The eighteenth century is a period of British history that is conspicuously absent from TV schedules; seeming marginalised in favour of supposedly more glamorous epochs. And this is something Lucy Worsley herself seems aware of in her new three-part series about the Hanoverian succession, The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain. In her opening gambit, she asks “Why should we care about these Georgians? They didn’t give us the industry of the Victorians, or the sensational head-chopping of Henry VIII; but they did champion the idea of liberty.” The series answers Worsley’s question by telling the story of an understated revolution in Britain’s political, cultural and intellectual life, which laid the foundations of modern Britain during the reign of the first two Georges (1714-1760).

It is just as well that the early Hanoverians championed liberty because the security of liberty was precisely the justification for their accession to the British throne. The Hanoverian dynasty was imported to plug a gap in Britain’s line of protestant successors after Queen Anne failed to produce a male heir to succeed the throne. The Act of Settlement (1701) stipulated that a future monarch must be related to the Stuart line and, most importantly, must be Protestant. It was designed, evidently, to exclude Catholics, who were seen to have absolutist tendencies and to subscribe to the doctrine of Divine Right – a threat to British liberty. And so it was in this precarious constitutional context that the first Georges began their rule: the success of the House of Hanover was far from guaranteed.

Worsley dedicates ample time across the three episodes to exploring the crisis and anxiety underlying the Georgian façade, and the threats to Hanoverian survival. The first Georges had to contend with issues of acceptance as foreigners in Britain, the Jacobite threats of 1715 and 1745, being torn between their new court and homeland back in Hanover, as well as family disputes and resentments in what was “the most dysfunctional royal family since the Tudors”. But the remarkable fact about this instability is that it produced, at least partially, the political institutions that are so cherished today. As Worsley shows in the first episode, George I’s constant trips back to Hanover created a power vacuum, which in turn essentially created cabinet government. Parliament could not operate without the King’s presence, so ministers began meeting in private to discuss policy – meetings headed by Robert Walpole, who was later rewarded by George II with residency at 10 Downing Street in the capacity of First Lord of the Treasury. Similarly, in the second episode we see how the feud between George II and his son, Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707-1751), caused a split in the court, opening up a clearing for effective opposition. Frederick, as the most charismatic and personable Hanoverian, was able to attract dissident Whigs and Tories into a coherent opposition body, later to become the Patriots.

The focus of The First Georgians, to its advantage, is not only on the actions and events of the court, but also on the beneficiary of a limited monarchy: the public. Britain at this time, Worsley asserts, “was becoming the most commercially successful nation in Europe.” And such commerce was driven by the middling sort of professionals, merchants and businessmen. The purchasing power of ordinary citizens led to new forms of patronage as the public turned into paying customers. Examples of new transactions in episode two include the literary in Alexander Pope’s Iliad subscription, the artistic in Hogarth’s prints (Hogarth, whose protectiveness of his business interests led to the first Copyright Act in 1734), and the purely entrepreneurial in Charles Clay’s organ clock that played music by Handel. Increasing disposable income meant the public could afford to pay for leisure activities and luxury goods. Treatment here is given to the popularity of coffee houses, newspapers, periodicals, and the novel. Moreover, Worsley explains how the rise of an informed and autonomous public complements and fortifies the nascent democratic structure being developed under the Hanoverians.

Indeed, Worsley does an admirable job of weaving all of the elements she discusses together into a coherent narrative whole, which makes for a pleasingly textured series. And this is probably best illustrated in the third episode, in which incidentally the tone darkens a little. The future of the Hanoverian dynasty was only meaningfully secure once the Stuart claims to the throne had been seen off. This was achieved in 1745 when the Duke of Cumberland halted the Jacobite rebellion, then massacred the Highlanders in the fields of Culloden – an event which leads Worsley and Dr Tony Pollard to broach the question of ethnic cleansing. We are then moved on from the Highland Scots to the sophisticated Scots of the Scottish Enlightenment, who were highly educated, progressive, and whose skills found use and demand in Britain’s colonies and trade networks. From the colonies we are moved on to “empire commodities” (tea, Indian textiles), and then to the dark underbelly of trade and the navy: the transportation of slaves and slave labour which contributed significantly to the production of the luxury goods consumed in Britain. Despite having to cover so much ground, the thematically-developed narrative moves seamlessly and with ease.

Texture is also provided with the range of sources drawn on in the exposition, the chief among which are Georgian artworks. This is understandable given that the series is a product of a partnership between the BBC and the Royal Collection Trust, which is currently running an exhibition titled The First Georgians: Art and Monarchy 1714-1760 (read the Criticks review by Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly). Worsley, with the aid of the curator of the Royal Collection, Desmond Shawe-Taylor, delivers interpretations of art and architecture which reveal “hidden messages”. A portrait of the Hanoverians, for example, is read as “the fulfilment of the destiny of the Glorious Revolution”. Another example is the portrait of Augusta and her children after the death of her husband Frederick, which is her “manifesto” to become the matriarch of the Hanoverian dynasty and protector of the realm. A kind of public relations is read through the medium of art. The Hanoverians are shown as keen to court the favour of the public; this was an important aspect of their success and survival in an anxious and unstable period.

Overall, the series is a well-executed overview of an often overlooked period delivered by an always lively presenter, and will capture the interest of both students of the eighteenth century and those discovering the period for the first time.

The First Georgians was first broadcast on BBC 4 between May 1st and May 15th 2014.