The Emigrants • 2019 • episode "S1E1" • The Last Journey of the Vikings

51:45

Between 1931 and 1933, 4 million Ukrainians were to die of hunger. This famine was not preceded by any cataclysmic weather event, nor by a war. This was an ideological crime: decided by Stalin and approved by the Politburo, with the aim of punishing Ukrainian peasants who refused the collectivization of the countryside, cultivated a strong form of nationalism and showed resistance to communist ideology. The purpose of this famine, unprecedented in Soviet history, was to break all forms of opposition. How was it implemented? What was known at the time? What was said? What was seen? The most important event in pre-war Soviet history is taboo: all traces of it were immediately erased, and the evidence drowned in a flood of lies. And yet, within just two years, this famine killed twice as many Ukrainians as the gulag did Soviets in half a century. This state secret was particularly well-kept for more than fifty years and only revealed in its full magnitude after the disintegration of the USSR, when the archives were revealed. Drawing on previously unpublished material, on many Soviet films and on a number of particular points of view, including that of Welsh journalist and whistleblower Gareth Jones, this film retraces the story of that famine.

2022 • History

58:59

Neil follows the rise of Clan Stewart to become Scotland’s Royal dynasty. It’s the blood soaked tale of a bitter family feud. In a vicious contest, using clan power to plot, manoeuvre and murder their way to power, the story culminates with the dramatic assassination of King James I below a tennis court in Perth, 1437. Neil traces this family feud through clan combat, royal romances and spectacular Renaissance courts to the brutal torture and execution of the last rival Stewart, Walter Atholl, when the king’s widowed Queen Joan wreaks a terrible revenge for his treachery.

S1E2 • Rise of the Clans • 2018 • History

47:18

In 15th Century France confusion reigns with a king who goes mad, dauphines who die as teenagers, a queen who switches allegiances between rival dukes and multiple assassinations. And then, of course, there was the English king, Henry V, who also claimed the throne of France...

S1E2 • The Real War of Thrones: The True History of Europe • 2017 • History

43:46

An exploration of the tensions at the heart of the Allied war effort, as the dominant powers weigh up the moral ambiguity and actions of their alliance.

S1E3 • World War II: Race to Victory • 2020 • History

136:50

On June 6, 1944, D-Day, 1.5 million Allied troops take part in the greatest invasion in history, but then bog down in the Norman hedgerows for weeks. Saipan proves the costliest Pacific battle to date, while back home dreaded telegrams from the War Department begin arriving at an inconceivable rate.

S1E4 • The War • 2007 • History

87:58

Mike Loades has spent his life exploring history. He is a historian who believes that when you get your hands on the past, you discover what a surprising place it was - a place with familiar challenges but very different solutions. Now historian and weapons expert Mike Loades presents this program on the Middle Ages, from the 5th to the 15th centuries. It is a distinct period in time that conjures up images of knights on horseback, castles, combat and chainmail, and which has played host to countless fictional adventures, from tales of King Arthur and Merlin to Robin Hood and many more.

2012 • History