Tenochtitlan: the coalition behind the conquest
Cortés got the credit. Indigenous armies, interpreters and alliances make the story far larger.
Read the story →
Historical evidence due diligence for factual production and publishing
Research that survives fact-checking.
The Black Archive Research independently tests historically consequential claims before they are relied upon in scripts, manuscripts and production decisions.
We trace assertions to their sources, identify contradiction and evidential weakness, and show what can be retained, what needs qualification and what the record does not support — before unsupported attribution, inherited myth or chronology error becomes an editorial, reputational or production problem.
Documentary & factual production · Publishing & non-fiction · Historical screen development · Professional research
Eighteen public evidence audits, a published methodology and a production-facing sample dossier let you inspect the standard before commissioning private work.
For producers and publishers
Script audit or research dossier?
Match the research to the decision: test a drafted script, establish a subject’s factual foundation or investigate a question the obvious sources cannot resolve.
Explore The Black Archive
The people inside the history.
Conquest, exile, faith and a fatal confession. Start with a story, then follow the surviving record.
Robert Hubert and the Great Fire
A confession, a journey through the ruins and a man hanged for starting the fire. What did the record establish?
Read the story →
Columba of Iona
A man born into power crosses the sea and builds a religious community whose influence reaches far beyond the island.
Read the story →
Britain’s Huguenots
Refugees, faith and the skills that helped transform the places where they settled.
Read the story →Listen to The Black Archive → Browse the public evidence audits →
From the wider Black Archive channel
Classic Novels Explained: The Last Man
The latest literary episode examines Mary Shelley’s 1826 novel. Full plot spoilers; includes AI-generated illustrations.
Where TBAR intervenes
Script or manuscript already drafted
Script Evidence Audit
Claim-by-claim verification before publication, recording or final lock. Material assertions are classified and tied to named sources, with qualification or revision recommended where required.
See the Script Evidence Audit →Development before the script hardens
Research Dossier
A production-ready evidence base built around a defined question: chronology, source hierarchy, contradictions, disputed claims, evidential gaps and a traceable source register.
See the Research Dossier →Complex, contested or archive-heavy questions
Deep Research Dossier
Deeper provenance work, source-lineage tracing, archive and public-record leads, conflicting accounts and unresolved questions where ordinary desk research is not enough.
See the Deep Research Dossier →Professional commissions are quoted by scope. The research question, output, timetable, exclusions, fee and confidentiality requirements are agreed before work begins.
What the audit is designed to catch
Unsupported attribution
A dramatic allegation or quotation repeated without a traceable evidential basis.
Source distortion
Later memoir, press summary or popular retelling silently replacing the original record.
Chronology error
People, events or administrative actions combined into a timeline the primary record does not support.
Overstated certainty
A script or manuscript stating as fact what the evidence only supports as inference, dispute or possibility.
Proof before promise
Sample Evidentiary Dossier
See how source verification becomes a claim register, evidence status and production action.
18 public evidence audits
Inspect complete public casework and judge the source discipline directly.
Open the audits →A stated methodology
Source hierarchy, provenance, contradiction mapping, narrative distortion and evidential classification.
Read the method →Research trail in practice
Follow the Crippen case from repeated claim to checked source, contradiction and corrected finding.
See the research trail →Independent historical evidence control
TBAR’s strongest specialism is historical and archival evidence. The service is not legal advice, broadcaster compliance approval or expert-witness opinion. It provides the source analysis and documented findings that allow producers, publishers and professional advisers to make better-informed editorial and risk decisions.
Research tools, including AI, may accelerate discovery and organisation; they are never treated as evidence. Every load-bearing factual finding in a client-facing deliverable is checked against a named source and human-reviewed before delivery.
Before the project reaches the public, establish what the evidence can actually carry.
Send the script, manuscript, treatment or central claim, its intended use and deadline. TBAR will define what can be checked, the most useful deliverable, the timetable and the fee before work begins.