
Lucy Worsley and David Starkey celebrate the 500th anniversary of Britain's finest surviving Tudor building, Hampton Court. As Henry VIII's pleasure palace, Hampton Court was a showcase for royal magnificence and ceremony - and the most important event of all was the christening of Henry's long-awaited son, Prince Edward, on October 15th, 1537. Lucy and David explore how Tudor art, architecture and ritual came together for this momentous occasion. Drawing on historical records and with the help of a team of experts, they recreate key elements of the christening ceremony - including a magnificent set piece procession through Hampton Court involving nearly 100 people in full Tudor costume.


Lucy Worsley and David Starkey celebrate the 500th anniversary of Britain's finest surviving Tudor building, Hampton Court. As Henry VIII's pleasure palace, Hampton Court was a showcase for royal magnificence and ceremony - and the most important event of all was the christening of Henry's long-awaited son, Prince Edward, on October 15th, 1537. Lucy and David explore how Tudor art, architecture and ritual came together for this momentous occasion. Drawing on historical records and with the help of a team of experts, they recreate key elements of the christening ceremony - including a magnificent set piece procession through Hampton Court involving nearly 100 people in full Tudor costume.
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7.2A fresh and revealing insight into Princess Diana through the personal and intimate reflections of her two sons and her friends and family.
8.8Recreating festivities from Henry VIII's era, Lucy Worsley dresses, eats, drinks, sings and parties like it is 500 years ago - discovering long-lost traditions as well as familiar customs.
6.0After 200 years under lock and key, all the personal papers of one of our most important monarchs are for the first time seeing the light of day. In the first documentary to gain extensive access to the Royal Archives, Robert Hardman sheds fascinating new light on George III, Britain's longest reigning king. George III may be chiefly remembered for his madness, but these private documents reveal a monarch who was a political micromanager and a restless patron of science and the arts, an obsessive traveller who never left southern England yet toured the world in his mind and a man who was driven (sometimes to distraction) by his sense of duty to his family and his country. Featuring Simon Callow and Sian Thomas as the voices of King George and Queen Charlotte.
0.0Windsor Castle is a wonderful living example of the power and tradition of the Royal Family. For nearly 1,000 years it has stood as a symbol of the monarchy's strength, it is the largest working castle in the world and is still a cared for home of the Royal Family. But on one fateful day all that was threatened. On the morning of November 20th, 1992, fire broke out in the castle.It was a threat that nearly destroyed a building that centuries of warfare and change had not even dented. The blaze raced through state apartments, the Royal Chapel, St George's Hall, bedrooms and corridors, wiping out almost everything in its path. This is the story of that fire, as told by those who witnessed it and by those for whom Windsor Castle is a home. But it is also the amazing story of the astonishing effort that was made to restore the castle to its former glory and prove that there was life for Windsor Castle after the fire.
5.9King Henry II keeps his wife Eleanor locked away in the towers because of her frequent attempts to overthrow him. With Eleanor out of the way he can have his dalliances with his young mistress. Needless to say the queen is not pleased, although she still has affection for the king. Working through her sons, she plots the king's demise and the rise of her second and preferred son, Richard, to the throne. The youngest, John, is an overweight buffoon and the only one holding his father's affection is the king's choice after the death of his first son, young Henry. But John is also overly eager for power and is willing to plot his father's demise with middle brother Geoffrey and the young king of France, Phillip. Geoffrey sees his younger brother's weakness and sees that route as his path to power. Political and court intrigue ensues.
8.5Lucy Worsley tells the story of the royal photograph, showing how the royal family worked with generations of photographers to create images that reinvented the British monarchy.
5.0A documentary special that provides a rare view into the real Charles behind the headlines… told in his own words.
6.9Examine the history of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from the moment they met after being set up by friends, through their initial courtship when they were able to keep their romance under wraps, and ultimately the intense global media attention surrounding their relationship and Meghan’s life as a divorced American actress.
