Churchill's People

Episode 1

Pritan

43 AD: Lucius is one of several Roman spies sent into the offshore island of Pritan, quietly to study the ground before plans for the invasion by the Emperor Claudius.

Episode 2

The Lost Island

400 AD: Among the splendours of his palace at Eboricum (York), Tiberius Claudius the Roman British governor the Province broods on what he believes to be the end of the civilised world.

Episode 3

The Coming of the Cross

During The Mid Dark ages Christianity was sweeping it's way across the brutal Saxon kingdoms of England. One Great Ruler, Violent and Ruthless Refuses to give up his warrior style pagan beliefs that brought his forefathers across the north sea and earnt them the Kingdom of Maice.

Episode 4

King Alfred

878 AD: King Alfred has suffered another defeat from the Danes and escapes through the Athelrey swamps to the safety of Odda's Hall. Disguised as a minstrel, Alfred enters the headquarters of the Viking invaders.

Episode 5

The Saxon Dusk

1042: Godwin, Earl of Wessex, summons Edward from out of his exile in Normandy to wear the Crown of England. But the apparent security of Godwin's Anglo-Saxan policies is disrupted by Edward's partiality for a French connection.

Episode 6

The Conquerors

1066-1070: Forest laws bring about a climax between the Saxons and the Normans.

Episode 7

A Sprig of Broom

1160: In Norman England, a man could will his movables to his kin and friends but only the next heir could inherit his land paying the overlord for the privilege.

Episode 8

Silver Giant, Wooden Dwarf

1215: King John is brought to his knees and signs the Magna Carta.

Episode 9

On the Anvil

1265: A runaway peasant accidentally witnesses a meeting between King Henry III and his chief Baron Simon de Montfort. Their argument indicates that only by a confrontation of arms will their differences be settled.

Episode 10

The Wallace

1296: The story of William Wallace, a rough Lanarkshire knight who strikes a blow for Scottish liberty by destroying the town of Lanark and its English Sheriff.

Episode 11

Shouts and Murmurs

1381: Revolt in East Anglia when the peasants are pressed beyond endurance by taxes and misgovernment by inexperienced King Richard II. Bishop Henry is sent to quell the risings.

Episode 12

A Wilderness of Roses

1440: When Henry V died, the feudal families of England began to prey upon each other. Royal upstarts succeeded one another until the nation was divided into two factions, the House of York and the House of Lancaster.

Episode 13

The Whip of Heaven

1538: Hugh Goodrest, a Warwickshire Lawyer, returns to his home town of Hales Owen to find the nearby Abbey and its inmates under investigation by the King's Commissioner. Rumours of monastic dissolution have reached the townspeople.

Episode 14

A Rich and Beautiful Empire

1603-1618: Sir Walter Raleigh is tried on trumped-up charges of treason and imprisoned in the Tower. For 13 years, he languishes in jail, still dreaming of a legendary Peruvian empire, its treasure, and its king.

Episode 15

America! America!

1610: A Puritan family in Nottinghamshire, hounded by King James I for their opposition to Anglican orthodoxy, go into unhappy exile in Holland and then decide to try the untried land of America.

Episode 16

March On, Boys!

50 mins

1649: King Charles I rallies his troops to fight the Roundheads and loses his head and kingdom for the trouble.

Episode 17

The Agreement of the People

May 1649: The Puritan revolution has reached its climax. The soldiers' democracy is over and Oliver Cromwell takes his revenge.

Episode 18

A Bill of Mortality

1665: The Royalists return. But for John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, the Restoration means plague and despair.

Episode 19

The Derry Boys

1689: The Protestant settlement in Ulster preempts King William's offensive against the Irish Jacobites. The apprentice boys close the gates of the town against James' troops, beginning a siege.

Episode 20

The Fine Art of Bubble-Blowing

1720: Tom Mackenzie, a confidence trickster from Scotland, steals a certificate for £100 worth of South Sea Company stock. The craze escalates until even the Government and Royal Family are involved and a crash is inevitable.

Episode 21

O Canada

1772: The MacAmney family are evicted from their highland homestead by the landlord to make way for sheep. Selling everything they own, they embark on a perilous sea journey to Canada.

Episode 22

The Liberty Tree

1775: An American judge who has settled in London reconstructs in an interview with a journalist his dispute with the radical Sam Adams, the Boston Massacre and the events which led to the Boston Tea Party.

Episode 23

Mother India

1781: Jack Gable apprehensively embarks on a new career as a clerk with the East India Company in Bengal. Under aegis of the lively Jack Potts, he meets some of the extraordinary characters of Calcutta society.

Episode 24

Mutiny

1797: The men of an ill-governed Royal Navy refuse to put their ships to sea. Aaron Graham, a London magistrate, is sent to investigate the circumstances leading up to the mutiny. His search leads him to dark taverns and stinking docks.

Episode 25

True Patriots All

1834: The Tolpuddle Martyrs are sent to Australia where a Tasmanian settler tries to get their service on his estates.

Episode 26

Death of Liberty

1819-1820: The story of the Cato Street Conspiracy, the plot of a radical political group to assassinate two Government ministers as a prelude to a general uprising.