Absolute History

The team travel to the river Wye to investigate a strange formation that only appears at low tide. Conditions are a terrible combination of sucking mud and extreme tides. The team's goal is to confirm the formation they can see is part of a bridge built by the Romans during their invasion. Led by three fearless archaeologists, the team explores some of the toughest and most inaccessible regions to extract unique historic artifacts. Dr Alice Roberts, Katie Hirst and Dr Meg Watters will use their physical and mental guile to uncover untouched prehistoric sites.

It's been an enduring mystery for two thousand years; what stopped the brutal Assyrian army from sacking Jerusalem in 701 BCE? Scholars around the world have puzzled over this mystery for hundreds of years, but now, a Canadian journalist, Henry Aubin, thinks he has the answer. He asserts that an Egyptian army saved the day, lead by a black Nubian Pharaoh.

This documentary examines the enigma and the woman behind this aural assault on the public. Taking on the challenge of portraying the flamboyant 'queen of dissonance' is opera superstar Joyce DiDonato making her cinematic debut. The casting of a great opera singer in the title role makes it possible for the film to contrast two different musical worlds: the music Florence Foster Jenkins wanted to hear and claimed to make, melodious and masterful, and the reality of the sounds she subjected her audience to.

Drawing a line all the way from ancient desert cave scrawlings to present-day urban graffiti, Simcha traces the evolution of the simple shapes that democratised communication.

This documentary examines the Queen Mother's love for her husband and daughters, her support for the institution of monarchy, her animosity towards Mrs. Simpson and Princess Diana and her extravagant lifestyle and love of racing, gardens and fashion.

Calling someone a Philistine is the ultimate insult - but archaeology turns the insult into a compliment. We examine the tribe of Delilah and Goliath, their fertility cults and a temple like the one Samson may have destroyed with his bare hands.

In 1885 the British army invaded Burma and deposed its King. He died in exile, ending a thousand years of monarchy. The royal family vanished, and the country was plunged into war and the longest military dictatorship of modern times. But after a century of silence they are back, and they're on a journey to bring the family - past and present - back together. Filmed through three years of seismic change in Burma, this is the story of a family and a country emerging from the darkness.

Thurgood Marshall, perhaps best known as the first African-American Supreme Court justice, played an instrumental role in promoting racial equality during the civil rights movement. As a practicing attorney, Marshall argued a record-breaking 32 cases before the Supreme Court, winning 29 of them. This included the Brown v. Board of Education case.

The team's year on the farm is coming to an end. First, they have to bring in the wheat harvest, the most crucial part of the Victorian Farm calendar. Ruth explores the craft of straw plaiting and discovers the art of printing. Alex and Peter try their hand at homebrew. The team brings in the wheat harvest with the help of some extra labor, and celebrates with a harvest festival.

The team must harvest their oat crop, but everything depends on the weather. Constant rain is making the job impossible. They investigate ways of forecasting the weather. When the rain finally clears, the team deploy the latest in Edwardian farming technology for the oat harvest, including a tractor that was then state-of-the art, the Moghul. And the event is captured by an Edwardian film crew, tapping into the very latest in Edwardian fads: the cinema.

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks rejected the bus driver's order to give up her seat in the coloured section to a white passenger, after the whites-only section was filled. Parks' prominence in the community and her willingness to become a controversial figure inspired the black community to boycott the Montgomery buses for over a year, the first major direct action campaign of the post-war civil rights movement.

In this episode, the team embarks on a trip by steam train, Ruth begins a tough task in the dairy, Alex tries his hand at beekeeping, the sheep are sheared using the latest time-saving technology, and the lengthening summer days allow Alex and Peter to try out the new Victorian sport of cricket. It is also time for the hay harvest, weather permitting.

It's time to bring in the cherry harvest with the help of their Dartmoor pony Laddy, and enjoy a cherry feast to celebrate. Historian Ruth Goodman tries her hand at salmon netting, while archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn take drastic measures to save their potato crop from being destroyed by blight. Alex goes to an Edwardian schoolroom - complete with Edwardian discipline - to recruit a traditional rural source of cheap labour: children.

Elly Glass, a Viennese woman, traveled to Berlin in an effort to free her Jewish husband from Buchenwald. Elly, only 23 years old, obtained an audience with a high ranking Gestapo officer. By the end of that meeting the officer said, "Your husband will be released in 10 days". And he was. The couple fled Vienna and came to the United States. With no money, no English and no friends to help them, they overcame extreme obstacles. In less than a year they had worked their way out of the rat and bedbug infested boarding house they were forced to live in. Later in 1948 Chicago, Henry Glass became the architect of one of the first solar houses in America, an early advocate for "living green" and a legendary industrial designer. His design innovations included use of alternative materials such as plastics and Masonite and were often collapsible to a volume so small it could hardly be imagined.

