Seven Ages of Britain is a BBC documentary series written and presented by David Dimbleby.
The collection covers the history of Britain’s greatest arts and crafts from the past 2,000 years. Each episode covers a different period in British history.
1. Age of Conquest. The first part of the Chronicle begins with the Roman invasion and ends with the Norman conquest. David traveled all over Britain in search of the greatest works of art of the period: mosaics from the Roman villa of Bigno, Sutton Hoo funerary objects, Anglo-Saxon poetry and jewelry from Alfred the Great.
2. Worship age. A history of medieval English art, from the assassination of Thomas Becket in 1170 to the death of Richard II in 1400. This is a time of worship—whether it’s for God, the king, or the ones you love.
3. The Age of Power. The episode is about the Tudor dynasty, spanning the arc from the accession of Henry VIII in 1509 to the premiere of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII a full 100 years later.
The era of the fourth revolution. In the 17th century, the British learned to question everything. The result was a civil war in which everyone, including the artists, had to take sides. Out of this came the reinvented monarchy, a scientific revolution and finally the great St. Paul’s Cathedral.
5. The money age. In the 18th century, the rise of trade led to the emergence of a new “middle class”, a group of people who craved pleasure and novelty and developed their own artistic taste. The result was a golden age of painting in which Hogarth, Reynolds and Gainsborough reinvented the English style.
The Sixth Era of the Empire. The history of the British Empire from 1750 to 1900 is revealed through its art and treasures. David Dimbleby travels the UK, US and India, tracing the moral bankruptcy of adventure and inspiration as empires became selfish bureaucratic machines.
7. The Age of Ambition. In his final installment, David Dimbleby examines how ordinary 20th-century Britons upended old power structures and class hierarchies. The trigger was World War I, which affected an entire nation and brought traditional values into question.
