'Solving History
With Olly Steeds,' fun
Discovery series purports to probe history's puzzles
By Tom Conroy
Jan 12, 2010
As the guys in Monty Python proved, silliness works better with a British accent.
The Discovery Channel’s “Solving History With Olly Steeds,” a new documentary series in which the titular British journalist investigates archeological mysteries, is almost pure nonsense, but it’s enjoyable nonsense.
In the premiere episode, airing this Wednesday at 10 p.m., Steeds goes on an expedition to find the Ark of the Covenant — which, as Indiana Jones fans already know, was actually stored and forgotten in a secret government warehouse back in the 1930s.
The journey takes him from the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem to a monastery in Ethiopia that, according to the traditions of the local Christians, houses the original Ark, the gilded box in which the tablets bearing the Ten Commandments were stored. Along the way, Steeds indulges himself in a lot of pointless bustle that is meant to build suspense or, at least, eat up an hour of airtime.
In Jerusalem, in order to test the tradition that after the sacking of the First Temple, the Ark was spirited out of Jerusalem through a tunnel that runs under the city, he has a carpenter build an appropriately sized box, puts two stone tablets in it and carries it through the tunnel.
He talks with a masked smuggler who sets him up with Bedouin guides to take him through the desert near Israel, where Steeds takes part in the travelogue tradition of sampling a disgusting local delicacy, in this case goat testicles.
And he spends a lot of time talking about how he’s planning to talk to someone about getting access to various artifacts. “The plot thickens,” he says at one point when the plot is not thickening at all.
Steeds’ narration occasionally succumbs to the typical bloat of travel writing. Standing before a familiar cityscape, he says, “In Hebrew, it’s Yerushalayim, in Arabic, al Quds. And in English, of course, this place is Jerusalem.”
Since it’s clear that if Steeds had actually found the Ark, we would have heard of it by now, the suspense is minimal. What will keep most viewers tuned in is Steeds himself. Speaking in a trendy “mockney” accent, he’s an attractive presence. And despite all the hyped-up narration, he doesn’t take himself too seriously.
After sampling that aforementioned local delicacy, Steeds says, “I wish God had come up with an 11th commandment: Thou shalt not eat testicles.”
The locations are picturesque, and the producers use one neat special effect: Realistic-looking reconstructions of ancient buildings are superimposed on actual footage.
Viewers will pick up a few historical tidbits, but they are advised not to pay too close attention. Otherwise, they may come to the same realization that Steeds does at one point: “There’s clearly something going on here,” he says, “but I’m not entirely sure what.”
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