Movies: British history

At its peak, The Black and White Minstrel Show was watched by a Saturday night audience of more than 20 million people. David Harewood goes on a mission to understand the roots of this strange, intensely problematic cultural form: where did the show ...

A thought provoking documentary feature film providing a comprehensive exploration of the evolution of signals intelligence over the past century. Whether you're intrigued by the secretive world of intelligence agencies or concerned about the implic...

Equal parts documentary, essay, and narrative,"Captain Elliot's Circle" is mostly a poetic interaction with an obscure corner of Chinese and British history. Constructed using primary source documents about the taking of Zhoushan, Britain's first cho...

Clarissa Dickson Wright tracks down Britain's oldest known cookbook, The Forme of Cury. This 700-year-old scroll was written during the reign of King Richard II from recipes created by the king's master chefs. How did this ancient manuscript influenc...

Mary Berry visits Harewood House in Yorkshire as it prepares for Christmas on a grand scale, and demonstrates how to make delicious recipes inspired by festive dishes of the past....

Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth travels to the West Yorkshire moors, known as "Bronte Country". It is an area that shaped the Bronte sisters, and they have, in turn, helped shape it. He explores some of the influences on their writing....

No man is an island, but Charley represents his nation in this economical cartoon tale of Britain’s economics....

The history of Westminster Abbey and a tour of the monuments within it; accompanied by choral music and including footage of the coronation of King George VI in 1937....

Melvyn Bragg explores the dramatic story of William Tyndale and his mission to translate the Bible into English, which made him a threat to the authority of the church and state....

Between 1968 and 1970, J M Goodger, a lecturer at the University of Salford, made a film record of the living conditions in the slums of Ordsall, Salford, which were then in the process of being demolished. Under the title 'The Changing face of Salfo...

Opera based on the story of Edward II and Piers Gaveston. Music by George Benjamin, libretto by Martin Crimp. BBC broadcast of the 2018 premiere at the Royal Opera House, the composer conducting, prefaced by commentary and interviews....

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INFINITY minus Infinity draws on several inspirations: the modernist verse of the Jamaican poet Una Marson, the alluvial invocations of the Martinican philosopher and poet Édouard Glissant, the black feminist poetics of the Brazilian philosopher Deni...

Using drama and documentary this film tells the remarkable story of Cromwell, one of the most important characters of British history, yet revered and hated in equal measure. Charles I has been executed and an East Anglian farmer is about to become l...

This Traveltalk series short visits an array of locations associated with England's heritage. Included are Runnymede, Windsor, Ascot, Lincoln, Wells, Salisbury, Glastonbury, and the ancient Stonehenge site....

What happens when man's reason is used as a weapon to slice through the accumulated detritus of ignorant and benighted ages and into the glorious new world of Enlightenment? The old is cleared away and the space is created for the new, but at what co...

The black death had devastating effects in centuries past, but what actually caused it and how many lives did it take? The world has not seen a disease outbreak like it before or since. This film tells the story of skeletons recently unearthed in a l...

When young John Wesley is miraculously saved from his family’s burning home, his mother is certain that God has a great purpose for the boy's life. John will later refer to himself as a “brand plucked from the burning.” As a man, Wesley tries to live...

A video polemic, based on Heathcote Williams' investigative poem 'Royal Babylon: The Criminal Record of the British Monarchy' - every film a crime. The collective at Handsome Dog have used the best of new media to present a video polemic based on He...

Considers how Anglo-Saxon England was built by many different peoples and cultures. Re-enacts important historical events. Shows authentic landmarks and historical materials from 1900 B C to 1066 A D....