Extravagant, theatrical, and lavishly expensive, the social world of Louis XIV’s opulent new palace of Versailles is surely a thrilling topic for any documentary. An energetic companion to the new BBC Two drama Versailles, the perhaps predictably titled The Real Versailles is nonetheless engaging and innovative. Indeed, it uses an original new structure that could easily have gone wrong. Whilst viewers have long been used to the incorporation of brief (usually silent) clips of visual drama within the documentary format, the inclusion of comparatively longer scenes taken from the Versailles drama is rather less standard. Yet any risk of confusing fictional interpretation with factual history is smoothly eradicated by the scrupulous attention to detail of the production team, and of its presenters Helen Castor and Lucy Worsley. 

The use of clips from the TV drama actually provides useful opportunities for the examination of the mythological qualities associated with the history of a place as overwhelmingly iconic as Versailles. Preceding Castor and Worsley’s discussion of the real-life relationship of Louis XIV and his valet with the drama’s creative interpretation of it, for example, allows the viewer to engage directly with the challenge of interpreting a past that can only ever be glimpsed at. The aim of turning viewers into inquiring historical thinkers is ably fulfilled through this encouragement neither to dismiss the dramatic power of the television series, nor to rely upon its depiction as historical fact. A clever technique, fuelled by the unquenchable enthusiasm of Castor and Worsley, it becomes a dynamic element of the way in which this documentary stretches the mould for historical television.

In keeping with Lucy Worsley’s usual style of documentary-making, there is of course some dressing up. Used as a vehicle for the discussion of court dress at Versailles in the late seventeenth-century, however, this is preserved as a moment for understanding material culture rather than for theatrical interpretation. It bridges the gap between the dramatic and the historic without detracting from the imaginative recreation of Louis XIV’s court provided by the creative efforts of a film studio whose aim was to recreate a glamorously engaging vision of the past that would captivate rather than simply inform. But it’s not all about sweeping visualisations either: using paper dolls to narrate the history of Louis XIV’s love-life is an enormously fun way of getting to grips with such a complex network of personalities and relationships.

With such an engaging format and style, it’s only unfortunate that the programme seems to end rather abruptly. Here, for once, its function as a companion to the TV series may provide a potential problem, since the documentary focuses only on the same chronological territory as the drama and thus outlines only the early stages of the Palace’s, and of Louis XIV’s, life. It does this job extremely well, though, providing a fascinating and informative format that uses the TV series as a dramatic springboard to launch the viewer into the thrilling realm of late-seventeenth century political and social history. That it leaves its audience longing to know more of the Palace’s role in Louis XIV’s later life is only testimony to the success of the documentary’s engaging style, innovative structure, and, above all, concise attention to historical detail.

The Real Versailles was first broadcast on BBC Two on May 30th 2016. It is currently available for UK residents to view on BBC iPlayer.