Accessibility Links

The official website for BBC History Magazine, BBC History Revealed and BBC World Histories Magazine

  1. Home
  2. The real history behind your favourite movies and TV shows

Find out more with our latest TV and film articles

Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in 'The Favourite'. (Photo by Twentieth Century Fox/Entertainment Pictures)
General Modern

The best historical TV shows and films to stream right now

Olivia Colman plays Elizabeth II
20th Century

Netflix’s The Crown: the real history behind the royal drama

Alexander Dreymon as Uhtred in season 4 of 'The Last Kingdom'
Anglo-Saxon

The Last Kingdom: the real history behind the series

Portrait of Madam CJ Walker, America's first female millionaire. (Photo courtesy of Madam Walker Family Archives/A'Lelia Bundles)
General Modern

Self Made: the real story of Madam CJ Walker, America’s first black female millionaire

A still from Sam Mendes film '1917'
First World War

“A staggering tour de force – but an opportunity missed”: a historian’s review of the film 1917

Phyllis Schlafly
20th Century

The woman who opposed equality with men: Phyllis Schlafly and the real history behind Mrs. America

Read more

Find out the real history behind your favourite TV shows

Browse expert articles on the real historical stories and people that inspired your favourite period dramas, from Netflix's The Crown to the BBC's Peaky Blinders and Vikings on Amazon Prime…
The cast of Belgravia

Belgravia

The Crown (© Netflix, Robert Viglasky)

The Crown

Peaky Blinders. (Photo by BBC/Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd/Tiger Aspect/Robert Viglasky)

Peaky Blinders

Katheryn Winnick as Lagertha in 'Vikings'. (Image by Alamy)

Vikings

Jenna Coleman as Victoria. (Image by ITV Pictures)

Victoria

The Spanish Princess, starring Charlotte Hope as Catherine of Aragon, charts the story of the woman who married into the Tudor dynasty. (Image credit: Starz)

The Spanish Princess

The Last Kingdom. (Carnival Films 2015/Kata Vermes)

The Last Kingdom

The cast of Downton Abbey in front of Highclere Castle. (Image by Alamy)

Downton Abbey

What's the real history behind your favourite movies?

Browse expert articles on the real history that inspired the best historical stories on the big screen
Timothée Chalamet as Prince Hal

The King

Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in 'The Favourite'. (Photo by Twentieth Century Fox/Entertainment Pictures)

The Favourite

'Yorktown' sustains a hit during the battle of Midway. The US aircraft carrier sank three days later but, by then, the Japanese had accepted that their attempt to land a war-winning blow had failed. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Midway

A still from Sam Mendes film '1917'

1917 (film)

TV and film on the HistoryExtra podcast

Listen to our interviews about the latest historical movies and TV…
Vikings on screen
Viking

Vikings on screen

Georgian

Catherine the Great: fact and fiction

Gentleman Jack, Suranne Jones as Anne Lister (Photo by BBC/Lookout Point/Jay Brooks)
Victorian

Gentleman Jack

Bernard Cornwell. (Photo by Felix Clay)
Anglo-Saxon

Bernard Cornwell on The Last Kingdom

Listen to more