Not a bad idea for a television series, then. So why – especially after Marr’s fine histories of modern Britain on BBC Two – was the result last night such a disappointment? One reason may be that the change is so significant it’s still too soon to say much about what it means. More likely perhaps, now that he’s making a documentary series for BBC One, Marr was nervous (or made to be nervous) of risking anything as off-putting as depth or analysis. Either way, this was a programme that for all its globetrotting never really got very far.