and this motif is omnipresent visually to the point of ridiculous obsession: in interview scenes the camera will suddenly alight on a candle flame or a fire that happens to be burning in a grate. We are constantly being told that it was the greatest fire in London - why would this programme be made if it wasn't? Also there is much gasping, hyperventilation and wild-eyed stares over statistics and measurements that do not mean very much on their own. There was one moment of unintended black humour that I noticed: we were told that the fire reached 1000 C and a moment later that it was recorded that a man had lost his life returning to his house for a blanket! Finally the whole series is marred by a advert break every few minutes - with more burning flames each time.

Three presenters follow the fortunes of three trades people from different classes and so a personal angle is introduced. Although Pepys is referred to it was a pity we didn't hear his firsthand descriptions of the fire which were more terrifying in words than in the mock-up experiments shown in the programme.

Should have been better but educational all the same and well worth a watch for a history lesson - The Great Fire review by AB

Over the 3 programmes, every known fact and story applicable to the tragedy was given to us, with personal stories of 3 Londoners, but historical facts, modern-day surviving artefacts and stonework and re-enactments were well done (albeit with cheap graphics). However, what was too irritating was the repetitive push that the programme was about The Fire of London - we know that ( the clue is in the title); that the London in question was a tinder-box (anyone with any knowledge of history would know that buildings were wooden in those days) and that it spread quickly- the presenters kept repeating these, as if speaking to an audience with goldfish-memory syndrome. The replica burning buildings at the School of Firefighting were educational, as was the temperature measuring and calculations, and I would have loved to have seen an experiment showing the river of molten lead from St Pauls. The saving of the Tower of London was shown to be a real positive, due to the fact that it was an arms dump, but I'm afraid that because it was originally shown on a commercial TV channel, the advert breaks would have driven me to distraction - even their removal here without the removal of the 'welcome back' speech preyed on me and the whole thing would have been better as a 2-part, rather than 3-part, series. If you ever invent a time machine, avoid London in 1665 AND 1666 - it won't end well otherwise. Watch the series, despite my misgivings on it.