A History of Britain - At the Edge of the World?

The story of Britain from the earliest settlements in 3000 BC to the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. To look back at the past is to understand the present. In this vivid account of over 4,000 years of British history, Simon Schama takes us on an epic journey which encompasses the very beginnings of the nation's identity, when the first settlers landed on Orkney.

7 Episodes

Beginnings (3100 BC - 1000 AD)

Season 1 - Episode 1

Simon Schama starts his story in the Stone Age village of Skara Brae, Orkney. Over the next four thousand years Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Viking...

Conquest! (1000 - 1087)

Season 1 - Episode 2

1066 is not the best remembered date in British history for nothing. In the space of nine hours whilst the Battle of Hastings raged, everyth...

Dynasty (1087 - 1216)

Season 1 - Episode 3

There is no saga more powerful than that of the warring dynasty - domineering father, beautiful, scheming mother and squabbling, murderous s...

Nations (1216 - 1348)

Season 1 - Episode 4

Nations is the epic account of how the nations of Britain emerged from under the hammer of England's "Longshanks" King Edward I, with a sens...

King Death (1348 - 1500)

Season 1 - Episode 5

It took only six years for the plague to ravage the British Isles. Its impact was to last for generations. But from the ashes of this trauma...

Burning Convictions (1500 - 1558)

Season 1 - Episode 6

Here Simon Schama charts the upheaval caused as a country renowned for its piety, whose king styled himself Defender of the Faith, turns int...

The Body of the Queen (1558 - 1603)

Season 1 - Episode 7

This is the story of two queens - Elizabeth I the consummate politician and Mary Queen of Scots the Catholic mother. It is also the story of...