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Chief of War: the true story behind the creation of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi
Charting the unification of Hawaiʻi, Apple TV+’drama Chief of War explores a pivotal moment in Pacific history through the eyes of warrior Kaʻiana. But how true to history is the epic drama – and what role did European contact play in shaping events?
Kamehameha I has gone down in history as the man who drove the creation of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, which was formed in 1795. As aliʻi nui, or supreme leader, of the island of Hawaiʻi, Kamehameha conquered the neighbouring islands of Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi, and united them under one government. In 1810, following a peaceful surrender, the islands of Kauaʻi and Niʻiha also became part of a kingdom that endured for close to a century. Kamehameha’s victories brought an end to an era where each island was its own kingdom. His military success occurred at a time when American and European influence on the islands was growing; the first recorded European encounter, by James Cook, had only occurred in 1778. This is the historic backdrop to Chief of War, an Apple TV+ drama that explores the unification of the islands though the eyes of warrior Ka’iana. Is Chief Of War a true story? Yes, Chief of War is a true story broadly speaking, although to quote scriptwriter Thomas Paʻa Sibbett, the series takes 20 years of chronology and “crunches it into a smaller story”. At the heart of the drama is Kaʻiana (Jason Momoa), who was a real warrior and noble born around 1755. The real Kaʻiana fought alongside another important character in Chief of War, Kahekili II (c1737-94), during his invasion of O’ahu. Later, Kaʻiana fought for Kamehameha I – although he ultimately turned against the king. It’s important to emphasise Chief of War tells what’s first and foremost a Hawaiʻian history. Kamehameha I, after all, was widely thought to have fulfilled a prophecy by uniting the islands. That said, contact with Europeans is an integral part of the wider narrative here. Captain Cook was killed in February 1779 after trying to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the aliʻi nui of Hawaiʻi. In the wake of Cook’s death, Kaʻiana is reputed to have sailed from Kauaʻi to Niʻihau aboard HMS Resolution – although some accounts suggest the traveller was actually Kaʻiana’s cousin. According to the ship’s surgeon, David Samwell, a man the crew dubbed “Taiana” hoped to travel to England, a request that was refused. In 1786, two British ships, the King George and Queen Charlotte, anchored in Kealakekua Bay on Hawaiʻi. Kaʻiana was among those who greeted the first Europeans to return to the Hawaiʻian islands since Cook’s death. Read more | 5 facts about Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavour In 1787, Kaʻiana finally got to leave the islands when he travelled aboard a ship called Nootka, captained by John Meares, to Canton (now Guangzhou) in southern China. He also travelled to the Philippines and to the north-western coast of North America. Keeping in mind his experience of the outside world, it’s no coincidence that Kaʻiana had a key role in securing arms and ammunition for Kamehameha to use in his campaigns. What happened to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi after the events of Chief of War? Evolving over the years into a constitutional monarchy, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi endured until 1893, years in which the islands were transformed, not always for the better. In particular, diseases brought by Europeans and Americans such as syphilis, tuberculosis and measles caused a decline in the indigenous population. In 1893, a coup d’état ended the rule of Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last sovereign monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. With American influence in the islands growing, a short-lived republic was established. That lasted until in 1898, when the republic and the expansionist US president William McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution – a piece of legislation stating that the US would annex the islands, which they duly did in 1900, creating the Territory of Hawaiʻi. In August 1959, after years when the islands were an American-controlled territory, including during the Second World War when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaiʻi became the 50th state to be admitted to the Union. Recreating the world of 18th-century Hawaiʻi for Chief of War We spoke to Chief of War co-creator Thomas Paʻa Sibbett about bringing Hawaiʻian history to the screen. The history that Chief of War explores is highly complex. How did you go about researching it? The beginning of the process started when I was a child. These are stories that we’ve consumed through oral traditions for many, many years [Paʻa Sibbett is Hawaiʻian]. And then, aside from writing, before that my course of study was Hawaiʻian Studies. I actually got into the film industry to tell stories of Hawaiʻi and to tell stories of the Pacific. But, you know, it takes a while for people to trust that you can do what it is that you claim you can do, especially when you’re telling a story that has never had this type of representation before. Did you also have written material you could use to immerse yourself in the period? Hawaiʻian history was conveyed by oral transmission, but at the point of contact [with Americans and Europeans] things changed. Early in the 1800s, they started to develop their own newspapers. They had many, many different outlets for newspaper articles, and they built a wealth of history. You would have, for example, in the mid-1800s somebody documenting the story of Kamehameha, and they’re getting that story from someone who was there. We have a huge amount of resources that are telling us these stories from a Hawaiʻian point of view. The other thing that we have are the journals of sailors and the captains’ logs from when Kaʻiana travelled. Your characters speak in Hawaiʻian for much of the series. Was that difficult as a scriptwriter? The decision was made in the beginning that we wanted this world to be authentic. If we removed Hawaiʻian, then I felt like we were removing the reality, and that was just something we weren’t willing to do. But it was difficult because the actors don’t speak Hawaiʻian, the directors don’t speak Hawaiʻian, the producers don’t speak Hawaiʻian, the studio heads don’t speak Hawaiʻian. It was a learning process. The thing that made it work, and this is where I really have to put a shout out to everyone involved – everyone on set, everyone in the creative departments, all the actors – who were fully committed to honouring that aspect of the story. Nobody wanted to cut back on cultural representation. They worked so hard. Even when we would get a shot – and the shot could be really well acted and well done – the director’s first thing was he would look over to our language experts [from a Hawaiʻian cultural organisation called Awaiaulu] and say, “Are we good?” What was happening in the islands in the late 18th century? This time period in Hawaiʻi is so rich. We look at the islands today and they feel like they have the same characteristics. In those days, each island was, in essence, its own country. They were separate kingdoms, and a lot of times even worshipped different gods. And inevitably, as countries grow and influences grow, they come into conflict with each other. Then there’s the introduction of the outside world, no longer being pre-contact Hawaiʻi. We start to see Hawaiʻians trying to figure out what is the good and bad to this incoming influence – and to be honest, in their first interactions, there wasn’t ever a thought of a threat. [From a Hawaiʻian perspective] it was just about learning from one another and finding out what’s beneficial to learn from the outside world. Can you tell us a little about what the outside world made of Hawaiʻians when they travelled? Kaʻiana seems to have been viewed as hugely impressive. Ka’iana was very imposing. He’s written of as being handsome. A crew member had this rabbit and [Ka’iana] loved to get down on his haunches and just kind of spend time with the rabbit. He just really enjoyed this foreign world. Kaʻiana’s story allows us to explore: what is the thought process for a Hawaiʻian that goes out there? For example, he was in Zamboanga, a Spanish fort in the Philippines. When he got there, Zamboanga had already had 100 years of occupation. The land was so consumed that local people were building bamboo shacks over the water, so Kaʻiana would have witnessed this. He would have seen the impact of the outside world and what it does when it comes into a place. But he didn’t go out there with the thought of, “How do I fight these people for what they’re doing?” He was truly a student of the world. And I think that is pretty indicative of how Hawaiʻians are. Chief of War will be available to stream via Apple TV+ from Saturday 1 August. For more content like this, check out the best historical movies of all time as chosen by historians and ranked by you, history TV shows and films to stream tonight, and our picks of the new history TV and radio released in the UK this week
The Narrow Road to the Deep North: the real story behind the construction of the Burma Railway
In 1942, using forced labour, the Japanese began building a 415km train track through heavy jungle, to link the town of Ban Pong in Thailand with Thanbyuzayat in present-day Myanmar. Jonathan Wright explores the story of the so-called ‘Death Railway’ and talks to the scriptwriter of a 2025 series that has the experience of an Australian PoW at its centre
In 2014, Australian novelist Richard Flanagan won the Man Booker Prize for his sixth novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North. It tells the story of an Australian surgeon, Dorrigo Evans, who in later life finds fame as a Second World War veteran. But Evans is a man haunted by both a pre-war affair with his uncle’s wife and by his time as a prisoner of the Japanese, after being captured at the 1942 battle of Java. The book has since been adapted as a mini-series, scripted by Shaun Grant and directed by Justin Kurzel, available to stream in the UK via BBC iPlayer. Is The Narrow Road to the Deep North a true story? Though the specifics of the plot are a work of fiction, the historical background of The Narrow Road to the Deep North – and the horrors of working on the Death Railway – are all true. Working in brutal heat and humidity, and with inadequate food supplies, up to 16,000 Allied prisoners of war died during its construction – of poor health, in accidents and because of executions. In his acclaimed memoir, The Railway Man (1995), veteran Eric Lomax writes of torture, including waterboarding, and of nearly starving to death. There were also around 90,000 civilian casualties; as many as 250,000 southeast Asians were subjected to forced labour. Why did Japan build the Death Railway? Japan began using prisoners of war to build the Death Railway to further its military ambitions in both China and India, following naval losses that threatened their supply lines. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/07/528051-4122839-e1752858921443.jpg" width="1500" height="1000" alt="Men in khaki fatigues stand in two lines either side of a railway track" title="The so-called 'Death Railway' was built between Thailand and Burma by Allied POWs captured by the Japanese during WW2, as depicted in The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Photo via BBC/Curio Pictures/Sony Pictures Television)" /> The Japanese were intent on occupying Burma (present-day Myanmar), both because it wanted to cut off supply lines to the Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek in China [which were eventually defeated, in 1949, by the Chinese Communist Party] and because it wanted to capture Assam in India, where it hoped to foment opposition to British rule on the subcontinent. Japan first invaded Burma (then part of the British empire) in early 1942, but was almost immediately faced with logistical challenges. Following defeats in the naval battles of the Coral Sea (in May) and Midway (in June), Japanese shipping became vulnerable to attack by Allied submarines. Read more | 'Britain’s Pearl Harbor': Japan's December 1941 attack on the British colony of Malaya To avoid the need to supply troops by sea, which typically involved a 3,200km journey around the Malay Peninsula, the Japanese decided to connect the cities of Bangkok and Rangoon (now Yangon, Myanmar) by rail. And because of its successes earlier in the conflict, the Japanese military had a ready supply of PoWs who could be forced to work on the railway, including around 13,000 Australians. How bad were conditions for POWs working on the Death Railway? Throughout the 16-month construction, workers were buffeted by monsoon rains. To maintain a level track, it was necessary to excavate vast amounts of material, often using only hand tools. One stretch of railway in Thailand became known as “Hellfire Pass” because the sight of emaciated prisoners working by torchlight was so horrific. Speed was of the essence, so the labourers were organised into working units that were dotted along the length of the new line. In mosquito-infested jungle, shifts could last as long as 18 hours, especially during the so-called ‘speedo’ period when time had to be made up because construction was running behind schedule. What happened after the Death Railway was completed? The Death Railway was completed in October 1943, the product of the unwilling sacrifices made by those who worked on the track, including civilians who continued to live and die in so-called ‘rest camps’ along the line long after it was completed. Yet the complete route did not survive long beyond the Second World War, with the British using Japanese PoWs to remove a 4km section of the track in 1946 to protect its colony in Singapore. The train line recurs in popular culture, including in David Lean’s 1957 film The Bridge On The River Kwai, which won seven Academy Awards – including Best Picture, Best Director and, for Alec Guinness, Best Actor, a role for which he was apparently not first choice. More than 100 Japanese military officials were later tried for war crimes related to the construction of the railway, and 32 were sentenced to death. Read more | Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US in WW2 justified? Bringing the Death Railway back to life We spoke to The Narrow Road to the Deep North scriptwriter Shaun Grant to discuss adapting Richard Flanagan’s novel into a five-part television series. Was it daunting or exciting to adapt such an acclaimed book? Or was it a combination of both? You’ve worded it perfectly. It was both daunting and exciting. I just didn’t want to screw it up, and I had actually turned it down previously! Then director Justin Kurzel agreed to do it, and he managed to convince me to change my mind. I know some people say adapting classic literature is fraught with danger, but I’m a big believer in if it’s successful once, it’s because something about the piece is good, and typically it’s the story. How much research did you do? Richard Flanagan was great about me ringing if I had any questions or queries – which I did – and he obviously was meticulous. He was confident in his materials, so I was then confident in his material, and I built on that with textbooks and so on. One of the great joys I have in being a writer is I get to immerse myself in a particular time or place that I had very little knowledge about before I started. My grandfather worked on the railway, but he was really no use to my research, because he was very much a closed book. Although he was also a great influence, because I could see who he was as a man and how closed off he was, which I think, spoke to Dorrigo a little bit as a character. Just how brutal was the experience of prisoners? The Japanese treatment of their prisoners has been infamous ever since that period. Reading firsthand accounts is quite overwhelming – and I think I’ve got a pretty strong stomach for dark material. We took the boys who played the main core of prisoners to the War Memorial in Canberra. It’s a great resource for video accounts of veterans, many of whom are no longer with us, speaking to what they went through. It’s hard to watch, and hard to listen to, so you just want to do justice to them. Some people have said the series is hard to watch in parts, too. But I'm a big believer that that’s nothing compared to living through it. So if we have to watch the dramatised version of something for a small amount of time to remember and honour those men, then I think it’s the least we can do. Can you tell us a bit about ‘mateship’ between soldiers? Whenever I spoke to anyone that served, or if you go the War Memorial, ‘mateship’ is all they speak about. It could have been a person that came and went so briefly in their lives, but it was so significant. When you wake up every morning not knowing if you’re going to die that day, only people that have gone through that can ever truly understand it. I can read all the books in the world, but I’ll never know a tenth of what that feels like. This ‘mateship’ was everything. The Japanese, for all they’ve often been portrayed as evil, can be seen as victims too, in that they essentially lived under a militaristic and nationalist regime. Do you see a kind of political element in what happened? The character of camp commander Major Nakamura [a drug-addled brute] is so essential to the book and, in turn, the series. The book breaks off for a section that really homes in on his point of view after the war; Justin and myself were adamant that we include that in the series to show how we’re all victims of war. There are no winners. I don’t think it’s as simple as being evil. That said, the Japanese characters are saying and doing awful things. And when we sent the material to our Japanese consultant, they came back with: “Don’t water down what my kin did, it’s important to show the truth.” The Narrow Road to the Deep North is available to stream in the UK via BBC iPlayer now. For more content like this, check out the best historical movies of all time as chosen by historians and ranked by you, history TV shows and films to stream tonight, and our picks of the new history TV and radio released in the UK this week
