History Hit

A century after Shackleton's Endurance sank beneath the ice, explorers uncover the legendary shipwreck and an amazing tale of survival.

Join historian Dan Snow as he pieces together the story of Stonehenge, revealing how modern discoveries have started to solve its many mysteries.

Dan tells the incredible story of how Pompeii was discovered.

It's captivated us for over 2000 years, but did it really exist? Dan Snow travels to Greece to discover if there is any truth in this tale of the legendary island in the Atlantic Ocean that supposedly disappeared beneath the waves. He investigates real ancient cities that were destroyed by earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis - could these have inspired the story of Atlantis?

Dan Snow climbs into the mountains on the trail of the lost city of the Inca, Machu Picchu, a magical metropolis perched high among the clouds. It was rediscovered, overgrown by jungle, more than 100 years ago. Now Dan explores its story and comes face to face with an Inca 'ice mummy' - a teenage girl frozen in time when she was sacrificed to the mountain gods 600 years ago. AKA The Lost City.

Dan Snow embarks on a journey to China, delving into the remarkable story of the Terracotta Army, a vast archaeological treasure lost for over 2,000 years. In 1974, a group of local farmers serendipitously unearthed this ancient wonder, revealing thousands of life-size soldiers prepared for battle even in the afterlife. Beyond the warriors, the discovery also encompasses painted figures, stone armor, and the bones of the Emperor’s mistresses, who met their end alongside their ruler. Dan Snow’s exploration uncovers new insights into the First Emperor of China, a ruler who unified the nation through fear and domination. At the heart of the burial complex lies a giant earth pyramid, serving as the final resting place for the Emperor’s body, guarded for eternity by his formidable Terracotta Army.

Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney investigate one of Europe’s bloodiest witch hunts: Scotland’s North Berwick Witch trials of 1591. In this extraordinary case, fears escalated all the way up the social hierarchy to the King himself, James VI. A wild storm in the North Sea had nearly killed James and his new wife Anne of Denmark, fuelling his fascination with the intellectual study of demonology. A maelstrom of terror brought together the King’s paranoia of a conspiracy against him with local rivalries and misfortune, twisting together the fates of individuals from maidservants to magistrates, in the hunt for scapegoats.