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On the Rocks
1 season
A being with a cube-shaped skull, like an astronaut’s helmet sprouting long antennas linked together with filaments, and without feet, nor legs. This picture does not come from some visionary artist’s canvas but it is drawn in the Utah desert. Here, as in many other incredible natural spots, awes...
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The Lost DNA
1 season
Some 9,000 years ago, dark-skinned, blue-eyed hunter-gatherers roamed our forests and plains. Thousands of years later, a new wave of settlers washed into Europe from the Middle East and Mediterranean, bringing with them a dynamic new technology - farming. Now Lara Cassidy, a young geneticist at ...
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Dover Castle at War
Peter Snow explores the part Dover Castle played in Operation Dynamo in 1940, the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk.
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Rome’s Disaster: The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
2 seasons
Tristan Hughes investigates one of Rome’s greatest disasters, the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
The Battle of the Teutoburg forest stopped Roman expansion in its tracks. It’s a story of betrayal, of one man’s vehement desire to liberate his people from Roman rule and the brutal, bloody length...
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Britain's Wild West: Discovering Hay Castle
The peaceful South Wales town of Hay-on-Wye offers few clues today of its brutal past on a violent frontier. A monument to this history can be found in Hay Castle. Once right on the border between England and Wales, it sits in a region densely packed with castles that saw border skirmishes and bi...
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Walking with Cavemen
1 season
Professor Robert Winston meets Lucy, the first upright ape, and follows her ancestors on the three-million-year journey to civilisation. Broadcast in 2003, Walking with Cavemen combined special effects with the latest scientific theories, to show us what it really means to be human.
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The Uniform of the British Army
The British Army is one of the world’s most experienced fighting forces. From Blenheim to Waterloo, from Balaclava to the Somme, it has played its part in the history’s most bloody conflicts. But as these troops executed Herculean tasks in the worlds harshest terrains, what were they wearing? How...
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Church Crawls in Solitude: With Diarmaid MacCulloch
1 season
Enjoy church crawling around a selection of beautiful parish churches with Oxford Professor, Diarmaid MacCulloch, courtesy of the Church Conservation Trust.
The Churches Conservation Trust is the national charity responsible for caring for and protecting England's historic churches on behalf of ...
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Ernest Shackleton: With Ranulph Fiennes
In this fascinating interview, Dan Snow chats to the world's greatest living explorer Ranulph Fiennes about Ernest Shackleton and his heroic expeditions in the Golden Age of Antarctic Exploration.
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Mary Anning: The Forgotten Fossil Hunter
Born in Lyme Regis in 1799, Mary Anning was a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector who's story continues to inspire so many scientists to this day. In this documentary Dr Anjana Khatwa, Dr Liz Hide, David Tucker and Anya Pearson explore Anning's life and legacy.
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The Welsh Romeo and Juliet: The Maid of Cefn Ydfa
Chris Lloyd looks into the story of Ann Maddocks and Wil Hopcyn, known as the Welsh Romeo and Juliet. The 18th century story of love and heartache still echoes across the south Welsh Valleys to this day. Chris visits Llangynwyd, the village at the heart of this story, to discover what it still me...
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Karnak: Decoding Egypt's Greatest Temple
History Hit’s ancient history expert, Tristan Hughes, digs deep into one of Ancient Egypt's greatest treasures, a site that ranks among the world’s most impressive religious sanctuaries in both its size, splendour and importance.
But there is another, fascinating side to exploring Karnak beyond ...
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The Relics of Egypt: Exploring the Largest Museum in the World
A stone’s throw from the iconic Cheops pyramids, another famous man-made creation rises, towering over the Giza Plateau: The Grand Egyptian Museum.
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Lost City of Gaul: Unearthing Bibracte
In the heart of the French region of Burgundy, deep in a forest, lies a hidden city that had been dormant for 2,000 years. It’s called Bibracte, the most important oppidum in all of Gaul. That is where the Aedui, a Gallic tribe allied to the Romans, once built a fortified city on top of a mountai...
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Swordfish: World War II's Surprising Aircraft and the Raid that Changed History
Dan Snow flies on a mission to explore one of the most daring and dangerous aerial attacks of World War 2
On 11th November 1940, 21 antiquated Swordfish aircraft took off from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. They were embarking on one of the most extraordinary raids of the Second World Wa...
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The Untold Story of the Unknown Warrior
The First World War was a conflict like nothing the World had ever known. More than 700,000 men mobilised in the UK would die during the conflict. Roughly 250,000 of those would have no known grave. The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior became a place where all those people who were denied a grave to v...
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A Tudor Wonder - Hardwick Hall - with Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb
A History Hit treat for the holidays, this special new film reveals an extraordinary Tudor life-story and an amazing creation. We meet the extraordinary Bess of Hardwick and go inside the incredible home she built, a spectacular construction in glass and stone that defined the elegance and grande...
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The National Trust: Reimagining Our Past
Here at History Hit, we love exploring the historic sites managed by the National Trust. In this special film we participate in a major National Trust event, the first Octavia Hill lecture, delivered by renowned art historian and museum director, Neil McGregor. Neil delves into two magnificent ho...
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Pompeii: The Discovery
Dan Snow tells the incredible story of how Pompeii was discovered.
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Life and Death in Late Iron Age Britain
Roman connections with Britain stretch back to (at least) the mid 1st century BC, but what has archaeology revealed about the Late Iron Age British societies they interacted with? Do we have any concrete evidence for the druids? Was human sacrifice a thing? Sit back and enjoy as experts provide a...
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American Revolution - Commemorating the Fallen of the Battle of Camden, 1780
History Hit has been up close to a remarkable story from the American War of Independence, exploring the history and attending the commemorations for the dead of the bloody battle of Camden, 1780.
Travelling to South Carolina for this special film, Dan Snow investigates some exceptional histo...
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The Maps That Made America
Susan Schulten presents a selection of maps from the fascinating collection of maps that feature in her book 'A History of America in 100 Maps'.
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The Vikings in the Vicarage
The Viking dig in the grounds of St Wystan Church in Repton is one of the most important Viking sites of modern times. Recently new research has brought to light new information which further elevates the significance of the site and redefines our knowledge of the Great Heathen Army. The Great He...