Cathedral

Episode 1

Murder at Canterbury

60 mins

Canterbury was at the forefront of an architectural revolution - the first Gothic cathedral to be built in Britain. But the building we know today has its origins in the most infamous murder of the medieval age - Thomas Becket in 1170. After his death a devastating fire meant that Canterbury could be rebuilt as a shrine to the martyred archbishop. This is the cathedral as theatre with the story of the murder etched in stone, marble and glass. It takes the pilgrim on a journey from darkness into light - from the horrors of the slaying in the North transept to the new Trinity Chapel where Becket was reburied in a magnificent tomb sparkling with gold and precious stones.