A History of Britain
Stretching from the Stone Age to the year 2000, Simon Schama's Complete History of Britain does not pretend to be a definitive chronicle of the turbulent events which buffeted and shaped the British Isles. What Schama does do, however, is tell the story in vivid and gripping narrative terms, free of the fustiness of traditional academe, personalising key historical events by examining the major characters at the centre of them. Not all historians would approve of the history depicted here as shaped principally by the actions of great men and women rather than by more abstract developments, but Schama's way of telling it is a good deal more enthralling as a result. Schama successfully gives lie to the idea that the history of Britain has been moderate and temperate, passing down the generations as stately as a galleon, taking on board sensible ideas but steering clear of sillier, revolutionary ones. Nonsense. Schama retells British history the way it was--as bloody, convulsive, precarious, hot-blooded and several times within an inch of haring off onto an entirely different course. Schama seems almost to delight in the goriness of history. Themes returned to repeatedly include the wars between the Scots and the Irish and the Catholic/Protestant conflicts--only the Irish question remains unresolved by the new millennium. As Britain becomes a constitutional monarchy, Schama talks less of Kings and Queens but of poets and idea-makers like Orwell. Still, with his pungent, direct manner and against an evocative visual and aural backdrop, Schama makes history seem as though it happened yesterday, the bloodstains not yet dry.
Sign in to add to your listWhat critics are saying
Verdicts use the same scale as your list: highly recommended through avoid — plus optional scores and blurbs.
Nobody on Critic, Sir! has logged a verdict for this title yet. The silence is either respectful or suspicious.
Sign in and use Add to My List below to share your own verdict.
Where to Watch(AU)
Streaming data provided by JustWatch via TMDB.
Cast
Seasons
The story of Britain from the earliest settlements in 3000 BC to the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. To look back at the past is to understand the present. In this vivid account of over 4,000 years of British history, Simon Schama takes us on an epic journey which encompasses the very beginnings of the nation's identity, when the first settlers landed on Orkney.
- Ep 1
1.Beginnings (3100 BC - 1000 AD)
9.030-09-200060mSimon Schama starts his story in the Stone Age village of Skara Brae, Orkney. Over the next four thousand years Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Christian missionaries arrive, fig...
- Ep 2
2.Conquest! (1000 - 1087)
9.007-10-200060m1066 is not the best remembered date in British history for nothing. In the space of nine hours whilst the Battle of Hastings raged, everything changed. Anglo-Saxon England became...
- Ep 3
3.Dynasty (1087 - 1216)
9.014-10-200060mThere is no saga more powerful than that of the warring dynasty - domineering father, beautiful, scheming mother and squabbling, murderous sons and daughters, (particularly the nie...
- Ep 4
4.Nations (1216 - 1348)
10.021-10-200060mNations is the epic account of how the nations of Britain emerged from under the hammer of England's "Longshanks" King Edward I, with a sense of who and what they were, which endur...
- Ep 5
5.King Death (1348 - 1500)
10.028-10-200060mIt took only six years for the plague to ravage the British Isles. Its impact was to last for generations. But from the ashes of this trauma an unexpected and unique class of Engli...
- Ep 6
6.Burning Convictions (1500 - 1558)
10.004-11-200060mHere Simon Schama charts the upheaval caused as a country renowned for its piety, whose king styled himself Defender of the Faith, turns into one of the most aggressive proponents...
- Ep 7
7.The Body of the Queen (1558 - 1603)
10.011-11-200060mThis is the story of two queens - Elizabeth I the consummate politician and Mary Queen of Scots the Catholic mother. It is also the story of the birth of a nation.
Watching Lists
Sign in to create and edit public lists.
Loading lists…
Purchase & Discovery
Find this title on Amazon
Digital
Prime Video & digitalAmazon mixes rent, buy, and Prime in one place — one search covers the usual options.
Physical edition
4K Blu-ray & physical releasesSearch on AmazonOfficial merchandise
Official-style merch searchApparel, collectibles, and moreAs an Amazon Associate, Critic, Sir! earns from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure