Discovery Channel - Bloody Britain (2004) Part 1 The Peasants' Revolt

When History Was Really Horrible! Rory McGrath presents an entertaining history series that uses animation to shed light on some of the goriest events in Britain's past. Fresh, innovative, entertaining and revelatory, Bloody Britain combines strong historical research and storytelling with hands-on historical experiments (such as building and firing a trebuchet), an entertaining but extremely passionate presenter and atmospheric and innovative animation. Bloody Britain examines key historical events from ground level – looking at the lives and perspectives of all those involved in these events – king and commoner alike. Action and information-packed, each show is a fascinating and at times squeamish journey through some of Britain's most gruesome and awful, but momentous, historical events. In each episode of Bloody Britain Rory McGrath examines a key event from British history. Whether it's battles, rebellions, wars, plagues, social unrest, betrayal, executions, injustice or mass insanity, we'll concentrate on the mad, sad and bad moments from our past. In short, we'll zoom in on when the past was truly horrible and ask why, when and how these events came to be part of our history. From learning the tactics of the siege, through to troop formations and allegiances of the people, Bloody Britain demonstrates that history is always more interesting when it was horrible.

Part 1 The Peasants' Revolt

Rory McGrath finds out why the peasants stormed London in 1381, learning how they would have fought knights and how many people were beheaded. The Peasants' Revolt of 1381, one of the most significant moments in British history, shows how newly empowered peasants came within an ace of toppling the monarchy. Using expert analysis and reconstruction, he illustrates the political, social and cultural background to the rebellion, and celebrates the roles those men and women played in challenging the status quo for one of the first times in history.

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