Why are BBC dramas so obsessed with rewriting history?

If there was a Bafta award for Most Woke Television Drama, a BBC production would win every year hands down. Consider some of 2020’s highlights alone: Noughts and Crosses, set in an alternate world where the ruling class is black and in which white people are the victims of racism; My Name is Leon, about a mixed-race boy growing up in care; and A Suitable Boy, a drama about arranged marriages with an entirely Indian cast. And of course, there’s always the female lead in Doctor Who, a series that now features storylines about civil rights, the environment and even allusions to Brexit.

That’s fine really, and nothing new by the BBC’s dependably grating track record. The real problem, however, is when the Corporation starts tinkering with historical drama or stories adapted from classic literature. Last year, it released an interpretation of War of The Worlds, in which a nameless minor character from the 1898 HG Wells novel was given a leading role.