Seven Ages of Britain | |
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![]() The title card of Seven Ages of Britain | |
Genre | Documentary |
Written by | David Dimbleby |
Directed by | Jonty Claypole |
Presented by | David Dimbleby |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 7 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Producer | Jonty Claypole |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | BBC One BBC HD |
Release | 31 January – 21 March 2010 |
Seven Ages of Britain is a BBC television documentary series written and presented by David Dimbleby. The seven part series was first aired on Sunday nights at 9:00pm on BBC One starting on 31 January 2010.
The series covers the history of Britain's greatest art and artefacts over the past 2000 years. Each episode covers a different period in British history. In Australia, all seven episodes aired on ABC1 each Tuesday at 8:30pm from 7 September 2010. [1]
Originally the series was to air in late 2009, but was later rescheduled to early 2010. [2] The HD edition of the show aired on BBC HD and repeats aired on BBC Two.
In Summer 2009 artist Nathaniel Mellors was commissioned by the BBC to make a short "work of modern art" to introduce the final episode of the series. The resultant work The Seven Ages of Britain Teaser features Dimbleby voicing a silicon mask cast from his own face, alongside actors Gwendoline Christie ( as 'The Operator') and Johnny Vivash (as 'Kadmus').
Episode number | Title | Period covered | Airdate | Viewers |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "Age of Conquest" | AD 43 – 1066 | 31 January 2010 | 4.2 million (16%) [3] |
2 | "Age of Worship" | 1170–1400 | 7 February 2010 | 4.3 million (16%) [4] |
3 | "Age of Power" | 1509–1609 | 14 February 2010 | 4.5 million (17.1%) [5] |
4 | "Age of Revolution" | 1603–1708 | 28 February 2010 | 4.4 million (16.5%) [6] |
5 | "Age of Money" | 1700–1805 | 7 March 2010 | 3.82 million (14.2%) [7] |
6 | "Age of Empire" | 1770–1911 | 14 March 2010 | 3.72 million (14.6%) [8] |
7 | "Age of Ambition" | 1914 – Now | 21 March 2010 | 3.347 million (12.6%) [9] |
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