''Seven Ages of Britain'' is a BBC television documentary series written and presented by

David Dimbleby David Dimbleby (born 28 October 1938) is an English journalist and former presenter of current affairs and political programmes, best known for having presented the BBC topical debate programme ''Question Time''. He is the son of broadcaster ...

. The seven part series was first aired on Sunday nights at 9:00pm on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

starting on 31 January 2010. The series covers the history of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

'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 ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship ABC Television network. The headquarters of the ABC TV channel an ...

each Tuesday at 8:30pm from 7 September 2010.

Production

Originally the series was to air in late 2009, but was later rescheduled to early 2010. The HD edition of the show aired on

BBC HD BBC HD was a 24-hour high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 26 March 2013. It broadcast ...

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 Gwendoline Tracey Philippa Christie (born 28 October 1978) is an English actress who is best known for portraying Brienne of Tarth in the HBO fantasy-drama series ''Game of Thrones'' (2012–2019). She is also widely known for her role the Fir ...

( as 'The Operator') and Johnny Vivash (as 'Kadmus').

Episodes

2003 Channel 4 series by the same title

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

had previously aired a series by the same title but covering a broader time period in 2003, presented by

Bettany Hughes Bettany Mary Hughes (born May 1967) is an English historian, author and broadcaster, specialising in classical history. Her published books cover classical antiquity and myth, and the history of Istanbul. She is active in efforts to encourage ...

. The series has since been picked up by the Discovery Channel.

References

External links

* {{BBC programme
''Seven Ages of Britain''
at the Open University 2010 British television series debuts 2010 British television series endings 2010s British documentary television series BBC television documentaries about history during the 16th and 17th centuries English-language television shows BBC television documentaries about history during the 18th and 19th centuries BBC television documentaries about history during the 20th Century BBC television documentaries about history during the 21st Century BBC television documentaries about medieval history BBC television documentaries about prehistoric and ancient history