Whiskey on the Rocks: the real story behind Soviet submarine S-363’s Cold War grounding
In 1981, Cold War tensions rose after a Soviet submarine, possibly armed with nuclear weapons, surfaced off the Swedish coast after hitting a rock. Jonathan Wright explores this lesser-known crisis and speaks to the makers of a new series inspired by the bizarre events…
Unless you remember it happening, this story – referred to as the ‘whiskey on the rocks’ incident – could all-too easily sound like the stuff of fiction. Indeed, it has inspired a new satirical comedy series, Whiskey on the Rocks, available on Disney+. Is Whiskey on the Rocks a true story? Yes, Whiskey on the Rocks is based on a true story – Whiskey-class Soviet submarine S-363 really did run aground in the Swedish archipelago during the Cold War. On 27 October 1981, S-363, part of the Soviet Navy’s Baltic fleet, hit an underwater rock off the south coast of Sweden, and was forced to surface approximately six miles from its main naval base, Karlskrona. According to the official Soviet version of events, S-363 had been forced towards shore due to an emergency – despite no distress call being issued. This doesn’t tally with the account of the skipper, Captain Pyotr Gushchin, who claimed the submarine became lost following a failure of navigational equipment. Another theory suggests that the crew had been drinking heavily and throwing a party that got out of hand just before S-363 struck the rock. The world reeled at the sight of a Soviet submarine, possibly carrying nuclear weapons, stranded on the Swedish coast. This was at the height of the Cold War, when the threat of nuclear catastrophe cast a shadow over everyday life. In the White House, the hawkish Ronald Reagan was US president. In the Kremlin, an ailing, ageing and paranoid Leonid Brezhnev held sway. And the man who had to mediate between them was the Swedish prime minister: the politician, and farmer, Thorbjörn Fälldin. Although Sweden maintained strong ties with the US and other western governments, it was officially neutral during the Cold War. It would be 1995 before the country became a member of the European Union, and 2024 when it joined NATO. But perhaps it was their neutrality, and the widespread view that the country was a backwater led by a man more interested in agriculture than geopolitics, that may have helped diffuse the impending crisis. For instance, there was a moment when the submarine captain left the craft to be questioned by Swedish authorities. Had this happened in a NATO country, this would have been far more politically sensitive. As it was, the meeting took place after the captain had been granted immunity from prosecution. After S-363 grounded, the Swedes – who were testing new equipment in a naval exercise at the time – started to investigate. Sweden may have been neutral, but its people were never blind to the threat posed by the Soviet bear. The Whiskey on the Rocks incident: Europe’s Cuban Missile Crisis? You can find out what happened next at the bottom of this article – spoiler warning for the new series, Whiskey on the Rocks – but first we caught up with director Björn Stein and scriptwriter and executive producer Henrik Jansson-Schweizer to talk about why they wanted to tell this story… The whiskey on the rocks incident is not well remembered in the story of the Cold War, especially compared to the events like the Cuban Missile Crisis. How big a deal was it? Henrik Jansson-Schweizer: This was Europe’s Cuban Missile Crisis. The world held its breath because we were very close to war. Björn Stein: It was huge, one of the most reported incidents in Sweden after the Second World War. But when we talked about making the series, half the population of Sweden didn’t know about it, which was shocking to me. There was no trauma, no bad repercussions. Maybe sad stories stay with us longer – and in the end this was not a sad story. It’s interesting it happened in Sweden, of all countries. It was this little neutral country, and we were the farmers who had no clue about world politics. We had no horse in the arms race and we weren’t part of NATO, which meant we could handle the incident differently than other countries around us. The series, Whiskey on the Rocks, portrays Sweden as a parochial place. What was the country like? Henrik Jansson-Schweizer: I would describe Sweden as a cousin from the countryside. I mean, our prime minister, Thorbjörn Fälldin, didn’t even speak English. He was a sheep farmer. Björn Stein: When you saw images of the submarine, it looked like fake news. But it was real and just absurd. We chose to tell what actually happened as a comedy because there were so many absurd elements, with little Sweden suddenly coming to be in the line of fire, so to speak. Maybe happily enough, it was Sweden: we didn’t know how to handle this in an aggressive manner. The tone of the series sometimes leans to absurdity. How much of what we see on the screen is true? Henrik Jansson-Schweizer: We started out with an ambition to do a great thriller about the events, but that simply wasn’t possible! Björn Stein: The submarine really was discovered by fishermen, and the Swedish military did row out in the middle of the night to try and measure radioactivity levels. Most incidents shown in the series are true. Before shooting, I showed a documentary about the S-363 to our director of photography and he said, “My god, everything happened!” Do we know how S-363 came to run aground? Henrik Jansson-Schweizer: What we realised when doing the research is that everyone we spoke to who was there knew exactly how things happened, but no story was like the next! Alcohol is one of the theories, and we choose to go with that. Björn Stein: After the submarine got stuck, the first Swedish officer who came aboard was offered vodka, which was 96 per cent alcohol. It was more like doctors’ alcohol with some cherry. The Soviets drank a lot of it, so was this why they ran ashore? The Swedish officer couldn’t drink it, and the Russians were offended. They were stranded on a rock in a Swedish military area and they were still offended. How did the Whiskey on the Rocks incident change Sweden? Henrik Jansson-Schweizer: The incident kind of dragged Sweden into the world. It was a wake-up call. Björn Stein: For me, I think the assassination of Olof Palme [the Swedish prime minister who was gunned down in February 1986] was the big wake-up call. But the S-363 was like a premonition, when we realised that there were foreign entities in our archipelago. In the years that followed, there was so much submarine chasing going on that one of the most exciting TV shows we had was the news. More from us HistoryExtra members can explore more Cold War history with exclusive content from our archives What brought a thaw in the Cold War? Cold War summits: how USA & USSR leaders worked to end the conflict Project Azorian: the Cold War CIA mission to snatch Soviet nuclear sub K-129 from the sea floor The Space Race: The Cold War rivalry that put humans on the Moon Not a HistoryExtra member? Explore our latest membership offers Whiskey on the Rocks real history: what happened next The days after S-363 became stuck were fraught with peril as the Swedes tried to discover if it was carrying nuclear weapons. Later, the submarine’s political officer, Vasily Besedin, claimed this had been the case, also telling a Swedish journalist: “Our officers were ordered to blow up the submarine together with its crew if the Swedish military forces tried to take possession of the boat. These orders would have been completed.” The most dangerous moment of the incident, however, came when the skipper was absent from the submarine – being questioned by Swedish authorities – and his officers issued a distress call due to worsening weather. Around the same time, it appeared that two ships were headed from a Soviet fleet towards S-363’s location. The Swedish armed forces stood poised for action until it became clear the ships were actually West German merchant vessels. The S-363 remained grounded until 5 November, when it was hauled off the rocks by tugs, escorted out to international waters and returned to the Soviets. A report by Swedish authorities concluded that the submarine had entered the country’s waters on a spying mission. Whiskey on the Rocks is available to stream on Disney+. For more content like this, check out the best historical movies of all time as chosen by historians and ranked by you, history TV and film to stream tonight, and our picks of the new history TV and radio released in the UK this week The Cuban Missile Crisis: World on the Brink Member exclusive | In this HistoryExtra podcast series, we explore the roots of the Cold War standoff and meet the key players in the confrontation. We track the pivotal 13 days at its centre, and the Cold War alliances that saw diplomatic tensions escalate to breaking point Listen to all episodes now
SAS Rogue Heroes season 2 preview: "They’re very much thumbing their noses at authority"
With SAS Rogue Heroes making a big, brash and brilliant return to our screens, Jonathan Wright sat down with the show’s director Stephen Woolfenden and producer Stephen Smallwood to get a sneak preview of what’s to come…
Fans of the hit Second World War military drama, SAS Rogue Heroes, which aired on the BBC in 2022, may be asking: how do you have a second series when the hero, David Stirling (Connor Swindells) has been captured and is now a prisoner of war? Show creator Steven Knight (the man also behind Peaky Blinders) has an elegantly straightforward answer for its imminent return. Without losing any of the espionage and political machinations that made the first series so compelling, the focus has shifted to another founder member of the Special Air Service, Paddy Mayne (Jack O’Connell). The narrative action – with the emphasis very much on action – opens in 1943, at a time with the future of the SAS in doubt. After it gets reorganised into two separate parts, it would be Mayne, a former British and Irish Lions international rugby player with a wholly justified reputation for insubordination, who took command of the newly formed Special Raiding Squadron. Read more | The original rogue heroes of the SAS Previously, the SAS had operated behind enemy lines in the vast emptiness of the desert, but the second series of SAS Rogue Heroes sees Mayne and his motley crew of hard-as-nails misfits face new challenges in the invasion of Sicily, which would then be followed with Italy. Director Stephen Woolfenden and producer Stephen Smallwood talk to HistoryExtra about how they went about bringing this story to life… The new series of SAS Rogue Heroes begins with David Stirling having been captured. But his brother, Bill Stirling (Gwilym Lee), emerges as a key character. Who was he? Stephen Woolfenden: Bill was the older brother of the two siblings and we learn that he has been in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) for the last couple of years. He’s supportive of his brother’s endeavours in the desert, and breaks out of the SOE to come and sort out the SAS. Stephen Smallwood: I think Ben Macintyre [the author of the book on which the series is based] stated that Bill was a more considered person and less impulsive than David. Bill is a much straighter character and he is the man who inherits the estate, because the Stirlings were lairds in Scotland. The SAS had been tasked by their creator to operate behind enemy lines only. They were “poachers” and Bill Stirling comes in with instructions that they are no longer going to work from behind military lines. Instead, they’re going to be the shock troops that undertake the invasion of the European mainland via Sicily. They’re going to lead the charge – but that’s not what they were set up to do. Read more | “They changed the way war is run”: Ben Macintyre on the early SAS How real was the threat to the SAS from the British military establishment at this point? Stephen Smallwood: The British military didn’t really like them because they were uncontrollable; their raison d’être was to operate in areas where headquarters had no control. Hierarchies never like that. I know that as a producer, you want to keep an eye on what everyone’s up to! Stephen Woolfenden: I think it’s really interesting. It suggests from general headquarters a loss of vision and not really understanding the potential of what they had. The SAS had really poked the bear in North Africa, but nobody had a creative thought about how they could be used in Europe. So they fell back on a pretty conservative idea: to put them into landing craft as part of the first feet on the beach. Our story is to say how they get out of that problem, and how they show themselves to be experts in the field of working beyond enemy lines. What did the men of the Special Raiding Squadron experience during the invasion of Sicily? Stephen Woolfenden: It was the biggest land, sea and air invasion by any combined force before D-Day. The SAS were there ahead of everybody, taking out huge guns that were protecting the coastline. We were as true as we possibly could be to the events that happened before they got to the beaches. On 10 July 1943 [when Paddy Mayne led his men ashore], there was a horrific storm. More than 60 gliders – carrying airborne troops as part of Operation Ladbroke – landed in the water. We listened to accounts by SAS veteran Pat Riley, who was in a landing craft and said, “We were passing people in the water and we couldn’t do anything about it.” As you show these events, how do you go about getting the tone right? There’s a lot of humour in SAS Rogue Heroes, yet these are men seeing the very worst of war. Stephen Woolfenden: We’ve tried very hard to get the balance right in terms of showing what they experienced, but understanding that they are human. Central to that is Steven Knight’s writing, which clearly shows that these characters are going through traumatic experiences. They can find things funny and, even in crisis moments, see the beauty in things. The big new part is that they’re not bombing aircraft and carrying out raids on airfields anymore. They’re in amongst a civilian population. In the show, we have a liberation scene and most of our characters don’t quite know how to react to it. They can feel the warmth, but don’t know how to return it. But receiving that warmth is a really positive thing. Read more | How the early SAS became heroes of the Second World War Stephen Smallwood: I think part of the series’ appeal for a young audience is the tone of the writing from Steven Knight. He has portrayed these characters as anarchic. They’re very much thumbing their noses at authority, and so to some extent are like a representation of teenagers. They may be wearing uniforms and be capable of marching and saluting, but none of those things they want to do – and they don’t do, because they loathe authority. Paddy Mayne emerges as a key character in series two. Historical accounts suggest he really was a kind of a warrior poet, is that how you see him? Stephen Woolfenden: ‘Warrior poet’ is a lovely way to describe him. Everything we know about him suggests men would follow him wherever he wanted to go. He was brilliant in battle: in his preparation, as a tactician and in the heat of the moment. He had this energy that could ignite at any moment. But we know that he cared deeply about his team. There’s a thread throughout the second series where we see Paddy asking his team, “Are you okay? How can I help you? I would advise reading some poetry, or staying here a while and making sure you’re okay.” He tells Sergeant Reg Seekings at one point that he too has nightmares and can’t sleep. He was an enigma. I feel very close to Paddy after working with Jack O’Connell through this series. SAS Rogue Heroes season 2 release date: when will the hit drama return? SAS Rogue Heroes season two began on BBC One at 9pm on New Year’s Day, and all episodes are be available on BBC iPlayer. You can also catch up on season one on BBC iPlayer now For more content like this, check out the best historical movies of all time as chosen by historians and ranked by you, history TV and film to stream tonight, and our picks of the new history TV and radio released in the UK this week
“He’s making choices that we would perceive as ruthless” | Wolf Hall’s researcher on Thomas Cromwell
Kirsten Claiden-Yardley, a production researcher on the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s final novel, The Mirror & the Light, tells us about recreating the world of the Tudors in Wolf Hall.