It's spring in the farm, and there are lambs and pigs to be delivered, which means Alex and Peter need to master animal midwifery. A prized ewe is in danger and a lame horse may jeopardise vital work on the farm. The team turns to Victorian science in a bid to save their struggling crops. If they succeed, they will have something to celebrate at the May Day fair. If they fail, all their hard work will have been in vain. It is make or break time on the Victorian Farm.

The team follows a flock of sheep up on to Dartmoor, where it was traditional for many shepherds to take their flocks for summer grazing. Alex and Peter get to grips with shearing, while Ruth takes the fleeces off to a wool mill to find out how it was processed and manufactured.

The team go back to DIY basics, with the help of the woodsman, the blacksmith and the basket maker. Ruth has a go at some traditional potions and remedies. When the wheat crop comes under attack, its time for some pest control, Victorian style, as Alex and Peter join a pheasant hunt. Alex goes out catching rabbits with a team of Victorian poachers. And with spring around the corner the first baby animals are ready to be born.

Back in the Edwardian period, thousands of tourists began coming to the Tamar Valley by paddle steamer every summer. The combination of reduced working hours and greater mobility encouraged a new form of tourism - day-tripping. Workers from towns and cities like Plymouth flocked to rural spots like Morwhellham Quay for festivities.

As autumn ends, winter-proofing begins in earnest - essential work if the livestock and crops are to make it through the cold and frost. The team stock up on animal feed using a host of Victorian machinery. Peter faces his biggest challenge so far - building pigsties. Ruth tackles the laundry, a gruelling four-day process that Victorians tackled weekly. The ram arrives on the farm - ensuring he gets the ewes pregnant is essential if they are to produce lambs in the spring. The team take delivery of a Shire horse and Alex learns to drive him. And there is a traditional Victorian Christmas to look forward to, including decorations, cookery and church carols. They celebrate Christmas Day with friends they have made over the past four months.

It is harvest time, and the days are getting shorter. This episode the team will be bringing in the barley and celebrating with a harvest feast, to give thanks for their bounteous crop. Peter learns how to carve stone and make floor tiles, and Ruth makes Tudor medicines.

It is April and the fishing season has arrived - a time when Devon's 'fisherman-farmers' went to sea. Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn go to sea in an Edwardian trawler, hastily finishing repairs before setting sail. They master the singing of sea shanties as well as steering a wind-powered vessel and casting a net the old-fashioned way - but will they catch any fish? Women were considered bad luck at sea, so Ruth Goodman stays ashore. She forages on the se shore and prepares potted shrimp. She also builds a smokehouse and smokes some mackerel.

The team move into a Victorian smallholding on the Acton Scott estate that has not been used in nearly half a century. Their first task is the restoration of the cottage. As incoming tenants, they help thresh the previous summer's wheat crop, their first experience of steam-powered machinery. Alex attempts to sow a wheat crop using horse-power. Ruth and Peter install a range in the cottage and take a trip to the canals to load up on coal. It's time for the apple harvest, so Alex and Peter turn their hand to making cider. Ruth explores the challenges of Victorian cooking by making preserves ready for winter and cooks her first meal on the range. And the team must learn shepherding skills the hard way as the first livestock arrive on the farm - a flock of Shropshire ewes.

The monastery enlists the help of the team to restore a corrody room which would have been granted to an elderly worker as a form of pension. The room needs a new floor so the boys gather and roast limestone in order to make lime putty. Ruth is in charge of the home comforts and harvests rushes from the river to make a mattress. The Abbot is planning a big feast to entertain a patron - a good way to encourage the wealthier members of society to make large donations. In preparation, Ruth sets about tackling the monastery's laundry, before taking on the cooking preparations.

Ruth's daughter, Eve, arrives on the train to spend Mothering Sunday - an important occasion in the Edwardian calendar - on the farm. For the many daughters who worked away in service, it was the only time in the year when they could get time off to return home. Alex and Peter fertilise the potato crop - which requires ten tonnes of well-rotted horse dung. They also go up to Dartmoor for the annual pony trek - a time when wild ponies on the moor were rounded up. They select a new pony for the farm.

The team mine, smelt and cast ingots of lead; plait eel baskets and harvest eels; shape stained glass; patronize a pub; pasture their piglets in the forest; paint cloth and manage their garden. Tom sits for a camera obscura portrait.

Six months into their year, Ruth, Alex and Peter explore the daily lives of Edwardian farmers. This episode has a slightly different format to the rest of the series; instead of covering a whole month's changes it uses a framing device of Ruth writing a letter describing the events of a single day on the farm.

The team wean piglets, cultivate wild yeast, malt barley, make ale and bread, harvest honey and beeswax, dip candles, shave their sheep's hooves, demonstrate period hair care methods, roast lamb, and celebrate both a mass and the midsummer festival. They take custody of a boar to service their sows. They observe the shaping, moulding, and pouring of a bell, learn about period clock mechanisms and observe a wind-powered grain mill.

