Tony McMahon – TV historian offering all-round expertise in documentaries

At a time when budgets are tight, AI is filling more roles, and time is precious – I’m not just an on-screen contributor – but a historian with a media background in print, TV, and online who can give you a full-service offering.

I’m an ex-BBC producer, Sky News reporter, a decade of documentary making under my belt, award short-listed book author, blogger, and confident with live rolling news appearances.

This is what I offer:

• On-screen topic expertise. The ability to take complex issues and stories and make them compelling and entertaining for audiences with challenged attention spans
• Fact-checking scripts and adding the magic that hooks the viewer or user
• Consultancy from concept to realisation on screen – working with producers, distributors, and networks to develop new documentary ideas
• Creating content around documentaries from podcasts to website text articles
• My home in central London has also been used as a studio setting by Sky History and Channel 5 – at present, I do not charge for this service

Contact: tonymcmahon@rostraconsulting.com

In recent years I’ve been a regular history and science contributor on TV documentaries filming all over the world.

I cover Royal scandals and mysteries; science and engineering marvels in history; secrets of the Knights Templar and Holy Grail; the Nazis and the Second World War; the bible and Jesus; evidence for UFOs and extraterrestrials and the wonders of ancient civilisations such as Egypt and the Roman Empire.

My TV appearances grouped around topics:

ROYALTY: I have been a regular commentator on issues around royal scandals and the history of some of the world’s most magnificent palaces. I appeared in several episodes of Private Lives of the Monarchs (UKTV/Smithsonian) and Secrets of the Royal Palaces (Channel 5). This included detailing the lives and loves of monarchs from Louis XIV of France, Peter the Great of Russia, Princess Margaret and Queen Victoria in the UK.

ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE IN HISTORY: On Discovery Science’s Secrets of the Lost Ark I reconstructed a 2,000 year-old Baghdad battery in my kitchen for American TV audiences. I’ve just completed filming for several episodes of a new series on great inventions in history from the Post-It note to photography.

MYSTERIES OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR AND HOLY GRAIL: For over ten years, I’ve run the hugely successful Templar Knight blog covering medieval mysteries. On History, I was a contributor to a Grail quest series called Buried. Also on History, I’ve appeared on several episodes of William Shatner’s The UnXplained discussing the Ark of the Covenant, Holy Grail and strange Templar rituals in Portugal. On Discovery Travel’s America Unearthed I examined evidence of Templar activity in Scotland and also accompanied Saturday Night Live veteran comic Rob Riggle on his Templar investigations.

UFO EVIDENCE AND EXTRA-TERRESTRIALS: I have been a contributor on several seasons of Discovery’s Strange Evidence and NASA’s Unexplained Files discussing UFOs, extraterrestrial life, paranormal activity and unexplained phenomena. On Dutch TV, I appeared on location with Dutch actress Georgina Verbaan on the series Am I here alone? I’ve summarised all the main UFO conspiracy theories in a recent YouTube video.

ANCIENT CIVILISATIONS AND THE BIBLE: On several seasons of Forbidden History (UKTV and Discovery), I have discussed the mysteries of Ancient Egypt and the lives of biblical figures such as Moses and Noah. I’ve investigated various aspects of the life of Jesus including theories about his crucifixion and resurrection.

NAZIS AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR: On Forbidden History (UKTV and Discovery), I discussed the early years of Adolf Hitler when he was sent to prison and whether scurrilous rumours about his anatomy were true! I’ve examined all the stories about stolen Nazi treasure; the Nazis and the occult and the escape routes taken by leading Nazis after the Second World War.

Below we have British TV presenter Jamie Theakston and the production team from Like A Shot Entertainment filming for UKTV in my study at home!