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House of Saud: A Family at War Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
3 Episodes 2018 - 2018
Episode 1
Episode #1.1
59 mins
Saudi Arabia stands at a crucial crossroads in its history and is facing unprecedented change. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its ruling family The House of Saud have long enjoyed seemingly inexhaustible wealth, untold power and far reaching influence on a global scale. But the Saudis are accused of spreading and funding extremist ideology and of supporting violent extremist groups. 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pledged to reform the country, end extremism and return Saudi Arabia to moderate Islam and to work closely with the West to counter terrorism. The first edition of the series travels from Bosnia-Herzegovina to India and across the bloody battlefields of Iraq, Syria and Yemen tracing the impact that vast amounts of Saudi cash and weapons have had around the world. In recent years, the Saudis have worked closely with western powers on counter-terrorism and have promised revolutionary change within the Kingdom, but the growing regional conflict with Iran has placed Saudi Arabia firmly at the heart of the crisis in the Middle East. Will this powerful but secretive country be a force for stability in the world or a force for chaos?
Episode 2
Episode #1.2
58 mins
The House of Saud has launched an unprecedented crackdown on corruption within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, detaining hundreds of the richest people in the country (including 11 members of the royal family) in a luxury five-star hotel. The second programme in the series looks at how those arrests marked a break with the past, how some of the most prominent and richest Saudi royals were caught up in the purge and how the detentions shed light on the long-standing but highly secretive world of kickbacks and bribes - which have involved many foreign governments and some of the world's biggest companies. The current drive against corruption is being led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who has promised to transform the country and to reform its oil-dependent economy. However, there are many who question whether the mass detentions were less about ending corruption and more about the crown prince removing resistance to his succession to the throne. Could this crackdown endanger the stability of Saudi Arabia and the House of Saud itself?
Episode 3
Episode #1.3
59 mins
The series concludes by looking at how the House of Saud stays in power. Enormous wealth and a very generous social contract has protected them but a demographic time-bomb, social media and low oil prices have forced reform.