It was a bolt out of the blue. When the first series of Wolf Hall was being readied for filming, Kirsten Claiden-Yardley was studying towards her doctorate in Tudor history. Would, the Wolf Hall production team asked, she be interested in answering queries from the show’s director, Peter Kosminsky? Naturally, she said yes. When the dramatisation of the third book in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy, The Mirror & the Light, went into production, Yardley, who now works as a historian, researcher and historic buildings consultant, was again on board. Here, she shares the realities of the society in which the real Thomas Cromwell operated. Part of your job was to help Peter Kosminsky understand the world of Thomas Cromwell. Do we sometimes underestimate how alien it would be for us if we were suddenly transported back to 16th-century England? The Tudor era is kind of a weird mishmash of both the familiar and utterly unfamiliar. We sometimes see the people as totally alien. And sometimes we go too far that way in that core emotions are often the same. People are still motivated by love, greed, grief. But we do underestimate the importance of religion, just how ingrained into everyday life religious belief is, and how much people’s days and weeks and months and years were structured around a religious calendar – and particular times of day when you pray. To what degree would Cromwell’s religious beliefs have driven him? There’s an impression in Hilary Mantel’s books that he kept his personal faith a little under wraps. Yes, and I don’t think he’s the only one to have done this. In underestimating how important religious beliefs are to people at the time, I think it can be a little easy to dismiss them. Was that really such a driving factor? Was it more to do with greed or desire for political power? I think most of the people that we come across in Wolf Hall and The Mirror & The Light are deeply religious in their own ways. They may not agree exactly on how they think their religious beliefs should be expressed, there are a lot of debates going on, but they believe what they believe very strongly. It does play a part in driving their actions and their policies. There have been criticisms that Mantel’s take on Cromwell was too sympathetic, that he was a brutal and ruthless man. What are your thoughts here? I would definitely agree that he could be quite brutal and ruthless. I don’t think we completely lose that in Hilary Mantel's books, he is still making choices that we would, from our modern perspective, perceive as quite harsh and ruthless. But he wasn’t alone in that. I don’t think you survive at the top of Henry VIII’s court without being ruthless. After Wolf Hall came out, Diarmaid MacCulloch wrote an incredibly good biography of Cromwell [Thomas Cromwell: A Life]. But when Hilary Mantel started out, he was often seen as the villain in the stories of Anne Boleyn and Thomas More. What Hilary Mantel did was essentially make him into a fully formed person – yes, he is brutal and ruthless, but there are other sides to him as well, that’s not all he’s about. What about Henry VIII? Was he a monster as he’s sometimes portrayed? Part of the problem with Henry VIII is there's a tendency to try and get a single answer. When he becomes king in 1509, he’s almost 18 and he’s king until 1547. Trying to distill him down into a simple, one-sentence description just seems like an impossible task to me. Henry is young in 1509. He's handsome, he’s sporty, he's active, he jousts, he hunts, he’s desirable. You can understand why Catherine of Aragon wants to marry him. He's deeply religious, he’s a defender of the Catholic faith, and this is just so very, very different from what he becomes. With people and with events, when we look at them from now, we're trying to see a logical pattern, but that’s not how lives work at all. Random things happen and unexpected events. We make choices and we send our lives off down different routes. What can we say about how Henry later thinks of Cromwell’s fate? He sometimes regrets that decision. Later [after Cromwell’s fall], he's like, ‘Oh, I wish I had Cromwell.’ Also, it’s a bit of a ‘get out of jail free card’ for Henry that, at that time, people don't blame the king. If you rebel, you can't say that it's the king you don't like, you have to say it's the advisors. Kirsten Claiden-Yardley is a Tudor historian and researcher, and production researcher on Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light
6 shocking presidential scandals that rocked the White House: from the Petticoat Affair to Clinton-Lewinsky
The history of the US presidency is littered with tales of extra-marital affairs and allegations of corruption. Jonathan Wright turns back the clock to examine half a dozen of the biggest presidential scandals to have engulfed the White House during the 19th and 20th centuries
The Petticoat Affair (1829–31) Andrew Jackson It might seem astonishing that so much political energy could be consumed by what came to be known as the Petticoat Affair, which began in 1829 when members of Andrew Jackson’s cabinet and their wives (dubbed the ‘Petticoats’) ostracised the secretary of war, John Eaton, and his wife, Peggy. The couple had married just nine months after the death of Peggy’s first husband, John B Timberlake, a purser in the US Navy. This was a scandalously short period of mourning. Suspicions John and Peggy had been conducting a clandestine affair compounded the sense of impropriety, especially when combined with rumours Timberlake had taken his own life over the supposed liaison. Politically, it might have been easier had Jackson followed his cabinet and distanced himself from Eaton. Instead, he took the Eatons’ side – perhaps because he himself had been bruised by accusations that he had lived in sin for a time with his late wife, Rachel (the pair had wed bigamously after mistakenly believing that Rachel’s divorce from her first husband had been granted). The upshot was that Jackson, a man who had come to power off the back of being an energetic general in the War of 1812 against the British, found himself bogged down on a political battlefield. The Petticoat Affair rumbled on for 30 months until, eventually, Jackson found an opportunity to demand the resignation of most of his ineffective and fractious cabinet. Read more | Lincoln, Adams and George W Bush: 6 disputed presidential elections in American history The Whiskey Ring (1875–76) Ulysses S Grant By 1875, Ulysses S Grant, the commanding general who had led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War, had been president for six years. While he personally worked diligently to push reforms, he led an administration that had become synonymous with sleaze, backroom deals and corruption. The Whiskey Ring was among the worst of the scandals to beset Grant. The story first hit the news in May 1875 after the secretary of the treasury, Benjamin H Bristow, realised that millions of dollars in tax revenues due from whiskey distillers were never reaching the government’s coffers. Instead, in a conspiracy centred on St Louis and involving prominent Republican politicians, government agents and those working in the liquor industry, the money was being stolen. At the centre of the criminality was General John McDonald, a man Grant had, in 1869, appointed as revenue collector of Missouri District. Bristow and Grant’s attorney general, Edwards Pierrepont, set about bringing those involved in the conspiracy to justice. Not only did they secure 110 convictions, but they recovered $3 million in pilfered tax revenues. Unfortunately for Grant, he received no political dividend from his officials’ work; his own private secretary, Orville E Babcock, was among those indicted. And while Babcock was found not guilty, Grant’s testimony on behalf of his friend was widely regarded as an embarrassment. For many years, historians rated Grant as a poor president, but in recent years his contribution has been reassessed. For all his faults, Grant was an essentially honest man governing in a post-conflict era of huge turmoil. The Teapot Dome scandal (1921–23) Warren G Harding In a mechanised era, the military needs fuel. Accordingly, when William Taft, during his presidency (1909–13), designated a number of oil-producing regions as naval reserves, it must have seemed a sensible idea. But as subsequent events proved, it was a decision that left space for corruption. The Teapot Dome scandal began in 1921, when the president, Warren G Harding, issued an executive order transferring control of three oil fields, including the Teapot Dome field in Wyoming, from the Navy Department to the Department of the Interior. The order was implemented in 1922, at the behest of interior secretary Albert B Fall. At this time, it was legal for drilling rights to be leased without competitive tender and, in late 1922, Fall leased oil production rights at Teapot Dome to the industrialist Harry F Sinclair of Mammoth Oil. Fall leased the Elk Hills and Buena Vista reserves to another tycoon, Edward L Doheny, in a similar fashion. Not only were the leases highly favourable to the oilmen, but Fall personally benefited from the transactions, sums equivalent to millions of dollars today. But Fall wasn’t subtle enough in spending the bribes and his improved financial circumstances soon attracted suspicion. What followed was a slow-burning scandal that, in 1929, resulted in Fall being found guilty of accepting bribes and sentenced to a year in jail. Congress gave itself the power view the tax records of any US citizen, regardless of their position. While Fall was to blame for what happened, the Teapot Dome scandal continues to stain the reputation of Harding, who died in office in 1923. Watergate (1972–74) Richard Nixon The scandal that brought down Richard Nixon (and gave every subsequent scandal its suffix) began on 17 June 1972 with a break-in at the Watergate Office Building in Washington DC. At a time when campaigning during the presidential election was in full swing, the offices housed the Democratic National Committee headquarters. From this small beginning, things gradually unravelled. Five men were apprehended at Watergate. Money found on them was connected to the Committee for the Re-election of the President – CRP, an acronym that morphed into CREEP as news of slush funds and illegal wiretaps targeting the Democrats spread – a fund-raising organisation for Nixon. In the immediate wake of the break-in, White House officials sought to cover up what had happened. This was at least in part because they were alarmed at connections between the five who had been detained and the ‘White House Plumbers’, a covert Special Investigations Unit charged with investigating and preventing leaks of secret information, but who came to be known as Nixon’s ‘fixers’. How much Nixon knew specifically about the break-in ahead of time remains unclear but, not least because of reporting by Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, he eventually came under near-intolerable pressure. Nixon’s habit of recording phone conversations and meetings didn’t help his cause either. In 1974, the so-called ‘Smoking Gun’ tape was released, which proved Nixon and his chief of staff, HR Haldeman, had discussed a cover-up as early as 23 June 1972. Facing impeachment, ‘Tricky Dickie’ resigned from office in August 1974. His successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned Nixon, but the former president’s reputation was destroyed forever. Read more | Richard Nixon: the rise and fall of an American president The Iran-Contra Affair (1985–87) Ronald Reagan The idea that, between 1981 and 1986, Ronald Regan’s administration secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran is, to say the least, counterintuitive. And yet, despite an arms embargo and the two nations’ habitually pugnacious stance towards each other, the US shipped more than 2,000 missiles to Iran without Congress being informed – at a time, moreover, when Iran was at war with its neighbour, Iraq. There were two distinct strands to the story. The first is centred on the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90). In 1982, as the conflict raged, the Islamist group Hezbollah had begun to take hostages, including Americans, in Lebanon. Hezbollah had strong links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the administration hoped that, in return for the arms, Iran would help secure the release of American hostages. What to do with the money raised? Vietnam veteran Oliver North, a National Security Council staffer, came up with a cunning ruse, to give proceeds from the sales to the Contras, counterrevolutionaries opposed to the ruling – and Soviet-backed – Sandinistas in Nicaragua. From the administration’s perspective, the ploy was necessary because, in 1982, Congress had moved to limit US assistance to the Contras, a group notorious for its human rights atrocities. In November 1986, the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa exposed the US arms sales to Iran and, under political pressure, Reagan formed the Tower Commission to investigate what had happened. Although a final 1993 report by special counsel Lawrence Walshe found no direct evidence Reagan had known about aid going to the Contras, it highlighted how the Cold War warrior had “created the conditions which made possible the crimes committed by others”. Read more | Life after the White House: what the US presidents did next The Clinton-Lewinsky Affair (1998–99) Bill Clinton In a strong field, it remains one of the most infamous utterances ever made by an American president. On 26 January 1998, speaking at a press conference, Bill Clinton declared, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms Lewinsky.” There was just one problem: between 1995 and 1997, the president had most definitely been having an affair with Ms Monica Lewinsky, an intern. The scandal that overshadowed the latter part of Clinton’s second term broke in part because of another case. In January 1998, civil servant Linda Tripp learnt that Lewinsky had sworn an affidavit in the Paula Jones case, in which Clinton had been sued for sexual harassment (a case settled in November 1998), and denied a physical relationship with Clinton. Tripp, Lewinsky’s confidante and co-worker, had secretly recorded conversations that contradicted this denial. Tripp delivered the tapes to Ken Starr, then investigating Clinton on other matters such as the Whitewater controversy, centred on real estate investment made by the Clintons. Via such salacious details as a semen-stained dress, the Republican-dominated House impeached Clinton in December 1998. He was accused of “high crimes and misdemeanours”. A trial in the Senate followed, but a two-thirds majority was required for conviction and Clinton’s removal from office. He survived to complete his presidency, although the vice president, Al Gore, blamed his own defeat in the 2000 presidential election partly on what had happened. In 2018, Monica Lewinsky wrote an essay for Vanity Fair in which she looked back. Her older self, she said, regarded the affair as a “gross abuse of power” on Clinton’s part. Read more | Queen Elizabeth II's relationships with US presidents
Watch tonight: historical TV series and films streaming now
Looking for a new historical TV show or film to watch? From Shōgun and The Last Kingdom to Bridgerton, we've rounded up the best history content streaming on BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Now, HBO and other on-demand services in the UK and US
Looking for something to watch? Here are the best historical dramas, TV shows and films available to streaming in the UK and US this month, from binge-watchable period dramas to fascinating documentaries. Jump to your preferred streaming platform: BBC iPlayer Netflix Amazon Prime ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BritBox, UKTV Play Lionsgate+ Now Disney+ Apple TV+ HBO Hulu Best historical movies, dramas and documentaries on Netflix African Queens: Cleopatra Streaming in the UK and US | drama-documentary series The second offering in Hollywood star Jada Pinkett Smith’s anthology drama-doc series focuses on Cleopatra, who ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom from 51-30BC. It’s a portrait of a royal whose beauty, in this reading, has come to overshadow her intellect and daring. It’s also a series that was greeted by controversy in Egypt for casting a mixed-heritage actor, Adele James, in the lead role. Also available to stream via Netflix, African Queens: Njinga focuses on the extraordinary life of Princess Njinga (c1583–1663), who became leader of both Ndongo and Matamba, kingdoms located in modern-day Angola. Read more | The face of Cleopatra: what did she look like, and was she really so beautiful? Alexander: The Making Of A God Streaming in the UK and US | drama-documentary series It’s not often that a politician intervenes directly to criticise a historical drama-doc. But this was what happened in February 2024 when Lina Mendoni, Greece’s minister for culture, called Alexander: The Making Of A God “extremely poor-quality fiction”. The main problem, it seems, is the show’s portrayal of a a romantic relationship between Alexander and his confidant, Hephaestion. Whatever your thoughts on how Alexander expressed his sexuality, this six-parter adds up to a comprehensive overview of the all-conquering military leader’s life and times, which tells its story through combination of historians talking, analysis of recent archaeology and dramatic reconstructions. All Quiet On The Western Front Streaming in the UK and US | feature-length drama Based on German writer Erich Maria Remarque’s First World War novel, like the classic 1930 Oscar winner, here’s a visceral drama that takes viewers to the trenches of the Western Front. Directed by Edward Berger (Deutschland 83, Patrick Melrose), it follows young soldier Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer), who patriotically dreams of being a hero, but instead finds himself descending into a nightmare of filthy conditions, poor food and the ever-present threat of an early demise. A film of starkly beautiful imagery that has been announced as Germany’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Read more | All Quiet on the Western Front historian’s review All The Light We Cannot See Streaming in the UK & US | drama series Scripted by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) from Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer-winning novel, this four-part mini-series follows the experiences of Marie-Laure LeBlanc (Aria Mia Loberti), a blind French girl living in occupied France through the Second World War. Early in the story, Marie-Laure flees Paris for Saint-Malo in Brittany, a journey undertaken in the company of her father, Daniel (Mark Ruffalo), and a legendary diamond, but it’s the way she is drawn to a kindred spirit, brilliant young German soldier Werner Pfennig (Louis Hofmann) that lies at the heart of the drama. Hugh Laurie plays Marie-Laure’s PTSD-afflicted great uncle, Etienne LeBlanc. Bridgerton Streaming in the UK and US | three seasons available Worldwide, Bridgerton has found an audience of millions, far exceeding the numbers usually drawn to bonnets-and-breeches fiction. In part, that’s because its portrait of high society during the Regency era is unapologetically escapist – and frequently steamy. But the casting has been key to its success too, in that here is an alternate-history period drama that shows London as racially integrated. The third season focuses on Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), having given up hope of ever getting dashing Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) to look her way, has decided it’s time to take a husband. Complications soon ensue. Read more | The real South Asian women in Regency-era England Bridgerton: everything you need to know Step into the ballrooms of Regency England, and catch up on the real history that underpins seasons 1 and 2 of Bridgerton, from the real royals to the palaces and promenades | Read more The Crown Streaming in the UK and US | four seasons available No list of historical TV series on Netflix would be complete without a mention of The Crown. The sumptuous royal drama offers an engrossing portrait of the Windsors and covers events including the Suez crisis, the Aberfan disaster, and the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer. The story follows the life of Queen Elizabeth II and her family over several decades, charting the personal and political challenges facing the Queen’s reign as well as the intricate family dramas going on behind the scenes. The final episodes brought the story almost to the present day. The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die Streaming in the UK and US | feature-length drama When The Last Kingdom reached the end of its fifth and final series (all available to stream via Netflix), a few loose ends remained. This was in great part because several novels in Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Stories sequence remained unadapted. No longer. Feature-length sequel Seven Kings Must Die returns us to a world where the idea of a united England is in the ether. Although Northumbria’s ruler Uhtred of Bebbanburg (Alexander Dreymon) has yet to pledge his lands to the throne, peace has broken out – at least until King Edward dies and England is once again thrown into turmoil. The Last Kingdom: everything you need to know Explore the real history that underpins the fictional adventures of Uhtred, son of Uhtred | Read more Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Streaming in the UK and US | drama series How did the world of The Ton, the hyperreal, multiethnic Georgian England high society we see in the global hit Bridgerton, come into being? This prequel, from the acclaimed showrunner Shonda Rhomes, offers plenty of clues as it traces the story of the young Queen Charlotte (India Amarteifio) meeting King George III (Corey Mylchreest) in 1761. Suffice to say Charlotte isn’t too impressed with the idea of marrying George, but love blossoms. The series also follows events in 1817, where the death of Queen Charlotte’s only legitimate granddaughter, Princess Charlotte, in childbirth leads to a succession crisis. Read more | The real history behind Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Rustin Streaming in the UK & US | feature-length drama While he doesn’t have the instant name recognition of Martin Luther King Jr, Bayard Rustin was a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement. It was Rustin’s organisational genius that made the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom possible – no Rustin, no King declaring, “I have a dream!” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Director George C Wolfe’s biopic stars Colman Domingo in the title role. It explores the life of a man who was a tireless activist and, unusually in the context of his era, was a public figure despite being known to be gay. Turning Point: The Bomb And The Cold War Streaming in the UK and US | documentary series Drawing on more than 100 interviews filmed in seven countries, director Brian Knappenberger’s nine-part account of the Cold War is epic in both scope and ambition. Beginning with the development of atomic bomb, it goes on to look at how the long nuclear stand-off that followed shaped both history and individual lives. Today, contends the series, we are still living with the effects of the Cold War. Those offering their perspectives range from survivors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima to former CIA Director Robert Gates and contemporary political leaders, including the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Vikings: Valhalla Streaming in the UK and US | one season available Set a century after the conclusion of Vikings, this similarly visceral swords-and-seafaring sequel Vikings: Valhalla follows a new collection of mariner-warrior Norsemen and Norsewomen. Chief among them is Leif Erikson (Sam Corlett), a figure from the Icelandic sagas reputed to have been the first European to set foot on continental North America, where he established a settlement, Vinland, hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic. His headstrong sister, Freydís Eiríksdóttir (Frida Gustavsson), and an ambitious prince, Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter), also feature strongly. The series begins with tensions high in 11th-century England, a prelude to violence. Best historical movies, dramas and documentaries on Prime Video The Aeronauts Streaming in the UK and US | feature-length drama James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) has a big idea. He thinks it’s possible to predict the weather. To prove this, he needs to fly as high in the sky as possible. Enter pilot Amelia (Felicity Jones), a fictionalised composite of women balloonists. Based on Falling Upwards: How We Took To The Air (2013) by academic and biographer Richard Homes, Tom Harper’s fine drama charts an ascent in 1862, when Glaisher (and, in reality, balloonist Henry Tracey Coxwell) climbed to at least 29,000ft and perhaps as high as 37,000ft, the kinds of altitudes at which today’s jet liners fly. Air Streaming in the UK and US | feature-length drama Arriving in the wake of Apple's Tetris, here's another drama that mixes up cultural history with product development. Here, the focus is on the origin of Air Jordan basketball shoes, and how their launch transformed the fortunes of Nike. Directed by Ben Affleck, who also plays Nike CEO Phil Knight, the film outlines how marketing executive and talent scout Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) became convinced that Michael Jordan (Damian Young), third pick at the 1984 NBA draft, was a generational talent. Acting on his hunch, Vaccaro persuaded Jordan – and his mother, Deloris (Viola Davis) – to sign a sponsorship deal. Devotion Streaming in the UK | feature-length drama Jesse Brown was the first African-American pilot to complete the US Navy's basic flight training programme. He went on to serve with distinction in the Korean War (1950–53) and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. The frigate USS Jesse L. Brown was named in his honour. This biopic charts his career, the story of a man born in Mississippi and who encountered overt racism throughout his life. The central relationship here is between Brown (Jonathan Major, star of Lovecraft Country) and his wingman, Tom Hudner (Glen Powell of Top Gun: Maverick fame), and charts a deepening friendship. The English Streaming in the US | drama series Forgive the hint of tautology, but a good Western serves as a reminder of why so many of us love a good Western, and Hugo Blick's The English is very, very good indeed. At its heart lies the relationship between an English noblewoman, Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt), and Pawnee scout Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer). Locke has travelled to the USA in search of vengeance over the death of her son, while Whipp, in the wake of military service, wants to return to his homeland. The fates of both are linked, but only gradually do we learn how. Superb. A League Of Their Own Streaming in the UK and US | comedy-drama series Released in 1992, Penny Marshall’s movie version of A League Of Their Own told a heavily fictionalised version of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), founded in 1943. In the years since, women’s sport has become far more widely covered in mainstream media, as has an interest in the history of women’s sport. This new take on women’s baseball promises to mix the humour and sheer joy of the original film with a greater appreciation that it wasn’t just women who made it to the AAGPBL who dreamt of playing professionally. Streaming from 12 August. The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Streaming in the UK and US | four seasons available The ‘Mrs Maisel’ of the title here is a New York housewife who, via downtown Manhattan misadventures with alcohol and an encounter with Lenny Bruce (1925–66), finds she has a gift for comedy. Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girl), the Emmy-winning Mrs Maisel sometimes trades in fuzzy nostalgia, yet more often offers an acerbic take on the social mores of the US in the late 1950s and early 1960s. At times, it could interrogate Maisel’s privilege more acutely, but it’s always funny and the main cast, notably Rachel Brosnahan as Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel, is terrific. One Night in Miami Streaming in the UK and US | feature-length drama In February 1964, 7-1 underdog Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), soon to change his name to Muhammad Ali, defeated Sonny Liston to become world heavyweight champion. After the fight, he met with three friends: soul singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr), Nation of Islam activist Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and American football star Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge). Directed by Regina King and scripted by Kemp Powers from his play, One Night imagines what might have transpired. Suffice to say the quartet spent more time musing on their lives and the fight for civil rights than partying. Illuminating and powerful. Peterloo Streaming in the UK and US | feature-length drama On Monday 16 August 1819, a crowd of between 60,000 and 80,000 people gathered at St Peter’s Field in Manchester to demand electoral reform. The actions of the authorities would become infamous after cavalrymen charged the gathering, leaving 18 dead and hundreds injured. Director Mike Leigh’s drama, released in cinemas to coincide with the 200th anniversary of an event dubbed the Peterloo Massacre, conveys a righteous anger as it explores what happened that day. Throughout, there’s a sense of the epic that seems wholly appropriate and there are fine performances, notably from Rory Kinnear as radical orator Henry Hunt. The Underground Railroad Streaming in the UK and US | drama series Prior to filming this series, Oscar-winning writer and director Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) noted more than once that he wanted to make a drama dealing with slavery. But how to approach such a difficult subject? By adapting Colson Whitehead’s 2016 novel, which reimagines the underground railroad, the network of secret routes and safe houses used by enslaved people fleeing the American South, as a physical system of tracks. The fantastic element adds to the power of the piece, by making us look back with fresh eyes. Starring Thuso Mbedu as Cora Randall, a young woman fleeing life on a plantation. Vikings Streaming in the UK and US | six seasons available In AD 793, northern raiders sacked the monastery at Lindisfarne, an event now taken to mark the beginning of the Viking Age. It’s also the starting point for this six-season drama that follows the exploits of chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew, and in later seasons Ragnar’s descendants. Originally made for the History Channel, the show draws extensively on chronicles written later and on contemporary historical sources, which isn’t to suggest it’s somehow didactic. Rather, this is blood-and-thunder entertainment that’s not for the squeamish. A sequel, Vikings: Valhalla, is now available to stream via Netflix. Best historical movies, dramas and documentaries on BBC iPlayer The Australian Wars Streaming in the UK | documentary series One of the myths of the colonisation of Australia is that Britons moved to an empty continent. In fact, at least 100,000 people, mostly indigenous Australians, died in the conflict-blighted decades that followed the landing of the First Fleet in 1788. It’s a history explored here over three episodes by filmmaker Rachel Perkins, who has both European and First Nations ancestry. The first episode charts events in New South Wales, when pressure on resources led to conflict. Subsequent episodes takes viewers to Tasmania and Queensland. A story of the seizing of land and guerrilla resistance emerges. Digging For Britain Streaming in the UK | one season available First aired in 2010, Digging For Britain rests on a straightforward premise, the idea that, for all the foul weather, mud and long hours involved, archaeology is inherently fascinating. It helps too of course that every year the series focuses in on those excavations that have radically changed our understanding of the past and/or made the most jaw-dropping discoveries – such as when, in the latest series, a dig in Carlisle, which stands at the western end of Hadrian’s Wall, reveals a Roman bathhouse nobody suspected was there. Presented by Professor Alice Roberts. Disco: Soundtrack Of A Revolution Streaming in the UK | documentary series For all it conquered the mainstream, disco was deeply subversive. As this three-part documentary series recounts, it was after all music that emerged from New York’s underground club scene, its history bound up with the radicalism of the 1960s and, in particular, the struggle for gay rights. The second of the documentaries takes us into years when Saturday Night Fever (1977) and its soundtrack were international hits, while the final instalment charts the Disco Sucks backlash. As for the spirit of disco, it lives on, paid forward to the present via the emergence of house music in the 1980s. Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley On The Case Of Conan Doyle Streaming in the UK | documentary series Most writers are delighted when their work achieves success, but Arthur Conan Doyle was at best ambivalent about his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes, and even tried to kill him off. As fan Lucy Worsley explores over three episodes, Conan Doyle longed for a literary respectability that detective fiction simply didn’t deliver. On the other hand, at least partly because of an insecure childhood blighted by his father’s mental illness, he liked money and the sense of security it brought. A series that traces how the biographies of Conan Doyle and Holmes intertwine. Lucy Worsley Investigates Streaming in the UK | documentary series In which, as the title suggests, Lucy Worsley turns historical sleuth as she looks at some of the more brutal chapters in Britain’s past. The tone is set in the first of four episodes, which looks back at the witch-hunt mania that engulfed the country 400 years ago. Agnes Sampson, a healer and midwife, is a central figure here, not least because she was personally interrogated at Holyrood Castle by King James VI of Scotland. Other episodes deal with the Black Death, the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower and the illness of King George III. Read more | The survivor, the "incurable" and the scapegoat: Lucy Worsley on the extraordinary lives of three ordinary women Miners’ Strike: A Frontline Story Steaming in The UK | feature-length documentary It’s 40 years since Arthur Scargill contentiously called out the National Union of Mineworkers on strike without first holding a national ballot. What followed was a bitter dispute that, even within the context of wider changes being pushed through by Margaret Thatcher’s governments, emerges from recent history as a key event. Among several shows on radio and TV marking the anniversary, Miners’ Strike: A Frontline Story, built around the testimony of those who were there, is arguably the best. At the centre of the documentary lies the so-called battle of Orgreave, an infamously brutal confrontation between police and pickets. Peaky Blinders Streaming in the UK | six seasons available An epic gangster drama set in 1920s Birmingham, Peaky Blinders started out as cult viewing, but became a worldwide hit. Inspired by stories of real-life Brummie mobsters, the series follows the rise of gangster boss Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy). The final season takes the Shelbys’ story into the years after 1929, and shows a world thrown into turmoil by the Great Depression. But that may not be quite the end: a big-screen movie is said to be in the works. The show offered the late Helen McCrory OBE, who played matriarch Aunt Polly, one of her defining roles. Read more | Who were the real Billy Boys, the Glasgow gang in Peaky Blinders? Rob And Rylan’s Grand Tour Streaming in the UK | documentary series Between the late 17th and early 19th centuries, the Grand Tour was the equivalent of a gap year for posh young Britons. Every year, aristocrats would head for the continent to see the wonders of the classical and renaissance worlds at first hand. More than a few, you suspect, would also have pursued more hedonistic pleasures. Two centuries later, friends Rob Rinder and Rylan follow in the footsteps of these young Britons by travelling to Italy’s great cities. First up, that means Venice, where highlights include an exploration of Canaletto’s artistic legacy. The duo also visit Florence and Rome. Secrets & Spies: A Nuclear Game Streaming in the UK | documentary series Full of moments of genuine jeopardy and derring do, the story of how double agent Oleg Gordievsky crossed the border into Finland from the USSR could come straight from the pages of a John le Carré novel. The circumstances leading up to how Gordievsky, formerly a top-ranking KGB officer in London and a man who had become deeply disillusioned with communism, came to escape are in many respects no less remarkable. Gordievsky’s odyssey provides a through-narrative in this excellent series that looks at the end of the Cold War from the perspective of those working in the secret services. Union With David Olusoga Streaming in the UK | documentary series We are living through an era when the future of the United Kingdom seems at best uncertain. But maybe this has long been the case. That’s certainly the impression you get watching David Olusoga’s latest series, which surveys a history of unions – and schisms – dating back to the early 17th century. He begins with James VI of Scotland and I of England, a monarch who wanted to forge the two nations into a single Protestant kingdom. As things turned out, Great Britain would not come into being until 1707, its creation linked to a disastrous colonial adventure in Panama. Best historical movies, dramas and documentaries on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BritBox, UKTV Play Archie Streaming in the UK | drama series available via ITVX Born in 1904 in Bristol, the son of Elsie and Elias, Archibald Leach grew up to be Cary Grant, the most urbane of leading man during Hollywood’s golden age. How did this transformation come about? It’s a story traced here in a four-part series starring Jason Isaacs in the lead role. Grant’s childhood emerges as pivotal to understanding the star. Growing up in miserable poverty, his escape to a better life began when, as a teenager, he auditioned for a music hall act, the Bob Pender Troupe, after being captivated by one of their performances, at the Bristol Hippodrome. The Architecture the Railways Built Streaming in the UK | documentary series, three seasons available via UKTV Play Tim Dunn likes railways a lot, an enthusiasm he conveys so vividly that in itself it greatly explains why this series has become cult viewing. More seriously, Dunn, who is especially good on the Victorian era, when so many of Britain’s railways were built, is adept at explaining how the railways have transformed our lives down the years. It’s a subject he approaches through the buildings associated with trains – not just stations but viaducts, signal boxes, tunnels, pedestrian walkways, workshops and railway hotels, so many of which turn out to have fascinating stories associated with them. Read more | The history of railways in Britain: from the first steam trains to the rail revolution Call the Midwife Streaming in the UK | nine seasons available via BritBox (& other services) From its launch in 2012, Call the Midwife has been one of the BBC’s flagship period dramas. Inspired by the memoirs of real-life midwife Jennifer Worth, the programme follows the lives of staff at an East London nursing convent during the late 1950s and, latterly, through the 1960s. Boasting a cast that includes Jenny Agutter, Helen George and Stephen McGann, the award-winning show has plenty of heartwarming moments as it shows how maternity care developed in the wake of the Second World War, but it also tackles gritty issues such as poverty, racism, domestic violence and abortion. Read more | Midwifery and childbirth: a historical A–Z guide Defiance: Fighting The Far Right Streaming in the UK | documentary series In 1976, racists murdered a Sikh teenager, Gurdip Singh Chaggar, in Southall. For young British Asians, it was a killing that stirred them into action. Faced with police indifference even as the far-right group the National Front was fomenting further violence, they took to the streets to protest. For all its inequalities, Britain is, of course, a more tolerant place today, but this three-part series – which also takes in such events as the death of anti-racist activist Blair Peach and the story of the ‘Bradford 12’ – reminds us that racism had to be confronted to bring this about. Dunkirk: Mission Impossible Streaming in the UK | documentary series available via My5 The evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk in France in 1940 is sometimes portrayed as victory snatched from the jaws of defeat. In truth, for all that more than 335,000 men escaped capture by the Nazis, this was a disaster. Over three episodes, former marine JJ Chalmers looks back at what happened, beginning by following in the footsteps of British troops being driven towards the sea The second episode focuses on the Royal Norfolk Regiment, whose men held the line to cover the retreat. The final instalment looks at how the battle to keep the Nazis out of Dunkirk ended. The King Of Warsaw Streaming in the UK | drama series, available via Channel 4 Based on a novel by Polish-Silesian writer Szczepan Twardoch, The King of Warsaw is set in Poland’s capital in 1937. It’s a time of huge tension as different political factions struggle for power during the Second Polish Republic era, which lasted from 1918 until 1939, when the country was invaded by both the Nazis and the Soviets. It’s also a time of opportunities for those with ambition, men such as boxer Jakub Szapiro, who dreams of being more than just an enforcer for gang leader Buddy Kaplica. A series that intertwines real and fictional characters. Read more | Poland and Ukraine’s shared history: how dreams of nationhood endure Lost Temples Of Cambodia Streaming in the UK | documentary series available via Channel 4 Considering how often it features on the tourist itineraries of those looking to go just off the beaten track, there have been surprisingly few Cambodian history series on TV. Plenty of space in which to operate then for archaeologist Pauline Carroll, who here traces the story of the Khmer Empire over three episodes. For all it’s familiarity, the temple at Angkor Wat, built in the 12th century, is a breathtaking sight, but Carroll also visits sites that are far less well known as she outlines the latest thinking on why the Hindu-Buddhist empire collapsed. A Spy Among Friends Streaming in the UK via ITVX | drama series available via ITVX The story of the Cambridge spy ring continues to fascinate us. And no wonder, it’s a tale that involves idealism, subterfuge and betrayal, all played out in the highest echelons of British society. This latest take on British agents behaving badly stars Guy Pearce and Damian Lewis as, respectively, Kim Philby, a man who ultimately defected to the USSR at the height of the Cold War, and fellow spook Nicholas Elliott. Based on the book of the same name by Ben Macintyre, it focuses in on the idea that Philby’s betrayal of Elliott, a lifelong friend, was especially cruel. Stephen Fry: Willem & Frieda – Defying Nazis Streaming in the UK | documentary, available via Channel 4 Perhaps those society treats with suspicion have all the more reason to resist oppression. Certainly, that’s one lesson you could take from the interlinked stories of Willem Arondéus and Frieda Belinfante. Both were gay, both were artists (Arondéus a painter, Belinfante a musician) and both were in Amsterdam when it was occupied by the Nazis. In a superb documentary directed by John Hay, Stephen Fry tells the story of the duo’s heroic work with the Dutch resistance, when they forged identity passes and planned an audacious bombing, an attack where they were concerned that no-one should perish. The Winter King Streaming in the UK | drama series available via ITVX Based on The Warlord Chronicles trilogy by Bernard Cornwell of The Last Kingdom fame, The Winter King takes us back to fifth-century Britain. The Romans have left and these really are the darkest of times. Hope emerges in the form of Arthur Pendragon (Iain De Caestecker), the illegitimate son of King Uther (Eddie Marsan). The series begins with Arthur being sent into exile. Can he reclaim his position with the help of Merlin (Nathaniel Martello-White)? A drama that balances Arthurian mysticism with a visceral sense of people fighting just to survive from day to day. Best historical movies, dramas and documentaries on Lionsgate+ / Starz Becoming Elizabeth Streaming in the UK and US via Starz | drama series In 1558, following the death of her half-sister, Mary I, Elizabeth Tudor ascended to the English throne. ‘Good Queen Bess’ would rule for more than four decades. But as this series created by playwright Anya Reiss reminds us by focusing on the young Elizabeth, things might have been very different. A teenager and third in succession when Henry VIII died, it’s remarkable she survived the era’s poisonous court politics, let alone become such a powerful figure. A drama that explores how people use sex to wield power. Starring Alicia von Rittberg as Elizabeth and Romola Garai as Mary. Read more | Did Thomas Seymour sexually abuse the teenage Princess Elizabeth? Dangerous Liaisons Streaming in the UK and US | one season available Set aside all thoughts of director Stephen Frears’ garlanded 1988 film version, this take on events in late 18th-century France has rather less lofty ambitions. Very loosely based on the epistolatory novel of the same name by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (1741–1803), it stars Nicholas Denton as Pascal Valmont and Alice Englert as Camille. Later, both will be better known under ennobled monikers, but for now we’re in origin story territory as we learn how each came to be, well, a horrible person. A drama that’s hard to take too seriously but entertaining nonetheless. The Great Streaming in the UK and US | three seasons available There’s not a great deal of emphasis placed on historical accuracy in The Great. Instead, to quote the opening credits of the second series, it tells an almost entirely untrue story of 18th-century Russia. Then again, historical accuracy is hardly the point. Created by Tony McNamara, co-writer of the Oscar-winning The Favourite, this is a royal romp that has huge fun as it traces the ascent to power of Catherine the Great – portrayed by Elle Fanning as mischievous and progressive – at the expense of her husband, the monstrous Peter III (Nicholas Hoult). Read more | Hypocrite, reactionary, usurper, sex maniac: is Catherine the Great's reputation justified? The Serpent Queen Streaming in the UK and US | drama series Samantha Morton stars as Catherine de’ Medici (1519–89), a daughter of the banking dynasty that came to prominence in the Republic of Florence in the 15th century. Similarly to The Great and Dickinson, it shows its protagonist, someone who has down the years often been vilified, as single-minded, blunt and far more able than so many of the dreary men who surround her. The plot centres on de’ Medici’s life at the French court, which began when she was married to the future Henry II and which saw her exert a huge influence in her adopted country. Read more | The Serpent Queen: STARZ’s Catherine de’ Medici drama offers "myths and caricature" The White Queen Streaming in the UK and US via Starz | drama series Based on novelist Philippa Gregory’s Cousin’s War trilogy, The White Queen tells the interweaving stories of three women who, often working behind the scenes, wielded power and influence during the War of the Roses. The drama begins in 1464, where widowed Elizabeth Woodville (Rebecca Ferguson) no longer has access to the wealth of her Lancastrian husband. An appeal to the new Yorkist king, Edward IV (Max Irons), will change her life forever. Also starring Amanda Hale as Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor, and Faye Marsay as Lady Anne Neville, queen consort to Richard III. The White Princess Streaming in the UK and US via Starz | drama series Following on from The White Queen, The White Princess begins with the marriage of Lancastrian chancer Henry Tudor (Jacob Collins-Levy) and Elizabeth of York, aka Lizzie (Jodie Comer of Killing Eve fame), the daughter of Edward IV. The two, it’s safe to say, don’t much like each other initially. Once again based on the writings of Philippa Gregory, this eight-episode series traces events between 1485 and 1496, years in which the queen’s paternal aunt, Margaret of Burgundy (Joanne Whalley), is among those trying to undermine a regime that was vulnerable to challenge. Best historical movies, dramas and documentaries on Now Al Murray: Why Does Everyone Hate the British Empire? Streaming in the UK | documentary series At its height, the British Empire covered close to a quarter of the Earth’s total land area. What should we make of the colonial era? It’s a question comedian Al Murray tackles here over four episodes that see him travel to India, Jamaica, South Africa and Australia. In each country, Murray teams up with a local comedian to explore the history of British colonial rule and its legacy. Elsewhere, Murray’s alter-ego, The Pub Landlord, also offers ‘insights’. Murray’s Why Does Everyone Hate the English? (2018) and Why Do the British Win Every War? (2020) are also available to stream. Apollo 11 Streaming in the UK | feature-length documentary Originally released in cinemas to mark the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong becoming the first human being to step out onto the Moon’s surface, director Todd Douglas Miller’s extraordinary documentary uses hi-res period footage and audio to tell the story of the Apollo 11 mission. Yes, you know what happens, but that doesn’t lessen the awe. More specifically, the pervading sense that all this happened long ago gives the footage a near-mythic quality. Did men and women really do this less than a quarter of a century after the end of the Second World War? Yes, they did. Read more | The history of the moon landing: everything you need to know Britain’s Greatest Obsessions Streaming in the UK | documentary series Britons may disagree about subjects as diverse as politics, football and whether the jam should go above or below the cream on scones, but we nevertheless have shared national obsessions to bind us together: the weather, pubs and the nuances of social class. These are among the subjects explored in a celebrity-fronted series that begins with comedian Harry Hill investigating the roots of our conviction that we have the world’s greatest sense of humour, or at the very least one that’s far superior to the Germans. Other famous names appearing include Reginald D Hunter, Suggs and Chris Packham. Britannia Streaming in the UK | three seasons available The year is 43 AD and life for ordinary Britons is about to change thanks to the arrival of Roman invaders who, unlike the troops landed by Julius Caesar many decades previously, aren’t going to go home anytime soon. Jez Butterworth’s Britannia, a mix of fantasy and historical drama, may be over the top, but it’s undeniably entertaining, at least so long as you enjoy a mix of Celtic-tinged mysticism, strong violence and switchback plotting. Amidst an ensemble cast, look out for David Morrissey as General Aulus Plautius, Kelly Reilly as Kerra and Mackenzie