Period dramas are both an important part of the production of television series of Anglo-American majors, and the only, or one of the few relations between a large number of users/citizens (scattered everywhere in the world) and history. In particular, US and UK productions have "re-constructed", through highly successful period dramas, the idea and the image of the XX century for a growing number of spectators/ citizens. The three important issues that emerge (social inclusion, women’s emancipation and fear of the internal enemy) have their origins in a solid tradition of the Anglo- Saxon academic historiography: they have become classics, but in their television version also and primarily reflect the everyday questions of contemporary politics.
Keywords: XX secolo, Memoria storica, Period drama, Industria dell’intrattenimento, Usa