Houses of Power

Historian Dr Simon Thurley explores the meaning and influence of the buildings where the most powerful men and women live and work. Going behind the doors and into the history or 10 Downing Street, The White House and the Kremlin, Thurley looks at the politics of and within the buildings.

This documentary sat on my hard drive for about a month before I got around to watching it. Each time I came to watch a film, something "easier" or "better" took my fancy instead and I never seemed to be in the mood for a dry documentary on history and architecture. Tonight I decided to give it a spin and I was very glad I did – indeed I was kicking myself at some of the rubbish I have seen in the last month that I put before this fascinating film.

Far from being a "dry documentary" this film is consistently engaging on many levels. Most obviously, we get to take a walk through Downing Street and the Kremlin and see things that I had never seen before. The access to the White House is disappointingly (but unsurprisingly) denied but I found the tour of some of the rooms in the Kremlin to be of great value. However further to this we have a really well structured and selected history of the buildings and the people within them – their actions towards the buildings and how the original designs reflected the style and approach of the rulers at the time. Obviously the comparatively short time means that this is not an exhaustive history of Russian, British and North American politics but Thurely does a great job of selecting his material to make the film feel fresh and interest without it feeling too superficial.

It helps that Thurley is not only a great presenter but that he has a lot of passion for his subject; these two thing together mean that he effortlessly passes this onto the audience and makes the film so much fun. Hard to describe how good it is but suffice to say that it is really worth checking out. It isn't detailed enough to impress experts but the casual viewer will enjoy it as it brings the history of these buildings alive and make it effortlessly accessible without ever feeling like it has been dumbed down even a little.