“End of Empire” (Channel 4, 1985) and the Public Memory of Decolonisation in Britain

The dissolution of Empire was a defining moment in modern British history, with deep political and cultural ramifications to this day. However, this centrality has not always been matched by an equally prominent role in British public memory. For this reason, it is worth investigating instances specifically dedicated to this process. This chapter analyses an important and indicative cultural product released in the mid-Thatcher years. The documentary series End of Empire, produced by Brian Lapping and Norma Percy for Granada TV and aired on Channel 4 in 1985, represents one of television’s earliest and most comprehensive attempts to come to terms with the end of the British Empire and its legacy in terms of historical responsibility. In its expansive 14 episodes covering some of most contentious decolonisation episodes, including India, Kenya, Rhodesia, and Palestine among others, End of Empire offered an ambitious attempt to ‘swing the pendulum’ of British public memory of Empire at a crucial moment of transition in the formation of ‘imperial memory’ and its relation with shifting notions of British national identity (Howe 2012). Drawing on Ann Laura Stoler’s image of ‘colonial aphasia’ (2011), the article discusses the series and the public debate it engendered. In general terms, the discussion of End of Empire was marked by a ‘conditional’ acceptance of its main argument that decolonisation was marked by widespread tensions in the colonies (Lapping 1985). However, this acceptance was replete with caveats, deflections, and balance sheets across the political spectrum, including from prominent political figures such as former PM James Callaghan. In thus doing, the article offers a case study of an important moment in the still ongoing process of coming to terms with the historical responsibility of Empire in Britain and illustrates some of the long-term reasons for its current contentiousness.