Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arthur Begins | 20220128 | 20230922 (R3) | The Essay continues its epic exploration of the lives, tribes and traces of Albion's Iron Age peoples. Archaeologist Miles Russell returns not to the earth but to the earliest accounts of the story of King Arthur revealed not as a medieval icon of chivalry but as a blood-soaked berserker with Iron Age roots. Producer: Mark Burman The Essay explores the peoples and myths of Iron Age Albion. Miles Russell reveals Arthur. | |
| Boudicca, Warrior Queen | 20220124 | 20230918 (R3) | Take a woad trip with the Essay as archaeologists, historians and writers reveal the tribes, rulers and those who encountered the islanders of Albion. Australian novelist Ilka Tampke is writing her latest Iron Age fiction about the legendary Queen Boudicca. How to give voice to a warrior queen with little evidence, much myth and a mindset utterly different from our times? Producer: Mark Burman The Essay unearths the peoples of Iron Age Britain. Writer Ilka Tampke dreams of Boudicca. | |
| Cornwall | 20220118 | 20230912 (R3) | The Essay unearths the peoples of Iron Age Britain from warrior queens to Lindow Man in a major new series. We are the last people on earth, and the last to be free: our very remoteness in a land known only to rumour has protected us up till this day. Today the furthest bounds of Britain lie open - and everything unknown is given an inflated worth. But now there is no people beyond us, nothing but tides and rocks and, more deadly than these, the Romans.' Tacitus, Agricola Explore the worlds of ancient Albion; from the Western reaches of Cornwall to the tribes of Essex and across to the wilds of Scotland and Wales. Their stories, footprint and traces have been dug from the ground and pored over by archaeologists and historians and informed by the accounts of travellers and conquerors who visited the far shores of exotic Britannia for trade or glory. With the arrival of Caesar's armies nothing would be the same again. 2. Cornwall. Caradoc Peters of Plymouth University has been in love with the Iron Age past of a land and people that hovered between an ancient landscape of nature spirits and one where the living and the dead inhabited close but separate parallel worlds. It was a place of many small, fragmented communities, paradoxically at the cutting edge of new developments. Producer: Mark Burman Caradoc Peters reveals a formative period of Cornwall's past that still resonates today. | |
| In Search Of The Druids | 20220126 | 20230920 (R3) | The Essay continues its epic exploration of the lives, tribes and traces of Albion's Iron Age peoples. Professor Ron Hutton assesses the presence and role of the Druid's in Iron Age communities. Derided by the Roman records, celebrated and recreated many times over, the Druids have been imbued with ancient wisdom and mystic powers and yet the British were among the last to adopt them as heroic ancestors. Producer: Mark Burnan Take a woad trip across Iron Age Britain. Ron Hutton demystifies the story of the Druids. | |
| Pytheas And The Iron Sea | 20220127 | 20230921 (R3) | The Essay explores the peoples and myths of Iron Age Britain. Centuries before Caesar's armies set foot on Albion, the Greek explorer Pytheas circumnavigated our island in 320 BC. Writer Mandy Haggith imagines the world and folk of the west coast of Scotland encountered by Pytheas. Whilst the sea itself with its ever-changing yet permanent presence allows us to travel back across the water to the rugged coastline of Assynt where liminal communities dwelled among the brochs. Producer: Mark Burman The peoples and myths of Iron Age Britain. Mandy Haggith on the voyages of Pytheas. | |
| Queen Cartimandua And The Brigantes | 20220120 | 20230914 (R3) | The Essay unearths the peoples and landscape of Iron Age Britain. From warrior queens to Lindow Man in a major new series. Explore the worlds of ancient Albion; from the western reaches of Cornwall to the tribes of Essex and across to the wilds of Scotland and Wales. Their stories, footprint and traces have been dug from the ground, pored over by archaeologists and historians and informed by the accounts of travellers and conquerors. We are the last people on earth, and the last to be free: our very remoteness in a land known only to rumour has protected us up till this day. Today the furthest bounds of Britain lie openand everything unknown is given an inflated worth. But now there is no people beyond us, nothing but tides and rocks and, more deadly than these, the Romans.' Tacitus, Agricola Independent historian Nicki Howarth-Pollard pieces together Queen Cartimandua's reign and fate as a ruler who had to negotiate the survival of her people, the Brigantes, and the reality of a conquered land. Producer: Mark Burman Historian Nicki Howarth-Pollard pieces together Queen Cartimandua's reign and fate. | |
