01: Cutty Sark | Clydebuilt: The Ships That Made the Commonwealth

01: Why Britain? | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

In this programme we learn about the origins of the British empire in the 17th century and how its foundations w...

S03E05: The Independence of India | Days That Shook the World

The story of the Independence of India.

06: Age of Empire | Seven Ages of Britain

David Dimbleby travels through Britain, America and India, tracing the British Empire from 1750 to 1900.

Episode 2 | My Family, Partition and Me: India 1947

Anita Rani and her mother Lucky become the first members of their family to return to what is now Pakistan since the Part...

S03E03: The Empire of Good Intentions | A History of Britain by Simon Schama

How the liberal politics and free-market economics of the British Empire unravelled, leading to ...

British colonialism and Kenyan tea | This World

Simon Reeve investigates the colonial history that has shaped both the landscape and tea trade in Kenya.

01: Betrayal | Suez: A Very British Crisis

Archive material, interviews, and dramatisations provide an insight into to the Suez crisis of 1956; the Egyptian uprising that br...

06: Behind the Mask | Hidden Empire

It's 1896 and Oba Ovronramwen, the divine ruler of the independent West African kingdom of Benin, fears for his nation's future when he m...

06: Empire for Sale | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

The fall of the British empire is usually attributed to nationalist groups fighting for independence, yet as ...

Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History

Lenny Henry and Suzy Klein celebrate black classical composers and musicians across the centuries whose stories and music have l...

Episode 1 | My Family, Partition and Me: India 1947

Anita Rani marks the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India by exploring its impact on four British families, includi...

S02E04: The Wrong Empire | A History of Britain by Simon Schama

Simon Schama traces the steps of the empire-makers, asking how a trading enterprise based on the idea of libe...

02: On trial | The Compass

Ken Saro Wiwa and Ledum Mittee come face to face with the power of the Nigerian state.

02: White Plague | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

The concept of 'plantation' is explored in this programme, referring not to crops but the settlement of British ...

04: Heaven's Breed | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

In this programme we discover how a few thousand British people ruled over India, a country of more than 250 m...

06: Mahatma Gandhi | Walden on Heroes

Gandhi did more than drive the British out of India using "passive resistance". He also fought for better conditions for workers, persu...

Joint-Stock Companies | Empire with David Olusoga

This clip discusses the joint-stock companies set up under Elizabeth I.

S07E04: Mau Mau | Secret History

The story behind a bitter conflict during the last phase of the British Empire, which saw the Mau Mau attack white settlers in a savage bid ...

The Boston Tea Party | Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea

Victoria Wood tells the story of the Boston Tea Party.

The Day India Burned - Partition

Documentary about the effects of Britain's withdrawal from India in 1947. 15 million were displaced and more than a million lose their lives...