My favourite TV shows of all time are Succession, Mad Men, and The Crown. I’m really into period drama, which is why I love the last two, and I’m really into period drama, which is why I love the first. Succession is a period drama, and that is a hill I will die on. Maybe it’s the archive clips in the credits, Shiv’s power suits, which have a hint of Thatcher about them, or the vague sense that the show has its roots in that 80s classic, Dynasty. But I guess the real reason it feels like a period drama is because it’s set now, and now feels like a particularly pivotal moment in history, a tipping point of a time, one which will be picked apart by future historians as they try to work out who, of all the buffoons, villains and charlatans wielding power, was the worst.

Which brings me to The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty, the BBC’s warts ‘n’ all doc about the notorious family media empire, with Rupert at its dark heart. This is a period drama too, because it takes us back to the late 90s, when Rupey had a big gathering on a yacht to choose which of his heirs was going to take up the mantle. Would it be Shiv, Roman or Kendall? Yep, this doc really wants us to get that the Murdochs inspired Succession. The use of archive footage, the tinny piano soundtrack, the fact that at one point the voiceover namechecks the show is all a knowing wink to us Logan Roy fans. But then Tony Blair turns up to rock the boat, and it veers off course somewhat. I’m not sure who he would be in Succession. GREG?

I’d forgotten Murdoch appointed Blair as godfather to one of his children, demonstrating the extent to which Tony’s wooing of the mogul worked. He danced with the devil, and was then locked into the waltz. This first episode is all about how New Labour had to enter an uneasy Faustian pact in order to secure power and sunny Sun headlines. It’s disturbing, but I also didn’t quite buy that Murdoch was as much of a kingmaker as the doc would have us believe. Blair can match him for dark arts, and I reckon he would have got there on his own by hook or some other crook. But I kept wondering if Tony takes his godparental duties seriously – do he and Grace Murdoch still hang out? Does he take an interest in her spiritual development? If anything – God help us – were to happen to Rupert, would he step in? Could Jesse Armstrong maybe write a show about that?

Anyway, this is a fun, gossipy doc, and in a weird way it reminded me of The Crown, my other favourite period drama, because I thought I knew the history, but I didn’t really know it, and had an urge to keep checking things on Wikipedia. Do you remember Wendi Deng slapping the guy who threw a foam pie at Murdoch while he was giving evidence in the phone-hacking enquiry? Blast from the past! I had to google it immediately.

The thing I don’t like about this documentary though, is the talking heads. They’re almost all men, and several of them are complete pricks who I’ve heard more than enough of. Piers Morgan, Andrew Neil, Peter Oborne, Ni*gel fucking F*rage. There’s a moment when his mic is adjusted and he says, ‘off-the-record’, that he asked ‘him’ (i.e. the Dark Lord) if he should appear on the show – ‘if he’d said no, I wouldn’t have done it.’ BOASTING about being under the Murdoch cosh? Way to take back control, Nige.

The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty is a bunch of cobbled-together old clips, and a bunch of hobnobbed-together old codgers trying to make out they were close to the throne. I don’t really know what else to say about this show, except that it’s not as good as Succession. But then, what is? Succession is period drama, par excellence.

Sorry about the slapdash nature of this week’s blog btw – I had to knock it off in a hurry, because I’m busy re-writing Book 2 for my publisher, which is owned by… um…

• The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty, 3 episodes, BBC Two