In Search of the Dark Ages

This series explores a series of figures from the dark ages, telling their stories through both archaeology and some historic accounts. Michael Wood is a superb host, his passion is undeniable yet he remains a cool and detached figure too able to question and scrutinise many more dubious claims. The Boudica episode is superb retelling the account from Colchester to London with some pretty extraordinary finds. Somehow the documentary brings the revolt to life in a way no film ever tries. There are no reconstructions at all in this, instead we stick purely to the archaeology. Wood does not try to tell us whether or not to admire or be horrified, rather you are just rightly left with the sense of this being a most significant moment in British history.

The episode on King Arthur lays out all the difficulties for a historian in trying to uncover whether there may be any truth to this legend. The strength of this episode is not just in showing us the evidence of how life may have been in Britain during this time but also the ways in which a historian identifies and treats certain claims and sources with more caution depending on their age and authorship.

I also found the episode on King Aldred to be really engrossing.

Wood displays a superb knowledge of dark age Britain and the various experts brought in also help fill in some of the gaps. What emerges over the series is a picture of dark age Britain much more exciting than we've often been lead to believe. The series is more focused on political and military history than social history though we do get some of that too.