| The Cantiaci | 20220117 | 20230911 (R3) | The Essay unearths the peoples of Iron Age Britain from warrior queens to Lindow Man in a major new series. We are the last people on earth, and the last to be free: our very remoteness in a land known only to rumour has protected us up till this day. Today the furthest bounds of Britain lie openand everything unknown is given an inflated worth. But now there is no people beyond us, nothing but tides and rocks and, more deadly than these, the Romans.' Tacitus, Agricola Explore the worlds of ancient Albion; from the western reaches of Cornwall to the tribes of Essex and across to the wilds of Scotland and Wales. Their stories, footprint and traces have been dug from the ground, pored over by archaeologists and historians, and informed by the accounts of travellers and conquerors who visited the far shores of exotic Britannia for trade or glory. With the arrival of Caesar's armies, nothing would be the same again. In this episode archaeologist David Miles, tells the story of the Cantiaci of Kent and how the inhabitants of this 'land on the edge' became the first to fall under Rome's influence. Producer: Ellie Bury Archaeologist David Miles tells the story of the Cantiaci of Kent. | |
| The Demetae | 20220121 | 20230915 (R3) | The Essay unearths the peoples of Iron Age Britain from warrior queens to Lindow Man in a major new series. We are the last people on earth, and the last to be free: our very remoteness in a land known only to rumour has protected us up till this day. Today the furthest bounds of Britain lie openand everything unknown is given an inflated worth. But now there is no people beyond us, nothing but tides and rocks and, more deadly than these, the Romans.' Tacitus, Agricola Explore the worlds of ancient Albion; from the western reaches of Cornwall to the tribes of Essex and across to the wilds of Scotland and Wales. Their stories, footprint and traces have been dug from the ground, pored over by archaeologists and historians, and informed by the accounts of travellers and conquerors who visited the far shores of exotic Britannia for trade or glory. With the arrival of Caesar's armies, nothing would be the same again. In this episode, poet Menna Elfyn senses the enduring presence of the Demetae in Carmarthen, the oldest town in Wales. Producer: Ellie Bury Poet Menna Elfyn senses the enduring presence of the Demetae in Carmarthen. | |
| The Maeatae | 20220125 | 20230919 (R3) | The Essay unearths the peoples of Iron Age Britain from warrior queens to Lindow Man in a major new series. We are the last people on earth, and the last to be free: our very remoteness in a land known only to rumour has protected us up till this day. Today the furthest bounds of Britain lie openand everything unknown is given an inflated worth. But now there is no people beyond us, nothing but tides and rocks and, more deadly than these, the Romans.' Tacitus, Agricola Explore the worlds of ancient Albion; from the western reaches of Cornwall to the tribes of Essex and across to the wilds of Scotland and Wales. Their stories, footprint and traces have been dug from the ground, pored over by archaeologists and historians, and informed by the accounts of travellers and conquerors who visited the far shores of exotic Britannia for trade or glory. With the arrival of Caesar's armies, nothing would be the same again. Playwright David Greig describes encountering a ghost of the Maeatae tribe during a starlit run in Scotland's Ochil Hills. Producer: Ellie Bury Playwright David Greig encounters the marsh-dwelling Maeatae in Scotland's Ochil Hills. | |
