S01E01 Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle. Built on the site of an extinct volcano, the history of one of Scotland's greatest landmarks is bloody, brutal and grimly fascinating. Jonathan Meades scales this most enduring of icons and visits its...
Abroad Again in Britain
S01E05: Portsmouth Dockyard
For centuries the world's biggest military/industrial complex, the dockyard stood as a testament to the fear of invasion, particularly by France. As he hears the stories of those who have lived and worked there, Jonathan Meades considers its role as an instrument for the generation of dread.
Overview
Jonathan Meades gives a personal perspective of British history.
Episodes
S01E02 Cragside House
Magnificent mansion containing some surprising technological innovations. Cragside is a country house in the civil parish of Cartington in Northumberland, England. It was the first house in the world to be lit using hydroelectric power....
S01E03 Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral boasts the highest spire in Britain. Jonathan Meades, who was raised in its shadow, returns to one of the country's finest medieval buildings. He wonders how an atheist can love a building dedicated...
S01E04 Brighton Pavilion
Jonathan Meades ponders the exotic pleasure dome that is the bizarre legacy of the Prince Regent, George IV. Wild, theatrical and ostentatious, the folly is part Hindu, part Islamic, part Chinese, and wholly inauthentic.
S01E05 Portsmouth Dockyard
For centuries the world's biggest military/industrial complex, the dockyard stood as a testament to the fear of invasion, particularly by France. As he hears the stories of those who have lived and worked there, Jonathan...
Cast
Jonathan Meades
Self
Ralph Collis
