Watch Dr Matthew Nicholls on BBC Four
Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Dr Matthew Nicholls advises the BBC on location
Dr Matthew Nicholls, Senior Lecturer in Ancient History stars in Rome: The History of the Eternal City.
Dr Nicholls' work in the history and consequent digital reconstruction of ancient Rome, which he researches and teaches here at Reading, caught the attention of the BBC. He was asked to be a consultant to the programme makers regarding the long, religious history of the capital city, and subsequently was flown to Rome to film in the Capitoline Museum for the programme.
In his three part series, presenter Simon Sebag Montefiore sets off to explore the fabric of the city of Rome to see the beliefs which are bound into the DNA of the city and its citizens throughout its existence. From its founding myth to the present day he uncovers some of Rome's best kept secrets and casts a fresh light on one of the most captivating cities there has ever been.
Dr Nicholls is also heavily involved in the Roman Scotland programme, where the makers wanted to bring some of the sites of Roman Scotland back to life, to illustrate how and why Rome failed to conquer Scotland permanently. Many of the archaeological sites do not have many standing surface remains, so digital reconstruction is used to create vivid images to convey to the audience what the Roman sites once looked this.
Matthew said: "I thoroughly enjoyed working with the BBC on these projects. There were various unusual challenges involved, from negotiating muddy fields full of temperamental livestock to matching up the flightpaths of digital animations with aerial footage shot from a helicopter, which do not form part of my usual working day, so it all made an invigorating change.
"It was a pleasure to work with the well-informed, enthusiastic, and generous BBC team and to visit some magnificent sites in Scotland and great to be able to publicise some of the work we do here at the University. I'd certainly jump at the chance to do more of the same."
The series will is available on BBC iPlayer.
Matthew Nicholls will be talking about the Virtual Rome project at MERL on Wednesday 6 February. Everyone is welcome find out more here >>>