Boys watching TV in the 1950s

Historical film TV and radio

From binge-worthy period dramas to award-winning documentaries, find out why historical movies, TV and radio programs are more popular than ever, with this series of articles, podcasts and video

The Last Kingdom season 5 starsAlexander Dreymon as Uhtred of Bebbanburg

The Last Kingdom: real history and historical accuracy

The Duke stars Jim Broadment and Helen Mirren, pictured with Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington

The Duke: The real story of Kempton Bunton and the theft of Goya’s Wellington portrait

Episode 2Establishment values in the 1930s. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Leif Erikson in Vikings Valhalla

Vikings: Valhalla – the real history behind Netflix’s successor to Vikings

Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby in season six of 'Peaky Blinders'

Peaky Blinders: The story so far, plus the real figures to expect in season 6

Episode 1Audio adventures in the 1920s. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC employees at work in the control room at the new home at Broadcasting House (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

BBC at 100Broadcasting House: a new home for the BBC. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Gilded Age preview: “Entry into a world that really hasn't been covered on television before”

Munich: the real history behind the new film. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jeremy Irons as Neville Chamberlain, in Munich – The Edge of War

Second World War

A martyr and a hero? How Munich – The Edge of War tries to soften Neville Chamberlain’s rotten reputation

The Gothic: from Dracula to The Shining. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Emma Dabiri"The Harder They Fall doesn’t engage with one of the main drivers behind the violence". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A group of BBC staff surround a large piece of broadcasting equipment

BBC at 100The BBC begins: how a group of radio pioneers launched one of Britain's most famous institutions. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The 1993 film ‘Schindler’s List’. (AF Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

Second World War

7 must-see WW2 films, from Schindler’s List to Letters from Iwo Jima

Lindsay Duncan, who plays aristocratic adventurer Jane Digby in the BBC One adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days

Jane Digby: Lindsay Duncan on playing the aristocratic adventurer in Around the World in 80 Days

Claire Foy as the Duchess of Argyll in A Very British Scandal (left); Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll (right)

The Argyll divorce: the society scandal that rocked 1960s Britain

What happened to Britain’s lost Roman legion?

US heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis receives a medal during WW2

From Joe Lewis to Audrey Hepburn: 10 famous faces of WW2. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry, Ron and Hermione on the set of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Photo by Peter Mountain/Warner Bros. Pictures/THA)

The real magic of Harry Potter: 15 details the wizarding world borrows from history

8 historical reasons behind Anne Boleyn’s appearance in Princess Diana film Spencer

Kristen Stewart as Diana, Princess of Wales

“It doesn’t fall into the trap of making Diana a saint”: a historian’s review of Spencer

Zazie Beetz and Jonathan Majors in the Netflix film The Harder They Fall

The Harder They Fall: the real cowboys who inspired the black Western

Black cowboys on screen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Doctor Who through the ages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jodie Comer plays Marguerite de Carrouges in the upcoming film 'The Last Duel',

“A spotlight on historic societal misogyny and disbelief of women”: what The Last Duel gets right and wrong

Trial by combat: the real history behind The Last Duel. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A 14th-century illustration shows two bishops watching men fight to the death in a trial by combat.

Medieval trial by combat: the real history behind The Last Duel

Tony Robinson as Private Baldrick and Rowan Atkinson as Captain Blackadder

Q&AWas there a real Blackadder?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jodie Comer plays Marguerite de Carrouges in the upcoming film 'The Last Duel',

The medieval women who spoke out against sexual violence

Dev Patel stars as Sir Gawain in The Green Knight an adaptation of the Arthurian romance Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

“An intoxicating triumph true to the grandeur of the poem”: a historian’s review of The Green Knight