Lucy Worsley and Len Goodman take to the floor to reveal the untold story of British Dance. Over three episodes, they’ll show how Britain’s favourite popular dances from over the centuries offer a fascinating window into British society and our relationships with one another.
Series which looks at the palaces, tapestries, music and paintings created in King Henry VIII's name and questions whether they compensate for the religious treasures he later destroyed
This explosive film examines recently discovered letters written by Wallis Simpson that reveal her secret love, and chart her fear as she found herself becoming trapped into marrying Edward VIII.
在第一次世界大战爆发之际，三位皇亲各自统治着欧洲的强大势力：沙俄帝国的沙皇尼古拉斯二世，德国的德皇威廉二世，以及英王乔治五世。这部两集纪录片系列检索了这三位君主在一战爆发中所起到的角色以及战争开始之际他们之间的关系；提论这些元素的影响要比以往的历史学家们所认识的要大的多。
At the outbreak of the First World War three cousins reigned over Europe's greatest powers - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and King George V of England. This two-part series looks at the role played by the three monarchs, and their relationships with each other, in the outbreak of war, arguing that it is far greater than historians have traditionally believed.
Anne Boleyn is one of the most famous and controversial women in British history. In 1536, she became the first queen in Britain's history to be executed. The brutal speed of her downfall, and the astonishing nature of the charges against her - treason, adultery, even incest - makes her story shocking even to this day.
Yet whilst we know how Anne died, the story of why she had to go and who authored her violent end has been the subject of fiery debate across six centuries. In a radical new approach to televised history, a stellar cast of writers and historians, including Hilary Mantel, David Starkey, Philippa Gregory and others, battle out the story of her last days and give their own unique interpretations of her destruction.
Poet Simon Armitage traces the evolution of the Arthurian legend through the literature of the medieval age and reveals that King Arthur is not the great national hero he is usually considered to be. He's a fickle and transitory character who was appropriated by the Normans to justify their conquest, he was cuckolded when French writers began adapting the story and it took Thomas Malory's masterpiece of English literature, Le Mort d'Arthur, to restore dignity and reclaim him as the national hero we know today.
Historian Dr Micheál Ó Siochrú presents award-winning director Maurice Sweeney’s gripping docudrama, which re-evaluates the role and character of England’s most influential democrat. Cromwell: God’s Executioner has drama, excitement and action, combined with a poignant reflection on the horrors of war. If you thought you knew Cromwell, think again.
In the late 16th century Europe was in the grip of a ferocious witch hunt, where thousands were tortured and burnt at the stake. The church was fully behind this terrifying crusade against the imaginary enemies of Christianity. In France and Germany alone up to 40,000 people may have been killed as witches. But England and Scotland were almost untouched by witch persecutions until King James himself decided to launch his own, personal war on witchcraft.
In 1597 King James VI of Scotland published 'Daemonology', a handbook on how to recognise and destroy, witches. The book explored the threat that 'those Detestable slaves of the Devil', posed to James himself. It fuelled waves of witch hunting throughout Britain.
The legacy of James' 'Daemonology' continued throughout the 17th century, and led to the torture and execution of hundreds of women in a series of infamous witch trials. No-one knows exactly how many men and women died in these trials, such as the Pendle trial of 1612, or how many others were killed in cases that never came to court. The documentary reveals the purges in many areas of Britain drew directly on King James' book. Also for the first time, remarkable new archaeological evidence from Cornwall, suggests that witchcraft was actively practiced for centuries, even during the most intense periods of witch-hunting. Experimental archaeologist Jacqui Wood has excavated strange pits lined with swan's feathers, and filled with animal skins and human remains. She believes the pits were ritual offerings inspired by witchcraft beliefs.
