In 1403, a rebellion broke out in England that would culminate in one of the bloodiest battles to ever take place on English soil. On 21st July 1403, King Henry IV with his son, the future Henry V, went head to head with a Northern traitor - Henry Hotspur. The Battle of Shrewsbury would pit reb...

Get ready for carriages pulled by headless horses, spooky palaces, a weird floating cylinder thing...and a single moment in history that has haunted England, and now Britain's, imagination for hundreds of years.

In this episode of After Dark, Anthony and Maddy talk the ghost of Anne Boleyn, Quee...

A new statue has just been unveiled in Saffron Walden, an unassuming town in Essex, England. Five children are held, with limbs outstretched or shoulders hunched, in life-size bronze. One carries a tattered lifejacket, which hangs uselessly below him. The statue, titled Unaccompanied Children of ...

For nearly two hundred years, the north led the way in developing new technologies and industries that would completely re-shape societies, economies and the world order.

Presented by northern writer Daniel Gray, Powerhouse; Industrial Revolution in the North tells the story of the birth of the ...

Tensions were high in England in late October 1605, when a Catholic English nobleman, Lord Monteagle, received a mysterious letter telling him to avoid the opening of Parliament in a few days time. The letter would come to foil the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill the Protestant ...

In this fascinating documentary historian Dr Nicola Tallis and author Franny Moyle dissect and unravel the meaning behind the famous paintings of the Tudor Court depicted by the renowned artist, Hans Holbein the Younger.

Born in Ausburg in 1497, Holbein worked as a painter and printmaker in Bas...

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...

Just east of where the Strand turns into Fleet Street in London, there is a small stone archway. Walking through it, one stumbles across a hidden world – one that is leafy, serene and historic. Most of the people who wind their way here don’t realise that the whole area was actually the stronghol...

Sean Cunningham, Head of Medieval Records at the National Archives, answers key questions about Henry VII. From his unexpected rise to the throne to his founding of England's most famous royal dynasty: the Tudors.

Thomas Penn, historian of the Late Middle Ages and Early Tudor Period and author of The Brothers York, shines a much-needed light on Edward IV. He answers the key questions about England's forgotten warrior king: from his turbulent rise to the throne to how he dealt with his mischievous brothers.

The north of England still shows signs of the infamous Harrying of the North. In this episode, Jack explores the reasons why it happened, situated between two villages listed to have been scorched by Norman soldiers.

As soon as William entered England, he started to build the ultimate tool of control: castles. These symbolic powerhouses display how William stamped his authority on England. In this episode, Jack visits Buckenham Castle to gain a better understanding of a typical Norman castle.

It wasn’t just castles that William built to stamp his mark on England. The Normans were Christian: this sees a complete restructuring of the English church as well as new Romanesque architecture. In this episode, Jack visits St Albans Abbey, one of the Cathedrals built under William I.

Under the leadership of Robert Aske, a mass popular revolt began in Yorkshire in October 1536, spreading to other parts of Northern England including Cumberland, Northumberland, and north Lancashire.

The Pilgrimage of Grace was the worst uprising of Henry VIII's reign. It was a direct result of...

The Rising of the North of 1569, also called the 'Revolt of the Northern Earls or Northern Rebellion', was an unsuccessful attempt by Catholic nobles from Northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots.

In the final episode of this three part se...

One of the world's most famous and well-preserved pieces of medieval embroidery, the 70-metre-wide Bayeux Tapestry depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, culminating in the Battle of ...

Historian Dan Jones sets out on a journey across Northern France, following in the footsteps of Edward III and his English army on their Crécy Campaign - one of the earliest and bloodiest raids of the Hundred Years' War.

On 12th July 1346, a huge English invasion fleet landed on the shores of N...

On January 14th 1559 one of the most extraordinary royal parades of Tudor England made its way through the heart of London. It was the Coronation Procession of Queen Elizabeth I.

In this special History Hit film, made to coincide with the coronation of King Charles III, royal historian Tracy B...