About this season
National identity, social class, inequality. David Olusoga shines a light on our fractured modern society through the lens of the past, exposing the fault lines dividing the UK.
Episodes (4)
1. The Making of Britain - 1603-1707
3.0Aired 2 October 2023 • 59 min
David Olusoga tells the story of attempts to form a united Britain in the 17th and early 18th centuries, a period defined by religious and cultural divisions.
2. Creating Britishness
2.7Aired 9 October 2023 • 59 min
David Olusoga reveals how, in the 18th century, a new British identity was forged in the face of multiple threats from within - including the Jacobite rebellions in Scotland and an Irish revolution in 1798, and near-constant war with France.
3. The Two Nations
2.7Aired 16 October 2023 • 59 min
The 19th-century union appears secure, but beneath the surface run deep divisions, leading to the emergence of a new working-class movement - and a catastrophic famine in Ireland.
4. Union and Disunion
3.0Aired 23 October 2023 • 59 min
The 20th century sees partition in Ireland. A sense of national unity emerges in the aftermath of the Second World War, but economic challenges in the 1970s create new divisions and questions about the union’s future.