Recent History Hit Originals
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Ancient Adventures: Libya
Join Dan Snow on a special expedition that goes far off the beaten track of history as we venture to Libya in North Africa to explore extraordinary Greek and Roman sites, centred around one of the greatest cities of the ancient world, Cyrene.
After years of civil war and instability, History Hit...
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The Ashmolean Up Close: King Alfred's Jewel
The fifth film in our series exploring the remarkable collections of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Dan Snow joins Museum Director Xa Sturgis, to delve into the museum's Anglo-Saxon treasures, including the famed Alfred Jewel. Alongside other exquisite artefacts, such as a warrior's sword and v...
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What if the Gunpowder Plot Succeeded? - Not Just The Tudors...Lates
November 5th, 1605... beneath the shadowed vaults of the Houses of Parliament, a man waits with 36 barrels of gunpowder by his side, and a plan that could change the fate of a nation forever.
Then, in a moment, it's over... Guy Fawkes is caught and the plan thwarted. But what if he wasn't?
Led ...
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The Trials of Joan of Arc
We all know the name, Joan of Arc. But who really was this celebrated voice of the people of France? For some she is a simple peasant girl - one of the people. For others, she is a champion of nation and church. For the English, she was simply the enemy.
Dr Eleanor Janega is on a mission to deci...
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Witchmen: Witch Trials in the Land of Fire & Ice
17th century Iceland was a remote place. But its isolation didn’t stop it getting caught in one of the most horrifying crazes of the time, the witch hunts. But in the breathtaking landscape of Iceland something was different. In Iceland 93% of witches killed were men. Dr Kate Lister is on a missi...
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Death in the Parsonage: The Brontës
The Brontë family created some of the world's most passionate and enduring novels, yet their lives were shadowed by tragedy.
Dr Maddy Pelling and Dr Anthony Delaney challenge the romantic myths surrounding the family, tracing the harsh reality of their lives in 19th-century Haworth—a crowded Yor...
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Scotland's Roman Hoard: The Traprain Treasure
Follow Tristan Hughes as he is given exclusive access to the National Museum of Scotland for a look at one of Britain’s most spectacular archaeological discoveries: the Traprain Treasure, a dazzling collection of over 250 pieces of late Roman silver.
Guided by curator Dr Fraser Hunter, we learn ...
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Rebels: Owain Glyndŵr
In the second part of his new series, conflict analyst Professor Michael Livingston is continuing his journey across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom on the trail of some of Britain’s best known rebels.
In this episode Michael is heading to Wales to discover the astonishing story of ...
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Henry VIII on Film - Not Just the Tudors... Lates
Few British monarchs loom as large in the public imagination as King Henry VIII. Straddling the line between man and myth, he is best known for his infamous six marriages and his penchant for beheadings. But where does fiction meet fact? In cinema and on television, he has been portrayed by a hos...
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Robin Hood: Ray Mears Folklore Heroes
Join woodsman and survival expert Ray Mears as he embarks on a unique journey into the heart of English history to uncover the truth behind one of Britain’s most enduring legends: Robin Hood.
Blending his totally unique knowledge of wilderness skills with a passion for history, Ray explores the ...
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Rebels: William Wallace
Who was the real William Wallace? And what kind of rebel was he? Was he like Mel Gibson's 'Braveheart', or a more nuanced rebel, battling amidst the complex Anglo-Scottish power politics of over 700 years ago?
In this new series, conflict analyst Professor Michael Livingston travels the length a...
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The Ashmolean Up Close: Witches in Picture
The third film in our series exploring the remarkable collections of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
In this episode, Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb investigates the shifting image of witches in the early modern imagination. In conversation with curator An Van Camp, we trace how witches were portrayed...
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The Ashmolean Up Close: Demons of Mesopotamia
The second film in our series exploring the remarkable collections of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. In this episode, Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb journeys into the world of Ancient Mesopotamian protectors. Guided by curator Dr Nancy Highcock, we uncover a fascinating array of objects, from fearsome ...
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Enemies of Rome: In Search of the Picts
For centuries they were depicted as enemies and barbarians, only portrayed through the eyes of the Roman Empire. Now, through new archaeological discoveries and research, the story of the Picts is being rewritten.
Join Tristan Hughes as he travels across Scotland, meeting experts in stone-carvin...
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Steam: 200 Years on the Tracks
200 years ago, the sound and pace of the world changed forever...On September 27th, 1825, the Locomotion Number One made its first journey on the Stockton and Darlington railway line, marking the birth of the modern railway.
Dan Snow climbs aboard a working replica, recreating that historic ori...
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The Melsonby Hoard
Join Tristan Hughes on an exploration into the Iron Age, as he uncovers one of the most extraordinary archaeological discoveries in British history.
With exclusive access to the Melsonby Hoard, quite possibly the largest Iron Age hoard ever found in Britain, Tristan explores a treasure trove of ...
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Power House: The Medieval Tower of London
The Tower of London is one of the world’s greatest medieval castles, famous for massive fortifications and bloody executions, but the Tower was also a luxurious medieval palace, reaching its full glory in the 13th century under two famous builder kings: Henry III and Edward I.
Its full name toda...
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The Great Crusader Siege: Kerak
Dan Snow explores Kerak Castle, the massive 750 year-old fortress of the crusader era. Built as the eastern stronghold of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, this is the powerful reality of the “Kingdom of Heaven”, expanding the control of the Frankish crusader states across the River Jordan and even chal...
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Shipwreck! Northumberland and the Great Storm
History Hit's Dan Snow has been given exclusive access to the incredibly well-preserved remains of the 18th-century warship Northumberland.
Complete with cannons, muskets and coils of rope, it's a discovery that's rewriting our understanding of the evolution of the Royal Navy.
The special fil...
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Fortress War - Liberation80: Jersey
Eighty years ago, on May 9th, 1945, British forces arrived to liberate the Channel Island of Jersey, the only part of the British Isles under Nazi occupation. Now, on the 80th anniversary of that day, Dan Snow travels to the island to explore the five long, challenging years of German rule. He di...
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The Cutting Edge: Testing the Stone Age
History Hit visits Kent State University, Ohio to film a fascinating ‘cutting-edge’ experiment that takes us to the beginnings of the Stone Age, over 2.6 million years ago.
Kent State is home to one of the world’s leading experimental archaeology laboratories, scientifically exploring the distan...
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How Do I Look? The History of Body Modification with Eleanor Janega
When you wake up every morning and get dressed, you probably don’t stop to think that you’re taking part in a millennia-old cultural tradition. How you choose to look is all part of the long history of humans altering their appearance to make a statement - from self-expression and individuality t...
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The Ashmolean Up Close: Nero's Golden House
The first film in an exciting new partnership between History Hit and one of the world’s oldest and finest public museums, the University of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum.
Over the course of six films, to be released through 2025, History Hit is going behind the scenes to discover some of the Ashmol...
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Gladiators: History's Greatest Fighters
Gladiators, from Spartacus to Ridley Scott’s Maximus Decimus Meridius, we’ve been fascinated by them for hundreds of years. Dan Snow is on the hunt to find out why we’re still so obsessed with the men who controlled the Roman arena from the ground up!
Dan joins experts in Italy and England to in...