Stuff the British Stole

One of the most important shows to watch as we slowly decolonise globally.

I believe the low reviews are due to how controversial the content is. This show has been review bombed, unfortunately. In Australia in particular, there are many British/ colonial sympathisers as it was built into our culture. I think it's quite telling that the highest rated episode is the one about Scotland and the lowest is about Palestine. Many Australians have Scottish heritage (myself included) and are able to sympathise with this story and yet cannot understand that the Palestinians went through similar colonial struggles to Scotland - if not worse.

It's important to watch this with an open mind and understand the facts presented without feelings getting in the way. It is well researched and empathetic to all those who have been negatively impacted by the British empire 10/10 But Not for the sensitive colonial sympathisers.

I can understand nations wanting their ancient irreplaceable treasure returned. However, many of those treasures would have been destroyed or lost if the British had not stolen them. For example, the Nazis stole many art works from nations they conqurered and a large percentage have never been found. They were either destroyed during the fighting or ended up in private collections where they are still located. I believe that many European countries secretly shipped some of their most valued treasures to Britain just prior to or early on in WWII in order to safeguard them. These were of course returned. And look at what IS did to ancient statues. Just blew them up.

Ignore all the 1 star reviews if you're actually interested in the topic of looted artifacts. From the comments I've read in other places it would seem most of the blind negativity towards this show comes from mostly ignorant and insecure people who frankly don't seem to care about history at all.

The show is well produced and well researched, they go across the entire world just to get the viewpoints from experts both from the original cultures and the places where an item is kept.

The main message is this: The history of looted and 'stolen' artifacts and items that have deep cultural and historical significance is often deeply complicated, and often the question of where they truly belong is just as complicated.

The history of imperialism everywhere has historically been very bloody, we see this all the time where there is war and strife and where one culture seeks to prove themselves as superior. The survivors of the culture viewed as 'inferior' are just that, a culture and they want to know and keep their history just like everyone else, and in my opinion, everyone deserves that much.

Great show, charming host, very educational and important for the discussion of this difficult topic.

This is a fairly light-weight show about the current issue of restitution of objects from Western institutions, especially those acquired during the course of the British Empire. The "Stole" in the title should be in quotes, and there is an undercurrent of good old "Pom bashing" from the Australian presenter.

I haven't seen all of the new series, but the earlier ones were well told. The old classics were included as well as others. Some some episodes were quite ingenious, such as pegging a story about the reprisal destruction of the Chinese Emperor's Palace, on an Officer's rescue of a stray dog from the ruins.

The real issue driving the series is that of restoring artifacts to their original home, and this is only obscured by having to suppose that they were all "stolen". Whether the "Elgin marbles" were bought legitimately or not is a side-issue - should they now be displayed at the temple they came from. A trade in Maori trophy heads is hardly theft, but we are much more sensitive about human remains today. Etc etc.