6.0Filmed over the course of a year in an "upstairs-downstairs" fashion, this fascinating program provides a behind-the-scenes look at life inside Windsor Castle -- the world's largest inhabited castle -- via unprecedented camera access. Highlights include a visit from French President Jacques Chirac; the Queen's arrival for the Order of the Garter ceremony; and the high-profile celebration of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles's nuptials.
Lavish documentary in which historian Dr Suzannah Lipscomb unfolds the extraordinary story of the tumultuous love affair between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and asks: was it really love that brought them together – and was it love that tore them apart?
8.0This is the story of how a prince became a king, a revealing portrait of our new monarch across the seven decades he spent as heir to the throne. It’s a journey from cradle to crown told almost solely in his own words, from film and television recordings to private home movies and featuring a wealth of material, some of which has never been seen before. As well as drawing on home movies from the Royal Collection, the film-makers were given exclusive access to sequences featuring the prince, shot for the landmark 1969 film Royal Family, including private unseen moments.
8.4This documentary charts Harry's journey through important turning points in his life - four other royal weddings and the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. Along the way it touches on the prince's active service as a soldier in Afghanistan and his international charity work.
9.0Melvyn 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.
4.8British soldiers force a recently captured IRA terrorist to cooperate with them and then assign him to go undercover with a gang of terrorists and prevent them from killing the U.S. President. But the spy isn't in long before he realizes that the first plot is but a ruse for a more sinister scheme that could result in trouble between China and Great Britain.
0.0A pilot for a sketch show by Adam Buxton, featuring belligerent megastar Famous Guy, British cinema's greatest advocate Ken Korda, a poorly subtitled edition of Songs of Praise and a home-made music video for Spoon.
2.3Kirsty Young, Huw Edwards, Sophie Raworth and Claire Balding are your guides for the historic coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Saturday 6 May. From her studio outside Buckingham Palace, Kirsty will be joined by guests, including friends and colleagues of the King and Queen, who will share their personal insights. Throughout the morning, a series of films will explore the King’s passions, and a broad range of experts will join Kirsty to provide analysis of this new chapter in British history. Across the capital, a team of presenters will be in key locations to report and commentate throughout the day as events unfold. As the armed forces prepare for one of the largest military parades in living memory, JJ Chalmers will speak to servicemen and women from across the UK and the Commonwealth as they arrive in London to take their positions.
0.0Neil Oliver is given exclusive access to a team of historians and scientists investigating the final resting place of Alfred the Great. Alfred's bones have been moved so many times over the centuries that many...
6.4Decades after her untimely death, Princess Diana continues to evoke mystery, glamour, and the quintessential modern fairy tale gone wrong. As a symbol of both the widening fissures weakening the British monarchy and the destructive machinery of the press, the Princess of Wales navigated an unparalleled rise to fame and the corrosive challenges that came alongside it. Crafted entirely from immersive archival footage and free from the distraction of retrospective voices, this hypnotic and audaciously revealing documentary takes a distinctive formal approach, allowing the story of the People’s Princess to unfold before us like never before.
7.0Helen Castor presents an in depth and insightful series covering England's early Queens, from the High Middle Ages with Eleanor and get daughter-in-law Eleanor of Aquitane, through the Late Middle Ages with Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou and finishing with Lady Jane Grey, Mary I and Elizabeth I.
0.0For over 100 years the Tudor dynasty ruled over England, and in that time they changed the face of the country. Featuring stunning aerial photography, this fascinating documentary gives us a unique vantage point to understand how this family imposed itself onto the very fabric of the land with battlefields, ruined monasteries, powerful castles and the beautiful symmetry of the era’s grand houses and palaces. Swooping above the landscapes and buildings behind some of Britain’s best-known events – places where Sir Francis Drake, Henry VIII, Shakespeare and Elizabeth I once walked – this beautifully shot programme explores history from a whole new angle.