| The Parisi | 20220119 | 20230913 (R3) | The Essay unearths the peoples of Iron Age Britain from warrior queens to Lindow Man in a major new series. We are the last people on earth, and the last to be free: our very remoteness in a land known only to rumour has protected us up till this day. Today the furthest bounds of Britain lie openand everything unknown is given an inflated worth. But now there is no people beyond us, nothing but tides and rocks and, more deadly than these, the Romans.' Tacitus, Agricola Explore the worlds of ancient Albion; from the western reaches of Cornwall to the tribes of Essex and across to the wilds of Scotland and Wales. Their stories, footprint and traces have been dug from the ground, pored over by archaeologists and historians, and informed by the accounts of travellers and conquerors who visited the far shores of exotic Britannia for trade or glory. With the arrival of Caesar's armies, nothing would be the same again. In this episode archaeologist and poet Melanie Giles describes the rare chariot burials which distinguish the Parisi of East Yorkshire. Producer: Ellie Bury Melanie Giles describes the chariot burials that distinguish the Parisi of East Yorkshire. | |
| 11 | Lindow Man | 20220214 | The Essay unearths the peoples of Iron Age Britain from warrior queens to Lindow Man in a major new series. We are the last people on earth, and the last to be free: our very remoteness in a land known only to rumour has protected us up till this day. Today the furthest bounds of Britain lie openand everything unknown is given an inflated worth. But now there is no people beyond us, nothing but tides and rocks and, more deadly than these, the Romans.' Tacitus, Agricola Explore the worlds of ancient Albion, from the western reaches of Cornwall to the tribes of Essex and across to the wilds of Scotland and Wales. Their stories, footprint and traces have been dug from the ground, pored over by archaeologists and historians, and informed by the accounts of travellers and conquerors who visited the far shores of exotic Britannia for trade or glory. With the arrival of Caesar's armies, nothing would be the same again. Sarah Moss's fiction has been inspired by the ancient rituals of our Iron Age antecedents. In this essay she describes the impact of an encounter with Lindow Man on a school trip, and considers the insights we can glean from mysterious bog burials. Producer: Ellie Bury Novelist Sarah Moss considers the enduring impact of an early encounter with Lindow Man. | |
| 12 | The Roman Orbit | 20220215 | Guy de la Bedoy\u00e8re explores the integration of tribal Britain into the Roman world. | |
| 13 | The Atrebates | 20220216 | The Essay unearths the peoples of Iron Age Britain from warrior queens to Lindow Man in a major new series. We are the last people on earth, and the last to be free: our very remoteness in a land known only to rumour has protected us up till this day. Today the furthest bounds of Britain lie openand everything unknown is given an inflated worth. But now there is no people beyond us, nothing but tides and rocks and, more deadly than these, the Romans.' Tacitus, Agricola Explore the worlds of ancient Albion; from the western reaches of Cornwall to the tribes of Essex and across to the wilds of Scotland and Wales. Their stories, footprint and traces have been dug from the ground, pored over by archaeologists and historians, and informed by the accounts of travellers and conquerors who visited the far shores of exotic Britannia for trade or glory. With the arrival of Caesar's armies, nothing would be the same again. Archaeologist David Miles unravels the complex story of the Atrebates of south west England. Producer: Ellie Bury Archaeologist David Miles unravels the complex story of the Atrebates. | |
| 14 | The Durotriges | 20220217 | Take a woad trip with the Essay as archaeologists, historians and writers reveal the tribes, rulers and those who encountered the islanders of Albion. Archaeologist Miles Russell overturns long cherished ideas about how the Durotriges of Dorset faced a Roman onslaught in their hill forts and favoured passive indifference to armed resistance. Producer: Mark Burman Archaeologist Miles Russell unearths the truth about the Durtoriges of Dorset. | |
| 15 | Maidens, Matriarchs And Crones | 20220218 | The Essay reaches the end of its epic journey across Iron Age Britain as writer Mandy Haggith explores the possibilities and power of Albion's women along Scotland's west coast. What was life like for maidens, mothers and crones in pre-Christian Britain? Perhaps they can be a model for modern times? Producer: Mark Burman The Essay reaches journeys end across Britain. Mandy Haggith imagines Albion's women. |