Stuff the British Stole on ABC and ABC iview S2E8 – For years, visitors to the British Museum have been puzzled by an exhibit: a sphinx that looks almost identical to those from Egypt, except it’s not from Egypt.
It’s actually from Haida Gwaii, a stunning archipelago on Canada’s west coast. It was carved by the Haida Indigenous people. How – and why – did they create a perfect replica of an Egyptian sphinx?
If you turn the sculpture around, you will notice a tiny detail that begins to unravel this wild story.
In this final episode, Marc Fennell takes us to Egypt, where the original Sphinx stands tall, across the seas to the epic windswept landscapes of Haida Gwaii, and back to London, the heart of the empire, in his quest to unravel the mystery.
The ravages of smallpox also had a crucial impact on the journey of the mysterious sculpture. By the late 1870s, the Haida population had declined dramatically, with many villages left empty. It’s in one of those villages that the British Museum catalogue claims that the sphinx was found. But how did it make its way to one of the most famous museums in the world?
This episode explores the impact of religion and missionaries in Indigenous communities, through the story of one of the most surprising objects in the British Museum, and one already wrapped in mystery.
Production credit:
An Australia-Canada co-production, Stuff the British Stole is co-produced by Wooden Horse, WildBear Entertainment and Cream Productions (Canada) for the ABC and CBC. Major production investment from Screen Australia. Financed with support from Rogers Cable Network Fund, the Government of Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, Canada Media Fun, Screen NSW and VicScreen.
FremantleMedia will distribute the series world-wide.
Creator, Writer, Director and Executive Producer: Marc Fennell. Series Writer and Director: Stephanie Weimar.
Executive Producers: David Brady and Kate Harrison Karman (Cream Productions) Michael Tear (WildBear Entertainment); and Richard Finlayson and Jude Troy (Wooden Horse).
Series Producer: Kate Pappas. Producers: Alan Erson and Felicity Justrabo.
CBC Executive Director of Unscripted Content: Jennifer Dettman.
CBC Executive in Charge of Production, Unscripted Content: Nic Meloney.
ABC Commissioning Editor and Executive Producer: Kalita Corrigan. ABC Head of Factual: Susie Jones
Stuff The British Stole on ABC and ABC iview – Monday 5 August, 2024 at 8.00pm
Media Release – ABC
TV Central ABC content HERE
Stuff the British Stole on ABC and ABC iview S2E8
