Empress Matilda: life of the week

During the latter decades of the ninth century, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms faced an existential threat as Viking forces launched an assault on a scale never seen before. In this first episode of our fou...

4 Apr 38min

In reality, were medieval people dirty and covered in mud? What did they think were the healthiest things to eat? And how often did they think they should be having sex? Speaking to Charlotte Vosper, ...

2 Apr 36min

From the magnificence of the Alhambra to the forgotten resting places of the Prophet Muhammad’s own relatives, Islam has long been a part of Europe’s history. Danny Bird speaks to Tharik Hussain about...

31 Mar 41min

Few historical figures have reputations quite as diabolical as that of Attila the Hun. This nomadic leader pitched up on the edge of the Roman empire in the fifth century AD, and spread terror and cha...

30 Mar 35min

In 1756, Elizabeth Marsh set sail from Gibraltar to Britain with the intention of meeting her fiancé. Instead, she was captured by Barbary corsairs – effectively pirates operating from north Africa, c...

29 Mar 33min

As Elizabeth I entered the final chapter of her reign, questions of ageing, succession, and legacy loomed large. In this final episode of our four-part Sunday Series on the Tudor monarch, Rachel Dinni...

29 Mar 28min

Rory Carroll unpacks the dramatic final years of Roger Casement – an Irish diplomat and nationalist whose tangled legacy includes heroism, betrayal, and personal scandal. Carroll tells Elinor Evans ab...

27 Mar 40min

The 20th century saw the mafia go global. Crime groups, from Japan's Yakuza to southern Italy's Camorra, capitalised on political chaos and mass migration to spread their influence around the world. I...

25 Mar 43min