Crook as Veran. Read more | Who were the rebels of Roman Britain? Clash Of Ancient Warriors Streaming in the UK | documentary series Thanks to advances in research, technology and archaeological techniques, researchers are better able than ever to work out what happened at key battles – even those that took place in the distant past. Accordingly, this series looking at the ancient past may offer more revelations than you might initially expect as it explores such encounters as the battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE), in which a vastly outnumbered Spartan force held off Persian invaders, and the battle of Cannae (216 BCE), where Hannibal humbled the Roman republic. Das Boot Streaming in the UK | four seasons available Like the 1981 movie, the television version of submarine drama Das Boot probably isn’t for those who suffer from claustrophobia. Nevertheless, the series widens out the story considerably. In season one, set in 1942, we see events on U-boat 612 as a secret mission starts to go badly wrong. Back on land, we watch as the French Resistance seeks to disrupt the Nazi war effort in La Rochelle, home to the Germans’ submarine base. Further seasons take the show further from Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s 1973 novel and its sequel, Die Festung (1995), but without losing the books’ essence. Domina Streaming in the UK | drama series Livia Drusilla (Kasia Smutniak) was one of the most powerful women in Rome, both wife and advisor to the emperor Augustus Caesar. But as this new series fictionalising her early life makes clear, she first had to survive through years when the men around her ruthlessly competed for power. It helps, it seems, that Livia was single minded and ambitious. We meet the young Livia in the wake of the assassination of Julius Caesar when, despite still being a teenager, she is married to boorish Tiberius Claudius Nero. A strong cast includes Liam Cunningham, Isabella Rossellini and Matthew McNulty. Intrusion: Stasi FC Streaming in the UK | documentary Whether senior members of the Stasi were ever really football fans is open to debate, but East Germany’s secret policemen certainly saw the merit in having a team that was dominant. So it was that the Stasi’s preferred team, BFC Dynamo, won 10 successive East German league championships between 1979 and 1988, as well as twice making the last eight of the European Cup. Ugly intentions underpinned the Stasi’s fascination with the beautiful game in that, in East Germany, your choice of team was a political act, while stadiums were places where people sometimes expressed opposition to the status quo. River Hunters Streaming in the UK | three seasons available Exploring Britain’s rivers can reveal hitherto unfound archaeological evidence. That’s broadly the premise of this entertaining series, which sees wild swimmer Rick Edwards, underwater archaeologist Gary Bankhead and American river detectorist Beau Ouimette diving into the past. To give a flavour of what to expect, season two looked back the battle of Killiecrankie, fought during the Jacobite rising of 1689, an engagement that was notable for featuring one of the earliest uses of grenades. Other shows focused on the Viking era in York and a hunt for relics left by 12th-century pilgrims in Canterbury. White House Plumbers Streaming in the UK | drama mini-series E Howard Hunt and G Gordon Liddy were both part of a covert White House Special Investigations Unit tasked with stopping damaging leaks – hence, plumbers – of classified information during the presidency of Richard Nixon. It’s therefore hugely ironic that their activities, in particular their involvement in the scandal surrounding the Watergate break-in, ultimately did so much to ensure Nixon was forced to resign rather than see out his second term. Directed by David Mandel (Veep), a sharply scripted and satirical mini-series that essentially treats Hunt (Woody Harrelson) and Liddy (Justin Theroux) as not-so-lovable bumblers. Best historical movies, dramas and documentaries on Disney+ The 1619 Project Streaming in the UK | documentary series In August 2019, the New York Times set out to reframe US history by treating the arrival of the first slave ship, in 1619, as the starting point to look at events that have often been celebrated rather than critiqued. As you might expect, this approach was at times controversial, notably over the way it linked the American Revolutionary War to the way vested interests wanted to maintain slavery. This six-part series, which draws on essays in a recent book, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, explores how the legacy of slavery shapes contemporary American life. Cristóbal Balenciaga Streaming in the UK | drama series Dubbed “The Master” and “The King of Fashion”, Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895–1972), whose work was elegant and sculptural, redefined haute couture. But not without some challenges along the way, as this lavish and beautifully framed Spanish bio-drama recounts. The series is especially strong in its evocation of the world of Parisian high fashion in the 1930s, which initially proves resistant to Balenciaga’s ideas. As Balenciaga (Alberto San Juan) recounts his experiences to a journalist, Prudence Glynn (Gemma Whelan), we also discover how, as a closeted gay man, he survived the Nazi occupation of France. Feud: Capote Vs The Swans Streaming in the UK and US | drama series The witty guest at countless parties, Truman Capote (1924–84) saw 1960s New York high society up close. He also wrote about what he saw, which was fine until he began work on Answered Prayers. While Capote never finished a novel he grandly hoped would be an American version of Marcel Proust’s In Search Of Lost Time, magazine excerpts that were published offended many of his jet-set acquaintances. Tom Hollander stars as Capote, a brittle man unequal to being snubbed by the hyper-privileged “swans” (Chloë Sevigny, Naomi Watts, Calista Flockhart and Jessica Lange) of the title here. Read more | The real story of Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball Flooded Tombs Of The Nile Streaming in the UK | documentary As anyone who has watched an Indiana Jones movie can testify, it’s dangerous exploring ancient sites. Doubly so when the site in question is a pyramid awash with rising groundwaters. This one-off documentary shows the risks very clearly as it follows efforts to explore a site associated with Nastasen, the Nubian king of Kush, a kingdom that was centred on the Nile valley in northern Sudan and southern Egypt. The work of Pearce Paul Creasman, an archaeologist whose expertise encompasses ancient Egypt and Nubia, maritime archaeology and the study of the ancient environment, is central to the documentary. Read more | Where are all the lost tombs of ancient Egypt's kings and queens? Hamilton Streaming in the UK and US | feature-length musical Was there ever a more unlikely Broadway hit? Inspired by Ron Chernow’s biography, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical traces the eventful life and times of Alexander Hamilton, lawyer, soldier, statesman and banker, a Founding Father who rose to prominence despite the stigma of being born out of wedlock in the British Leeward Islands. It’s an exhilarating show that received rave reviews and has been a hit in London as well as New York. This film captures the excitement of the show’s first Broadway run and features Miranda himself in the title role. The Lost City Of Machu Picchu Streaming in the UK | documentary The Disney+ site features a terrific range of National Geographic documentaries, including this documentary focusing on the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, the existence of which was revealed to the wider world by American archaeologist Hiram Bingham (1875–1956) in 1911, after he had been guided to the site with the help of local farmers. The selling point here is that the documentary will go below the citadel where “mummy kings wait to share their stories”. In truth, the chance just to see the site in such glorious detail makes this well worth watching. Read more | The last days of the Incas Renegade Nell Streaming in the UK and US | drama series Via Happy Valley, Last Tango In Halifax and Gentleman Jack, writer and national treasure Sally Wainwright is primarily associated with naturalistic dramas that combine grit and downbeat humour. As a result, the supernatural premise of Renegade Nell, her story of an 18th-century highwaywoman (Louisa Harland of Derry Girls fame) who gets help from a sprite called Billy Blind (Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed), comes as a surprise. But go with the show and it’s huge fun, as we watch Nell and her cohorts uncover a dastardly conspiracy and battle toffs whose villainy is only exceeded by their snobbery. Read more | The real Renegade Nell? The bloody ballad of female highwaywoman Susan Higges A Small Light Streaming in the UK and US | drama series Thanks to Anne Frank’s diary, the story of how she and her family hid from the Nazis in a secret Amsterdam annex has become woven into our wider culture. Yet we would not be able to read of these experiences were it not for Miep Gies (1909–2010), former PA to Anne’s father, Otto. Not only did she save the diary for posterity, but it was Miep (Bel Powley) and her husband, Dutch Resistance member Jan (Joe Cole), who watched over the Franks and brought them food. This powerful drama tells the story from the perspective of Miep. Shardlake Streaming in the UK and US | drama series Matthew Shardlake (Arthur Hughes) is a barrister, an investigator and, because of his spine’s curvature in an age when 'crookbacks' are viewed with huge suspicion, an outsider. He’s also a man working at the behest of Henry VIII’s fixer, Thomas Cromwell (Sean Bean), on whose orders Shardlake travels to a Benedictine monastery in the decrepit port town of Scarnsea. Here, as the dissolution of the monasteries cranks up, one of Cromwell’s commissioners has been murdered. Lots of people have a motive. Can Shardlake identify the killer? An atmospheric take on the late CJ Sansom’s historical mystery novel series. Shōgun Streaming in the UK | drama series Adapted from James Clavell’s bestselling novel, Shōgun looks like it cost a fortune to make. It was worth the effort, so convincingly does this violent and visceral drama conjure up Japan c1600. At the centre of the story, Cosmo Jarvis stars as John Blackthorne, a shipwrecked sailor, a character loosely based on the real-life navigator William Adams (1564–1620). When he washes up, Japan is in political turmoil, which sweeps up Blackthorne himself when he falls into the orbit of Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) – another figure who has a real-life analogue in military leader Tokugawa Ieyasu. Best historical movies, dramas and documentaries on Apple TV+ The Big Cigar Streaming in the UK and US | drama series As the 1970s progressed, legal problems began to mount up for Black Panther Party leader Huey P Newton (André Holland). Accused of murder and the subject of close attention from the authorities, Newton fled to Havana, where he lived between 1974 and 1977. As this “mostly true” drama relates, movie mogul Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola), whose successes included the countercultural classic Easy Rider, helped Newton escape the United States in a cunning scheme involving a fake film production. The Big Cigar is based on a magazine article by Joshuah Bearman, who also provided the source material for the Tehran hostage crisis drama Argo. The Buccaneers Streaming in the UK & US | drama series In the wake of Bridgerton and The Great, the idea of costume dramas with a distinctly 21st-century sensibility is, of course, no longer novel. Nevertheless, British writer Katherine Jakeways’ The Buccaneers is a welcome addition to the canon. Based on an unfinished story by Edith Wharton, it follows the fortunes of a group of exuberant young American women who launch themselves into London society in the 1870s. Naturally, cultural collisions and misunderstandings occur. Enormous fun, with more than enough wit and grit to give the series heft. Amidst an ensemble cast, Fenella Woolgar excels as the formidable Lady Brightlingsea. The Completely Made-Up Adventures Of Dick Turpin Streaming in the UK and US | comedy series Leading the cast as Dick Turpin, a dandy vegan highwayman who thinks there should be “less violence” in his chosen profession, comedian Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh fame brings a whimsical charm to 18th century-set proceedings that are mostly very silly. A show that’s slight yet always watchable, principally because it’s funny and because its cast of British comic actors are clearly enjoying themselves. Rounding out the cast as members of the Essex Gang are lumbering Moose (Marc Wootton), Honesty Courage (Duayne Boachie) and cross-dressing Nell (Ellie White) who has fooled her cohorts into thinking she’s called Nicholas. Franklin Streaming in the UK and US | drama series Polymath Benjamin Franklin was 70 when, shortly after helping to draft the Declaration of Independence, he left for France in October 1776. Charming leading figures in the French court, who came to see him as an embodiment of New World ingenuity and frontier charm, Franklin’s diplomatic efforts were crucial in securing the Franco-American alliance of 1778 and, guaranteeing the American revolution would succeed, a peace treaty with Great Britain in 1783. Michael Douglas stars as Franklin in a drama based on Stacy Schiff’s A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France And The Birth Of America. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2020/05/Tom-Hanks-2-2fa6845.jpg" width="600" height="413" alt="Tom Hanks in 'Greyhound' (2020)" title="Tom Hanks in a scene from the © Sony Pictures new movie 'Greyhound' (2020). The film is set in 1942 at the height of the Battle of the Atlantic and was inspired by C S Forester’s 1955 novel 'The Good Shepherd'. (Photo by LANDMARK MEDIA/Alamy Stock Photo)" /> Greyhound Streaming in the UK and US | feature-length drama Ever adept at playing everyman figures placed in danger, Tom Hanks stars as a US Navy commander, Ernest Krause, given command of a destroyer, USS Keeling. Krause is tasked with defending a merchant ship convoy from submarine attack during the battle of the Atlantic in 1942, but also has to battle his own demons. Based on CS Forester’s novel The Good Shepherd and scripted by Hanks himself, Greyhound was initially going to be released in cinemas, until the pandemic made this impossible and Apple stepped in. Also starring Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan and Elisabeth Shue. Killers Of The Flower Moon Streaming in the UK and US | feature-length drama Set in 1920s Oklahoma, Martin Scorsese’s cinematic epic Killers of the Flower Moon focuses on a series of murders linked to the discovery of oil beneath land belonging to the Osage Nation. Based on journalist David Grann’s book, it brings to life a turbulent time when White Americans greedily eyed this new-found wealth. Robert De Niro gives a chilling turn as local boss William King Hale (1874–1962), who orders contract killings in order to benefit from ‘headrights’ that entitle Osage people to a share of a mineral wealth fund. The cast also includes Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone. Manhunt Streaming in the UK and US | drama series On 14 April 1865, shortly after General Robert E Lee had accepted the South had to surrender, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln. In the wake of the murder, it was the president’s secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, who led the hunt for Booth and his conspirators. Based on James L Swanson’s bestselling Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, this seven-part drama stars Tobias Menzies as Stanton. He emerges as a behind-the-scenes operator who, thrust into a frontline role, not only held the country together at a time of crisis, but protected Lincoln’s legacy. Masters Of The Air Streaming in the UK and US | drama series With a budget reported to be in the region of $250m, Second World War drama Masters Of The Air is premium television in production cost terms. Happily, the money shows, notably in scenes that offer spectacle while also evoking the claustrophobia of airborne combat. Based on Donald L Miller’s acclaimed book, the series follows the fortunes of the US 100th Bomb Group, nicknamed the Bloody Hundredth because of the scale of its losses. Austin Butler and Calum Turner lead the cast as Major Gale ‘Buck’ Cleven and Major John 'Bucky' Egan. Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg (Band Of Brothers, The Pacific) serve as executive producers. Napoleon Streaming in the UK and US | feature-length drama Director Ridley Scott’s take on the life of Napoleon Bonaparte bludgeons with the idea of cinema as spectacle. And that’s no bad thing. In the central role, Joaquin Phoenix plays the emperor as an ambitious and disruptive outsider, a vain man, but also a military genius. In so far as we see Napoleon’s internal life in any detail, it’s largely through his love for Josephine du Beauhernais (Vanessa Kirby), a relationship that’s rooted in their mutual passion yet also destructive. There have been criticisms of Napoleon on historical grounds but, with its brilliantly realised battle scenes, it’s fabulously entertaining. The New Look Streaming in the UK and US | drama series According to the script in this lavish series from Todd A Kessler, Christian Dior’s ‘New Look’ collection in 1947 “helped humanity find beauty again after the horrors of World War II”. This may be overstating things, but it’s certainly true that Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) and his fellow designer, Coco Chanel (Juliette Binoche), were fascinating figures. The drama here, centred on years when the Nazis occupied France, is driven by a combination of the duo’s rivalry and moral questions around how they survived the conflict. A strong cast includes John Malkovich and, as Christian's resistance fighter sister Catherine Dior, Maisie Williams. Best historical movies, dramas and documentaries on HBO Band of Brothers Streaming in the US | drama series First shown in 2001, Band Of Brothers has dated well. In great part, that’s down to the elegant simplicity of the central idea: to follow Easy Company, part of the 101st Airborne Division, from jump training through parachute landings in Normandy and onwards to the end of conflict. Based on historian Stephen E Ambrose’s 1992 book, which gathered together interviews with veterans, it conveys a gritty authenticity, although the filmmakers did take some historical liberties for dramatic reasons. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks bagged credits as executive producers, further proof that here was a big-money, high-profile project. Read more | The battle for Normandy: what happened after D-Day? Boardwalk Empire Streaming in the US | five seasons available Originally aired between 2010 and 2014, Boardwalk Empire set out to tell an epic story of Atlantic City gangsters in the prohibition era. And it largely succeeded, although it’s arguable the earlier episodes are stronger, notably a pilot directed by Martin Scorsese. Back before the long-form television revolution meant it was routine to see film stars on TV, its cast was notably starry, including Steve Buscemi as Enoch ‘Nucky’ Thompson, corrupt city treasurer; Michael Shannon as Nelson Van Alden, a puritanical government agent whose life spirals out of control; and Kelly Macdonald as troubled widow Margaret Thompson. Catherine the Great Streaming in the US | drama series Far more imperious than most royals, Helen Mirren deservedly won a Golden Globe for her turn here as the empress who ruled Russia from 1762 until 1796, and who revitalised the country after organising a coup d’état against her own husband, Peter III. The four-part series, where you can see the budget in every frame, focuses on Catherine the Great’s years in power, and shows her as ruthless and yet enlightened, interested in the latest thinking across Europe. The relationship between the empress and her lover, military commander Grigory Potemkin (Jason Clarke), is central to the series. Read more | Catherine the Great: fact and fiction Chernobyl Streaming in the US | drama series On 26 April 1986, a safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine went catastrophically wrong. The plant’s No4 reactor exploded, an accident that spewed nuclear contamination across Europe. What would it have been like to be on the ground, seeing these events as they happened? The multiple award-winning Chernobyl, based in part on Svetlana Alexievich’s book Voices From Chernobyl, imagines just that. Those who lives we glimpse include first-responder firefighters and miners who had to dig beneath the facility. A strong ensemble cast includes Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Paul Ritter, Jessie Buckley and Emily Watson. Read more | Before Chernobyl: the secrets that paved the way for disaster John Adams Streaming in the US | drama series Adapted from historian David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, John Adams chronicles the political life of the founding father and second president of the US. The life of Adams (1735–1826) was eventful, yet by telling its story over seven episodes, there’s plenty of time for the series (from 2008) to explore the deeper currents of his life. Paul Giamatti stars as Adams, Laura Linney as his wife, Abigail. There are some inaccuracies, yet John Adams never takes too many liberties with the historical record and its sheer quality was reflected in a haul of 13 Emmy Awards. Our Flag Means Death Streaming in the US | comedy series The story of Stede Bonnet (1688–1718) is genuinely fascinating. Why did a man who was a moderately well-to-do member of the landed gentry in Barbados decide to become a self-styled gentleman pirate? It’s this question that underpins showrunner David Jenkins’ pirate comedy, which portrays Bonnet (Rhys Darby) as a man bored by life – and heroically ill-equipped to lead the dysfunctional crew of his ship, Revenge, in a life of crime. A strong cast features Ewen Bremner as Nathaniel Buttons, Bonnet’s grizzled first mate, and Taika Waititi as Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach. The Pacific Streaming in the US | drama series Once again numbering Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks as executive producers, the follow-up to Band of Brothers focuses on the experiences of three real-life members of the US 1st Marine Division, Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge and John Basilone. Based on such first-hand memoirs as Leckie’s Helmet For My Pillow, it’s a series offering an unflinching portrait of men at war. It also portrays many of the key engagements in the Pacific theatre during the Second World War, including the Guadalcanal campaign, the battle of Iwo Jima and the notoriously bloody US landing at Okinawa. Perry Mason Streaming in the US | drama series Perry Mason has long been associated with Raymond Burr, who played the character on television from 1957 until his death in 1993. This longevity perhaps explains why it’s taken so long for crime novelist Erle Stanley Gardner’s upstanding defence attorney to return to our screens. The spin in this big-budget HBO series is that we meet Mason (Matthew Rhys) in 1932 Los Angeles, where he’s working as a gumshoe detective. Haunted by his experiences in the First World War, this is Mason down on his luck, when along comes a kidnapping case offering the opportunity for redemption. The Plot Against America Streaming in the US | drama series Alternate histories don’t come spookier than Philip Roth’s 2004 novel, The Plot Against America, which imagines a xenophobic Charles Lindbergh using his aviation fame to run for president and to turn the country towards fascism. In this mini-series from writers David Simon and Ed Burns of The Wire fame, it’s a rise to power we see primarily through the eyes of a working-class Jewish family from Newark, New Jersey. The cast includes Winona Ryder as independently minded Evelyn Finkel and John Turturro as charismatic Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf, who supports Lindbergh despite the disquiet this causes in his community. White House Plumbers Streaming in the US | drama mini-series E Howard Hunt and G Gordon Liddy were both part of a covert White House Special Investigations Unit tasked with stopping damaging leaks – hence, plumbers – of classified information during the presidency of Richard Nixon. It’s therefore hugely ironic that their activities, in particular their involvement in the scandal surrounding the Watergate break-in, ultimately did so much to ensure Nixon was forced to resign rather than see out his second term. Directed by David Mandel (Veep), a sharply scripted and satirical mini-series that essentially treats Hunt (Woody Harrelson) and Liddy (Justin Theroux) as not-so-lovable bumblers. Best historical movies, dramas and documentaries on Hulu The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years Streaming in the US | feature-length documentary In 1966, The Beatles quit touring. The Fab Four, the cheeky lads from Liverpool who had conquered the world, ceased to be – to be replaced by serious musicians who preferred recording at Abbey Road to life on the road. Yet the quartet’s itinerant years between 1962 and 1966 are important to understanding the band, and Ron Howard’s acclaimed documentary from 2016 tells a cultural history story of huge significance as we see The Beatles on the hoof redefining what it meant to be a pop star. Plus, for all the screaming, the music is pretty good. Escape From Pretoria Streaming in the US | feature-length drama In 1979, a trio of anti-apartheid activists escaped prison in Pretoria. But how exactly did Tim Jenkin, Stephen Lee and Alex Moumbaris (renamed Leonard Fontaine here) get away? Adapted from a book by Jenkin, this Australian film takes us back to an era when South Africans could be incarcerated for distributing pro-ANC leaflets and when political prisoners received especially harsh treatment. The trio’s ingenious bid for freedom involves making wooden keys and plays out as a thriller. Daniel Radcliffe leads the cast as Jenkin. Ian Hart plays Denis Goldberg, a long-imprisoned activist who helps his fellow prisoners. Great Expectations Streaming in the US | drama series It’s safe to say Steven Knight’s take on Charles Dickens’ much-loved novel has divided opinion. Why? Because of the way the Peaky Blinders creator has embellished the source material in this latest of many screen adaptations of the story of Pip, Estella and, in this version, an opium-smoking Miss Havisham. For Knight’s part, he says that his additions are all rooted in a close reading of Dickens – including, it seems, a naked Mr Pumblechook (Matt Berry) being spanked. But whatever your thoughts on the script, it draws out some terrific performances, especially Olivia Colman’s eerie turn as Havisham. Hillary Streaming in the US | documentary series If journalism is the “first rough draft of history”, the analysis piece that runs a little after the newsmen have gone home might be said to be its second draft. Television has developed its own variation on this latter idea with series that offer testimony from those who were there during major events yet have had time to reflect, an approach much used by the BBC. Hillary takes a similar approach. Nanette Burstein’s four-part series draws on campaign footage from the 2016 presidential election, and features Hillary Clinton reflecting on what’s been, by any standards, an eventful life. Mrs. America Streaming in the US | drama series Author and activist Phyllis Schlafly (1924–2016) was a conservative who doggedly fought the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution in the 1970s, legislation that would have offered women protection from discrimination. The contradictions of such an intelligent, formidable and self-starting campaigner, a woman who herself often had to battle sexism, pitting herself against the leading lights of American feminism are explored in a series that stars Cate Blanchett as Schlafly. Those on the other side of the argument include writer and feminist leader Gloria Steinem, played with a waspish intensity by Rose Byrne. Sam: A Saxon Streaming in the US | drama series The son of a Cameroonian father and a German mother, Samuel Meffire was the first Afro-German police officer to serve in East Germany. What motivated a man who, thanks to an advertising campaign, literally became a poster boy for anti-racism around the time Germany was reunified? And how, disenchanted with what he saw around him, did Meffire come to serve time for armed robbery? This mini-series, starring Malick Bauer, dramatises a life that has more than enough outlandish incidents to keep the story moving along and also has much to say about racism in contemporary Germany. Best historical movies, dramas and documentaries on Paramount+ Devotion Streaming in the US | feature-length drama Jesse Brown was the first African-American pilot to complete the US Navy’s basic flight training programme. He went on to serve with distinction in the Korean War (1950–53) and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. The frigate USS Jesse L. Brown was named in his honour. This biopic charts his career, the story of a man born in Mississippi and who encountered overt racism throughout his life. The central relationship here is between Brown (Jonathan Major, star of Lovecraft Country) and his wingman, Tom Hudner (Glen Powell of Top Gun: Maverick fame), and charts a deepening friendship. A Gentleman In Moscow Streaming in the UK and US | drama series Moscow, 1921. This is not a good time to be a Russian aristocrat. So it is that Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov finds himself in a perilous situation. While he has been spared execution on account of being credited as the author of some seminal revolutionary verse, he is under house arrest in the Metropol Hotel. He sleeps in a chilly attic room once reserved for staff. If he steps outside, he will be shot. In a drama based on Amor Towles’s 2016 novel, Ewan McGregor brings a worldweary charm to Rostov, a man trapped in an extraordinary situation. Read more | The incredible real history of A Gentleman in Moscow’s Hotel Metropol Lawmen: Bass Reeves Streaming in the UK & US | drama series The story of Bass Reeves (1838–1910) is remarkable. Born into slavery in Arkansas, he became a Deputy US Marshal – and reputedly the first Black deputy to serve west of the Mississippi. British actor David Oyelowo plays Reeves as a taciturn man who, in classic Western style, has to deal with the contradictions and moral dilemmas that come with living in violent times. Among the familiar faces in them supporting cast, Donald Sutherland plays Isaac Parker, known as the ‘Hanging Judge’ for self-explanatory reasons, and Dennis Quaid as Deputy US Marshal Sherrill Lynn. 1923 Streaming in the UK and US | drama series The neo-Western Yellowstone, a knotty tale of Montana ranchers starring Kevin Costner, has been one of the biggest hits on US television in recent years. So much so that it has spawned two sequels going back in time to explore the story of the Dutton family, the clan that lies at the centre of the drama. First there was 1883, which starred Sam Elliott, and now there is 1923, which takes the family saga through Prohibition, years of drought and the Great Depression. Helen Mirren, playing family matriarch Cara, and Harrison Ford as her husband, Jacob, lead the cast. Looking for something else to watch? Explore the new history TV and radio airing in the UK this month and the real history behind your favourite films and dramas. *All information correct at time of publication
Oleg Gordievsky: the double agent who changed the course of the Cold War
As BBC Two’s documentary series Secrets & Spies: A Nuclear Game tracks the spies operating behind the scenes in the Reagan era, Jonathan Wright takes a closer look at the remarkable dual life of the double agent that changed global policy, and lived to defect and tell his secret-filled tale
