A History of Britain

A History of Britain

2000/09/30 - 2002/06/18 • Ended • 3 Seasons • English

Documentary
8.4

Overview

Stretching from the Stone Age to the year 2000, Simon Schama's Complete History of Britain does not pretend to be a definitive chronicle of the turbulent events which buffeted and shaped the British Isles. What Schama does do, however, is tell the story in vivid and gripping narrative terms, free of the fustiness of traditional academe, personalising key historical events by examining the major characters at the centre of them. Not all historians would approve of the history depicted here as shaped principally by the actions of great men and women rather than by more abstract developments, but Schama's way of telling it is a good deal more enthralling as a result. Schama successfully gives lie to the idea that the history of Britain has been moderate and temperate, passing down the generations as stately as a galleon, taking on board sensible ideas but steering clear of sillier, revolutionary ones. Nonsense. Schama retells British history the way it was--as bloody, convulsive, precarious, hot-blooded and several times within an inch of haring off onto an entirely different course. Schama seems almost to delight in the goriness of history. Themes returned to repeatedly include the wars between the Scots and the Irish and the Catholic/Protestant conflicts--only the Irish question remains unresolved by the new millennium. As Britain becomes a constitutional monarchy, Schama talks less of Kings and Queens but of poets and idea-makers like Orwell. Still, with his pungent, direct manner and against an evocative visual and aural backdrop, Schama makes history seem as though it happened yesterday, the bloodstains not yet dry.

Creator(s) : N/A

Casts
Simon Schama

Simon Schama

Self — Presenter

Michael Kitchen

Michael Kitchen

Reader

Lindsay Duncan

Lindsay Duncan

Reader

Last Season
View All Seasons
The Fate of Empire
The Fate of Empire
0.0

2002/05/28 • 4 Episodes

Here he illuminates the period from 1776 to 2000 through a variety of historical themes, including Victorian advances in technology and industry, wome...Read more

Recommended
Beauty Newbie
9.8

Beauty Newbie

February 19, 2024

Mood Indigo
7.2

Mood Indigo

July 24, 2019

Doctor Odyssey
6.6

Doctor Odyssey

September 26, 2024

Reborn
7.9

Reborn

June 19, 2025

Genie, Make a Wish
7.3

Genie, Make a Wish

October 3, 2025

90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?
7.4

90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?

September 11, 2016

Carême
7.2

Carême

April 30, 2025

La Méthode Cauet
4.2

La Méthode Cauet

June 23, 2003

Christopher Columbus
5.8

Christopher Columbus

November 28, 1992

Fence
7.8

Fence

March 19, 2023

Nak
9.8

Nak

January 16, 2023

Love the Way You Lie
10.0

Love the Way You Lie

January 23, 2023

Beyond Skinwalker Ranch
8.1

Beyond Skinwalker Ranch

June 6, 2023

Život na zámku
4.2

Život na zámku

December 11, 1995

Domingão com Huck
7.0

Domingão com Huck

September 5, 2021

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
7.3

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

July 20, 2018

The Truth
10.0

The Truth

October 6, 1997

Toma Lá, Dá Cá
8.0

Toma Lá, Dá Cá

August 7, 2007

Secrets of Urduja
9.2

Secrets of Urduja

February 27, 2023