Babylon has a PR problem, and it's 2,600 years in the making.

The Bible remembers it as the ultimate city of sin, the place that crushed Jerusalem and dragged the Jewish people into exile. But if you look beyond this chapter, you find history's first true megacity. An ancient metropolis so influ...

Benedict Arnold was celebrated as a war hero of the American Revolution before he betrayed George Washington and the Continental Army by joining the British.

In today's episode, Anthony and Maddy take you through his rise and infamous plot to hand over West Point, cementing his name as history'...

Augustus was Rome's first Emperor. But who made his empire possible? Behind the throne stood Marcus Agrippa, the brilliant general whose victories secured the Roman world yet whose name was consciously erased from the record by his erstwhile great friend.

In this very special episode Tristan Hug...

Above the trenches of WWI, pilots faced flaming wreckages, machine-gun fire and deadly dogfights in brutal battles for the skies. From fragile reconnaissance aircraft to fearsome fighters, aerial warfare evolved at astonishing speed, producing legendary aces like the Red Baron. But behind the fam...

The Magdalene Laundries existed throughout Ireland up until the late 20th century. Women and young girls were sent to these institutions that were run by orders of nuns. They were told they could not leave and were forced to work - all because they were perceived to be ‘fallen’ and in need of sal...

What kind of predator needs no teeth to terrify its prey? The terror birds were enormous flightless hunters that ruled South America for millions of years, standing metres tall and built for a life of pursuit and slaughter.

In this episode, Tristan Hughes is joined by palaeontologist Dr Steve Br...

The Chevalier d’Éon was one of France’s most daring spies... until they began making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Armed with explosive state secrets and at the centre of a very public scandal over their identity, d’Éon went from trusted agent to international sensation.

Join Anthony an...

Tyrannical, egotistical, paranoid, vengeful... Few names in history conjure up such a deadly list of words. But the wife-murdering Tudor king Henry VIII is certainly one of them. Today, we examine his spectacularly complicated love life, break with Rome, political executions and ruthless pursuit ...

Was the Roman Empire really made by conquest? Or was it powered by something much darker?

For centuries, millions of enslaved people sacrificed their lives and their labour on the altar of Roman progress, an integral cog in the grinding imperial machine. And so today on The Ancients, Tristan Hu...

No throne on Earth came close to rivalling it. Vast and wealthy beyond comprehension, the court of Kublai Khan seemed a world away from medieval Europe. Yet one young Venetian made the staggering 4-year journey, and wrote down everything that he saw. His name was Marco Polo.

Today, Dan draws on ...

When you think of the Aztec Empire, what do you picture? Human sacrifice?

In today's episode, Anthony is joined by Aztec expert Dr. Caroline Dodds Pennock, to unpack why we fetishise the Aztecs in this way, why ritualised violence is certainly not limited to this civilisation in this time in hi...

Few rulers humbled Rome quite like Shapur I. A King of Kings, he rebuilt the Sasanian Persian Empire, defeated Roman armies and captured Emperor Valerian in one of antiquity's most remarkable military triumphs.

In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Eve MacDonald to explore...

The world of Viking death rituals and their beliefs surrounding the afterlife is truly fascinating... What happened when a Viking died? What ceremonies and practices did they partake in? And what awaited the spirits of the dead when they departed the world of the living?

Today we welcome our re...

Their dragon-prowed longships and war axes brought terror to Britain's shores, unleashing centuries of invasion and conquest.

In this episode, historian Dan Snow traces the dramatic story of the Vikings in Britain, from the first brutal raids to the epic battles that gave rise to a united Englan...

In 63 BC, Rome faced a conspiracy that threatened to tear the Roman Republic apart. At its centre stood two figures: Marcus Tullius Cicero, the grand old orator of Rome and Lucius Sergius Catilina, accused of plotting violence, rebellion and the overthrow of Rome’s political order. But was the da...

The fall of Rome left Britain a fractured, divided hellscape. And as old loyalties collapsed and rival kingdoms fought for survival, new peoples began to cross the North Sea in search of opportunity in the chaos.

In this episode, historian Dan Snow explains how the Anglo-Saxons conquered Britain...

Christopher Nolan’s new Odyssey brings Homer’s epic roaring back to life and Tristan Hughes and Dr. Emily Hauser are here to unpack every storm, monster and star-making turn. From the brilliance of the adaptation to the ancient story beneath it, Tristan and Emily bring their expert historical kno...

It's hard to wrap your head around all the disasters that befell Captain Anson's Royal Navy voyage around the world in the 1740s. Rampant scurvy, horrendous storms, marooning and mutiny to name but a few. 90% of the original crew never returned. Those who made it back to Britain were hailed as he...

Rome’s hunger for conquest reshaped the ancient world. Driven by the pursuit of glory, the Roman Empire expanded across continents, bringing vast territories under its control.

In this episode, historian Dan Snow explains why Rome set its sights on a mysterious island at the edge of its empire -...

When Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca, his homecoming turns into a ruthless reckoning. Tristan Hughes and Dr Emily Hauser dive into the shocking climax of Homer’s Odyssey, where hospitality, vengeance and survival collide in a blood-soaked finale.

What drives Odysseus to unleash such fury, an...

This is the real history behind Christopher Nolan's new movie 'The Odyssey'.

It's a Greek epic that charts the many trials of the Mycenaean King Odysseus on a 10-year journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. In today's episode, historian Dan Snow breaks down exactly what happens in that sto...

Historical would you rather, and with whom? Sound the trumpets! The day has finally arrived: Maddy Pelling is back on After Dark!

To welcome her back into the coven, we're playing a game of historical 'Would You Rather?'. Listen on to hear Anthony and Maddy decide between the many awful scenario...

Born John Cooper, "Princess Seraphina" was one of the first English Drag Queens.

Princess Seraphina was an 18th-century gentleman’s servant who openly embraced her feminine drag persona. But in May 1732, a man named Thomas Gordon robbed her of her clothes and money. The court case that followed...

What if the world’s most famous homecoming was really a nightmare of monsters, gods, and one very stubborn king trying to get back to Ithaca?

In our new series Tristan Hughes and classicist Dr. Emily Hauser dive into Homer’s Odyssey, an epic of shipwrecks, sorcery, giants and divine meddling, wh...