In the early 1980s, Oleg Gordievsky was arguably the most important spy in the world. This was not primarily because of his work for what was ostensibly his employer, the KGB, but because he was a double agent for MI6. For over a decade, he leaked Russian secrets that would inform international policy in both London and Washington. His is an extraordinary story, now outlined in a documentary series on BBC Two, Secrets & Spies: A Nuclear Game, which looks at how espionage shaped the end of the Cold War. More than that, it may well have helped save the world from Armageddon at a time when the USSR and the United States possessed, respectively, 33,000 and 22,000 nuclear warheads. Who is Oleg Gordievsky and why does he matter? Now in his 80s and living, it’s said, somewhere in the south of England, Gordievsky was a career KGB spy who rose to become bureau chief in London in the early 1980s. Yet by then, he was also committed to passing information to British secret intelligence, fuelled by a disillusionment in the system he was serving. “I hated the communist system, I wanted to fight against it,” he says in an archive recording, which features in the new documentary. While we now know the Cold War was winding down, that’s not how it would have felt to those living through that time, with aggressive rhetoric coming from both sides and when it seemed that one misstep might have led to nuclear calamity. Gordievsky’s insights proved to be invaluable to the British and their US allies as they tried to manage relations with the Soviet bloc. How did Gordievsky come to occupy such an important position? To take the long view, espionage was a family business. Born in Moscow in 1938, Gordievsky was the son of an agent in the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, or NKVD, the Soviet secret police and the forerunner of the KGB. His older brother would also serve in the KGB. Read more | Stanislav Petrov: the Soviet who saved the world A talented student with a knack for languages, Gordievsky studied at the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations. On graduating, he joined the foreign service and was posted to East Berlin as a diplomatic trainee in 1961, in time to see the wall go up. The division of Berlin was a decisive moment in the Cold War, and remained a potent symbol for nearly three decades; for Gordievsky, it was one of the causes for his turn against communism. Still, he joined the KGB less than a year later. What persuaded Gordievsky to become a double agent? In 1966, Gordievsky was posted to Copenhagen for his first tour of duty in Western Europe. “There was so much beauty, such lively music, such excellent schools, such openness and cheeriness among ordinary people, that I could only look back on the vast, sterile concentration camp of the Soviet Union as a form of hell,” he later wrote about his experiences. He looked on as the Soviets crushed the Prague Spring, an attempt to reform and liberalise the political system in Czechoslovakia, in August 1968. His aversion to communism grew, especially after he returned home to work in Moscow. In 1972, Gordievsky was posted to Denmark again, this time with a willingness to cooperate with the West. Recruited by MI6 officer Richard Bromhead, he began working for the British following – according to the author Ben Macintyre, speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast – “a long, complicated dance”. On the podcast | The spy who changed the Cold War Macintyre, who was discussing his 2018 book on Gordievsky, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, explained that while Gordievsky wasn’t a senior KGB figure, he was nevertheless “a huge catch”. How did Gordievsky come to be posted in London? He worked to make this happen. Having been recalled to Moscow in 1978, he was briefly in the KGB doghouse after having an affair and getting divorced; the kind of personal life complications frowned upon in Soviet secret circles. While in Moscow, though, he learnt English, partly at the behest of MI6, and mastered the language within just six months. It’s odd, says Macintyre, that his spy masters weren’t suspicious of their Scandinavian expert taking such an interest in the UK, but in 1982 Gordievsky succeeded in his efforts to be sent to London. In the meantime, the British remained patient. Realising the dangers of Gordievsky sharing secrets while in Moscow, they limited their actions to setting up a system by which he could send a message if needed. Otherwise, he was left alone. What happened after Gordievsky was posted to London? Helped by MI6, who made life difficult for his direct superiors, Gordievsky rose to become the USSR’s chief spy in London. In that role, he not only passed on secrets, but helped the UK and, indirectly, the US understand the Soviet perspective on the Cold War tensions. In the early 1980s, the Russian leader Yuri Andropov (who was premier from 1982-84) grew increasingly worried about a pre-emptive strike from the West. Andropov’s paranoia – and that is not too strong a word – reached a peak in November 1983 when NATO conducted its annual Able Archer military exercises. As a result of the information coming from Gordievsky, US President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher decided to rein in their “evil empire” rhetoric. According to Macintyre, “it’s one of those [rare] occasions when the information from a single agent actually begins to have an effect on global policy.” Read more | Able Archer 83: the Nato war-game that nearly spelled nuclear disaster When Mikhail Gorbachev visited the UK in late 1984 and met Thatcher, the future Soviet premier received briefing documents from the KGB in London. Gordievsky became, unbeknown to the USSR, a kind of secret middleman, paving the way for Thatcher’s famous remark: “I like Mr Gorbachev, we can do business together.” How did Gordievsky get caught out? Being discovered was a constant danger for Gordievsky. This explains why, despite Western leaders acting on his insights and leaks, the British never shared his identity, even with the Americans. The fewer people who knew who he was, the less chance of his identity being revealed. Nevertheless, the CIA set to work on discovering the name of a figure they dubbed ‘Tickle’. It would, says Macintyre, have got more and more embarrassing to brief the president and, if asked where the intelligence came from, “being forced to reply, ‘It comes from the Brits and we trust it.’ That’s not a good look.” Unfortunately, the CIA worked out Gordievsky’s identity during the course of unmasking one of their own, Aldrich Ames. An embittered KGB expert in financial trouble, Ames had taken money from the Russians, and over the course of his relationship with the Soviets he gave up the names of multiple double agents. This included Gordievsky. Ames is now serving a life sentence with no hope of parole. Read more | The secrets and lies of Cold War spies How did Gordievsky survive his identity being discovered? In 1985, Gordievsky was called back to Moscow. “I felt instinctively that my time was running out,” he later said. And yet he went anyway. Following an initial interrogation that included being given a ‘truth serum’, he was set free, however. Why? Macintyre’s explanation is that the KGB would have hoped to catch Gordievsky in the act of contacting his handlers, which would be a humiliation for the British. They may have also blithely, but not unreasonably, assumed he could never escape the USSR anyway. Instead, there would have been a military trial, followed swiftly by an execution. Instead, in a stunning act of espionage craft worthy of a John le Carré novel, Gordievsky did manage to get out of the USSR, via Finland, from right under KGB surveillance. Operation Pimlico, as his escape plan was codenamed, was triggered by Gordievsky standing by a bakery holding a Safeway bag, which the British knew to be a signal that he needed to be extracted. A few days later, employing his considerable craft to evade pursuit, Gordievsky made his way to a remote, mosquito-infested meeting place. There, the British, themselves harried by the KGB en route, picked him up and bundled him into the boot of a car prior to crossing the border. Even then, all might have been lost but for the quick-thinking wife of diplomat Raymond Asquith, Viscount Asquith and MI6 station commander in Moscow at the time. By changing their baby’s dirty nappy on the boot, she successfully threw border officials and sniffer dogs off the scent – by now quite unpleasant after being on the run – of Gordievsky. Against the odds, Gordievsky escaped the USSR, the irate KGB, and the communist system he had grown to hate, and embarked on a new life in the West. All episodes of Secrets & Spies: A Nuclear Game are available now on BBC iPlayer, and include rarely heard archive interviews with Oleg Gordievsky
Were there any real highwaywomen, and did they dress up as men?
Created by Sally Wainwright, Disney+’s drama Renegade Nell is a historical fantasy that follows the adventures of a tavern-keeper’s daughter who becomes a highwaywoman after being framed for murder. But did highwaywomen really menace England’s roads? Why would they have taken to holding up travellers in real life? And did these dandy highwaywomen dress in men’s clothing?
The term ‘highwayman’ dates from the early 17th century. However, the ‘golden age’ of highway robbery in England is arguably associated with the years between the Restoration in 1660 and Queen Anne’s death, in 1714. There was often a romance attached to stories of highwaymen, who travelled on horseback and were often portrayed as gentlemen, socially superior to ‘footpads’ (who were more akin to modern-day muggers). Images of highwaymen in the popular imagination were stoked by picture stories by artists such as William Hogarth. Perhaps pre-eminent among these tales was the legend of Dick Turpin. Were there highwaywomen in real life? Yes, credible records of highwaywomen can be found in the records of county session court trials. Highwaywomen also appear in The Newgate Calendar, an 18th and 19th-century volume of crime tales once as ubiquitous in English homes as the Bible. There are likewise stories in broadside ballads. These were single sheets of cheap paper printed on just one side, whose name underlines the connection to popular story-songs. At least two ballads from 1640 tell of Susan Higges, who is said to have enjoyed a 20-year career “in mens attire… upon a Gelding stout” before being recognised and executed. That said, we need to be cautious about believing hearsay, as the story of Katherine Ferrers illustrates. A Hertfordshire gentlewoman born in 1634, and the heiress to a substantial fortune, Ferrers lost her wealth on account of her teenage husband’s family pilfering her inheritance amidst the turmoil of the English Civil War and its aftermath. As some stories have it, Ferrers turned to crime, and was suspected to be the ‘Wicked Lady’, a highwaywoman who terrorised Hertfordshire on horseback. Ferrers fit into the popular trope of a person of genteel background and dwindling fortune, who turned to highway robbery to make a living. Ferrers was reputed to have died in 1660 from gunshot wounds received during a robbery. Rumours of her body being found by servants at the manor house of Markyate Cell, on the same night as a bloodied black horse was discovered wandering the grounds, have passed down the generations. Despite the popular legend, the idea that Ferrers was a highwaywoman is hard to substantiate. Did highwaywomen really dress as men? Stories of so-called ‘cross-dressing’ recur in the ballads, and would have been shocking to contemporary readers. Renegade Nell costume designer Tom Pye, who also worked on Gentleman Jack, says that dress at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries was heavily gendered. “I think it would have been just totally unexpected that a woman would pass as a man,” he tells HistoryExtra. “Nobody would have seen that coming.” As a result, he says, a figure such as Nell “would have passed quite easily” as a man. On the podcast | Angela Steidele explores the life of 19th-century gay pioneer Anne Lister, the real 'Gentleman Jack' What did society think of women who dressed as men? The ballads suggest both a fascination with cross-dressing and a sense it was a bad thing. Two ballads from 1690, The Female Frollick and The Female Highway Hector, tell of a highwaywoman being sexually assaulted by a male counterpart, a fate portrayed as being down to her transgressive behaviour. How many highwaywomen were there? It’s almost impossible to know. All criminals have good reason to be secretive. Add in the stigma that surrounds not conforming to cisgender norms, and it would be surprising if an exact figure will ever be known. Renegade Nell is streaming now on Disney+
At first glance, Jane Austen’s life seems to have been uneventful – but those initial appearances are somewhat deceptive
On 16 December 1816, her 41st birthday, Jane Austen wrote a letter to her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh. Edward, as he was known, had recently gone to study at Oxford. Perhaps gently poking fun at Edward, a budding novelist, she wrote of his “strong, manly, spirited Sketches, full of variety and Glow”. Discussing her own work, she asked modestly: “How could I possibly join them on to the little bit (two inches wide) of Ivory on which I work with so fine a Brush, as produces little effect after much Labour?”Austen was comparing herself to a miniraturist, painting tiny portraits. The letter, held at the British Library, is one of about 160 by Jane Austen to have survived. It is significant because it’s rare and, more subtly, because it seems to confirm what we think we know about Austen. Here is the spinster chronicler of the domestic, a writer who famously saw no need to directly reference the Napoleonic Wars (1803– 15) in her fiction. Yet this sketch, suggesting someone living a modest life, is at best only a partial picture. In her own lifetime, Austen was a successful novelist. Although she never married, she was part of a large family. In A Memoir of Jane Austen (1869), Edward describes her as “the delight of all her nephews and nieces”. She was also someone whose place in society – essentially that of the poor relation – meant that she observed the English landed gentry up close without the sense of security and status enjoyed by those who inherited or married money. Cultural capital Jane was born in 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire, where her father, George (1731–1805), was the rector. Though the Reverend Austen’s family had made money as wool merchants, George’s branch weren’t well off. In 1764, he married Cassandra Leigh (1739–1827), whose father was a fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. From 1768 until the turn of the century, the Austens lived in Steventon’s rectory. Jane had six brothers and a beloved older sister, Cassandra (1773–1845). George supplemented his modest clerical income by farming and teaching. Though money was perennially tight, the Austens – a close and warm family - had cultural capital aplenty. Ideas were discussed freely in a home that often welcomed visitors from the wider world. Well educated by the standards of her time, Jane was able to access her father’s library and that of a family friend, colonial administrator Warren Hastings (1732–1818). In addition, family and friends staged plays. From a young age, Jane wrote poems, plays and stories, often with the kind of satirical edge familiar from her novels. It was an apprenticeship for a professional writing career that began in earnest around 1795, though it was not until 1811 that one of her novels, Sense and Sensibility, made it into print. Jane never married, though she was attracted to Tom Lefroy (1776–1889), a dashing and intelligent trainee barrister from Ireland. Marriage between the pair was impossible, because neither had any money. In 1802, Jane briefly accepted a proposal from Harris Bigg-Wither, the charmless heir to extensive estates, but immediately regretted her decision and recanted her acceptance. In their different ways, both of these men appear to correspond to Austen archetypes. Era of uncertainty In 1800, George unexpectedly decided to retire from the church, heralding an period of uncertainty in Jane’s life. The following year, the Austen family moved to Bath, where George and Cassandra had married. In 1805, George died, which left Jane, her sister and their mother in a precarious financial position. Cassandra later destroyed a cache of Jane’s letters from this period, which suggests it was a difficult time. In 1809, after a period living in Southampton, the Austen women at last began to enjoy a more settled life again. They moved to Chawton, Hampshire, where Jane’s brother Edward gifted them the use of a cottage after he inherited the Elizabethan country pile Chawton House from a childless cousin, Thomas Knight. Jane’s literary life came fully into focus in Chawton, though her books were initially published anonymously, as was common in this period. But then, in 1816, just as her career began building momentum following the publication of Emma (1815), Jane fell ill. She died in July 1817, possibly from Addison’s disease or Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Since 1833, Jane Austen’s novels have never been out of print. But why are they so popular? One answer may lie in the idea that Jane wrote about marriage, money, status and family not because these were small themes but because, for women of her class, these represented huge forces shaping their lives. Think of her less as a miniaturist, more as a supremely gifted writer who focused on the most revealing details. Austen's literary contemporaries We look at four fellow writers of the 18th and early 19th centuries who proved influential in Jane’s life and work Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) Whereas Austen subtly chronicled women’s lives, Mary Wollstonecraft (novelist Mary Shelley’s mother) railed at the patriarchy. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), she argued that women were not – as many men rather conveniently supposed – inherently inferior to men, but were denied education and opportunities. Ann Radcliffe (1764–1823) The Gothic stories penned by Radcliffe, the most popular novelist of her era, were dark romances. Austen satirised Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) in the posthumously published Northanger Abbey (1817). This probably affected Radcliffe’s reputation, which has recovered in recent years as scholars have reassessed her work. Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) A towering literary figure in his day, Scott’s well-known novels include Waverley (1814), Rob Roy (1817) and Ivanhoe (1819). Though his own work was widescreen and romantic, he was a huge admirer of Austen’s fiction – and, as is clear in both of their writings, the feeling was mutual. James Stanier Clarke (1766–1834) In 1805, Clarke became librarian to George, Prince of Wales, later both the monarch and an Austen fanboy. Clarke helpfully offered writing advice to Jane. In response to his mansplaining, she wrote a humorous essay, ‘Plan of a Novel, according To Hints from Various Quarters’, which wasn’t published until long after her death. Explore more content from week two of our Regency course: Regency culture, with Dr Lizzie Rogers – watching time 12 mins Everything you wanted to know about Jane Austen's England –reading time 7 mins The Romantics: everything you wanted to know – listening time 39 mins Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: the birth of a gothic monster – reading time 6 mins How to survive a Regency marriage – reading time 7 mins Visiting Brighton Royal Pavilion, the Prince Regent's decadent getaway – reading time 3 mins