Searching for the Origins of Islam? Don't

Were the Arabs of the seventh century Muslim at all? Tom Holland, the populariser of ancient history in bestsellers such as Rubicon, which examined the triumph and tragedy of the Roman Republic, kept on asking questions like that during Islam: the Untold Story (Channel 4). Untold it remained. After scrolling through typescripts on microfilm he exclaimed, “There’s nothing there,” as if it was rather annoying that Mohammed had not taken the trouble to leave behind a miniaturised account on spools of celluloid.

That wasn’t the most annoying thing for the viewer of this disjointed programme. If the microfilm machine made an unpleasant whirring it was nothing to the lengthy scenes in old Jerusalem punctuated by repeated robotic gasps made by security cameras on street walls.