Writer & award-winning documentary producer. Host @Creating_Hist; producer @true_crims. Co-author, SUZY LAMPLUGH. History, media, crime & technology.

London
Joined March 2009
How do you win a war with allies you don’t trust? ALLIED BY WAR Historian David Reynolds and I explore Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt’s uneasy Second World War alliance, and the bargains that shaped our world. A new 13-part Creating History series launches today. pod.link/1772845516
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Russell Barnes retweeted
A longer read on BBC cuts: -BBC not halfway to £500m goal -More radical savings required -BBC Sounds under threat? -Bosses mulled axing CBBC -1,200 of 2k layoffs confirmed -Industrial action threat lingers -Concern at charter talks urgency deadline.com/2026/10/inside-…
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Charles Bronson is the sort of man I instinctively recoil from. But what does a belief in rehabilitation mean if it only extends to people we find sympathetic? My new Substack, drawing on our work at podcast True Criminals @true_crims Link in reply.
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A week after Hitler invaded, Stalin retreated to his dacha and refused calls from colleagues. What happens to a state built around one man when he falls apart? David Reynolds, Allied by War, episode 2. pod.link/1772845516
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The old world order seems to be breaking down. So what does history teach us about how you keep an alliance together when your partners keep misunderstanding each other? David Reynolds on the private tensions behind the public unity of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin during World War Two. 🎙️ Allied by War, episode 1 out now. pod.link/1772845516
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“If Hitler invaded hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons!” Churchill on the logic of siding with Stalin. David Reynolds explains in Allied by War, episode 1. pod.link/1772845516
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In 2003, I asked my old Cambridge tutor to help me on a film about the Stauffenberg plot to blow up Hitler. That led to 20 years of making history programmes with David Reynolds, and now our podcast Allied by War. I’ve written about how it happened, and the BBC Four we’ve lost. Link below.
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From a CGI Hitler and a balloon over Chartwell to Allied by War: russellbarnes.substack.com/p… And you can find Creating History on your usual podcast app here: pod.link/1772845516
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My great-grandfather was photographed holding a beer while his companions held scythes. His wife wasn’t impressed. Who took it? Did it appear in Country Life Illustrated? I’m trying to solve a family photographic mystery from the 1890s. Link to article in reply.
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A Photo Out of Sequence: russellbarnes.substack.com/p… Please pass this on to anyone who knows Victorian photography, old illustrated magazines or the Sherborne-area photographers Adam Gosney and the Chaffins. Another print or a caption could make all the difference.
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I spend hours listening to people pontificating about politics inside my head. Politics podcasts promise rigorous debate. So why do the hosts so often end up in the same place? Disagreeing Agreeably: a producer’s review, with an unscientific chart to disagree with... Link in reply.
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Russell Barnes retweeted
Most TV is just this now.
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The Lives of Others heads for the West End. Britain announces a National Centre for Information Defence. Quite a double bill. We know to distrust the state on stage. Offstage, we’re supposed to applaud its good intentions. My Substack on online freedom. Link in reply.
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Russell Barnes retweeted
Charles was an adulterer who treated his very young wife poorly. Charles and Camilla were both married when they continued their affair, and Diana was left to deal with the consequences in the public eye. Let’s stop normalising the royal family’s history of harmful behaviour. The British Empire was built through colonisation, violence and the exploitation of people and resources across the globe. Diana’s security was withdrawn, the media relentlessly scrutinised her, and her reputation was repeatedly attacked. Powerful men and institutions have too often been protected by their status while women are disbelieved, discredited or silenced. A title doesn’t exempt anyone from accountability or make them a good person. From the abuse scandals involving members of the clergy to the allegations and convictions surrounding powerful figures such as Andrew and Epstein, we should be asking why society continues to give extraordinary power and protection to people simply because of their position. Abolish the nonsense. No title should put anyone above accountability. #Ibelieveherbrother
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