Seven Ages of Britain is a BBC television documentary series written and presented by David Dimbleby.
The series covers the history of the largest art and artifacts Britain over the last 2000 years. Each episode features a different period of British history.
Age of Conquest. The first part of the chronicle begins with the Roman invasion and ends with the Norman Conquest. David travels throughout Great Britain in search of the greatest works of art of the era: the mosaics of the Villa Romana de Bignor, the treasure of Sutton Hoo burial, the Anglo-Saxon poetry and Alfred Joya Grande.
Age Worship. The history of British art in the Middle Ages, ranging from the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 death of Richard II in 1400. It was an era defined by the cult – whether loved worship of God, the king, or one.
Age energy. This episode sees the Tudor, ranging from Henry VIII’s accession in 1509 for the premiere of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII exactly 100 years later.
Age of Revolution. In the 17th century, when the people of Britain learned to question everything. The result was the Civil War, in which everyone, including artists, had to take sides. Out of it came a monarchy reinvented, a scientific revolution and, ultimately, the great Cathedral of St. Paul.
Age of money. In the 18th century, the triumph of trade led to the emergence of class “middle” of a new, a group of people who longed for the pleasure and novelty, and has developed its own tastes in art. The result was a golden age of painting, Hogarth, Reynolds and Gainsborough reinvent the British style.
Age of Empire. The history of the British Empire from 1750 to 1900, revealed through his art and treasures. David Dimbleby travels across Britain, the United States and India, following the decline of the adventure and inspiration to moral bankruptcy as the Empire became a self-serving bureaucratic machine.
Age of ambition. In the last episode, David Dimbleby examines how the 20th century saw the British upturning regular old power structures and hierarchies of class. The catalyst was the First World War, which engulfed the whole nation and traditional values called into question.