The continuing winter forces Alex and Peter down a copper mine, while Ruth makes lace. The copper mine is located at the King Edward Mine in Cornwall, and the lace-making takes place at Honiton.

The team work with sheep: driving, milking and shearing them; make cheese from the milk; sort, grade, card and spin wool. Additional they produce a period cold treatment from herbs, steam-bend wood, and celebrate Whitsun. They take custody of geese and drive them to market. They observe the smelting of iron as well as the weaving and fulling of cloth.

As winter sets in, the three farm dwellers must look further afield to earn money. Peter and Alex fish for crabs while Ruth hires herself out for domestic work. Ruth rides a bicycle and tries period cleaning techniques, including early vacuum cleaners. They separate growing calves from their mothers. Peter finds out how leather is made. They celebrate Christmas modestly, as poor farmers might have, and listen to a Methodist Christmas message.

The first episode finds the farm team arriving at Weald and Downland in West Sussex. There are domestic tasks to tackle, from lighting fires with flint, making meals with depleted crops during the hunger gap and using a tread wheel to fetch water from the well. Peter and Tom's first job is to move the sheep to fresh grass. Wool at this time was known as 'the jewel in the realm', because it generated much of the nation's wealth.

Kate Humble uncovers the story of the world's most expensive spice - saffron, before travelling to Paplanta in Mexico, the birthplace of vanilla.

Ruth, Peter and Tom look at the castle's place in the wider medieval world. 13th century Europe was a busy, developing, connected place, where work, trade, pilgrimages and Crusades gave people the opportunity to travel across the continent and beyond.

Kate Humble embarks on a journey around the fabled spice islands of eastern Indonesia in search of two spices that launched epic voyages of discovery, caused bloody wars and shaped empires - nutmeg and cloves.

The team delve deeper into the secrets of the skilled communities who built medieval castles. The stonemasons working on the castle walls are dependent on blacksmiths, whose metalwork was magical to the medieval mind-set.

Kate Humble retraces the steps of 15th-century explorers, setting out on a trail that takes her to India and Sri Lanka, the birthplaces of pepper and cinnamon.

Ruth, Peter and Tom enter the surprisingly colourful world of medieval interior design. The castles that we see today are in fact scarred by centuries of decay. Most of their original roofs, carpentry and interior finishes have long since disappeared, but in their heyday they were lavishly decorated.

There have been many events across the centuries that have played a transformative role in shaping life as we know it now. Join us for another episode, where we take a look at some of these momentous events from the 20th century and how it helped shape the century.

Anne has been celebrated and damned, seen as either schemer or a victim. Her sister Mary is less remembered and often dismissed as a fool. But what was the truth?

The 13th century was known as the golden age of castle building. Most are still standing to this day, but many of the secrets of how they were constructed have been lost in time. How were they built? What methods were used?

Mary was a short-lived, little-favoured Catholic and Elizabeth was a long-reigning, all-admired Protestant. However, Henry VIII's daughters have more in common than meets the eye.

Peter Ginn, Tom Pinfold and Ruth Goodman arrive at Guédelon, in the Burgundy region of France, to join the world's biggest archaeological experiment - a 25 year project to build a medieval castle from scratch, using only the tools and materials available in the 13th century.

It has been said that no two sisters were ever less alike. One reserved and proper. The other lively and controversial. One the anchor of a commonwealth of nations. The other searching for purpose in life. Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret are among the most photographed women in history. But what of the real women beyond the royal splendour, and cheering crowds - beyond the Crown itself?

The Era of the Rebel | 101 People Who Made The 20th Century (Part 4) examines the specific people, events and evidence presented in this documentary. There have been many people across the centuries who played a transformative role in shaping life as we know it now. Join us for another episode, where we take a look at some of these amazing people from the 20th century and how they helped shape it.

The Incredible Life Of Eva Perón | 101 People Who Made The 20th Century (Part 3) examines the specific people, events and evidence presented in this documentary. There have been many people across the centuries who played a transformative role in shaping life as we know it now. Join us for another episode, where we take a look at some of these amazing people from the 20th century and how they helped shape it.

Casanova roamed throughout Europe for eighteen years, all the time hoping to get back to his beloved Venice. For most of his life, he was always on the move, until finally, he found comfort in what is now the Czech Republic.

Martin Luther King's Incredible Legacy | People Who Made The 20th Century examines the specific people, events and evidence presented in this documentary. There have been many people across the centuries who played a transformative role in shaping life as we know it now. Join us for another episode, where we take a look at some of these amazing people from the 20th century and how they helped shape it.

Casanova's Road To Recovery | Casanova's Love Letters (Part 5 of 6) examines the specific people, events and evidence presented in this documentary. A true son of the renaissance, Casanova was a musician, a healer, a spy and a lover. He led a tempestuous life where he made and lost fortunes, invented the National Lottery, fought duels with Counts, and had the most famous love life of all time. These letters are actual correspondence between Casanova and his lovers, offering a completely unique perspective to his story.