7.5/1035 votes#1 - Forces of Nature (1780 - 1832)
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 5/28/2002
Britain never had the kind of revolution France experienced in 1789, but came close to it. This programme explains how 'the romantic generation' discovered the politics of sympathy with the common man. Nature was turned into a revolutionary idea by radicals and poets like Thomas Paine and William Wordsworth, and events across the channel following the fall of the Bastille initially seemed to point a way forward for Britain. But when the terrifying reality of the French Revolution set in, nature was recruited by the patriots.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/1032 votes#2 - Victoria and Her Sisters (1830 - 1910)
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 6/4/2002
Queen Victoria came to the throne at the tender age of eighteen, to rule over a country in the throes of a painful but supercharged industrial transformation. Chaos and revolution had been predicted by both socialists and traditionalists but in fact family life provided a bedrock of stability. This is how Britain's women, from the Queen to Chartist charladies and West Indian nurses managed the intense change and attempted to galvanize social reform for their Victorian sisters.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/1033 votes#3 - The Empire of Good Intentions (1830 - 1925)
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 6/11/2002
The British Empire promised peace, stability and prosperity but in Ireland and India it coincided with violence and famine. The programme examines the origins of agonies which continue to resonate today, and how political justice failed to feature in the administration of the time. As Victorian prime ministers, Gladstone and Disraeli promoted very different visions of Empire, but despite their lofty ideals, Schama observes how 'common humanity was sacrificed to the fetish of the market'.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/1033 votes#4 - The Two Winstons (1910 - present)
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 6/18/2002
Schama's last programme is a meditation on the place of the past in Britain's 20th-century history. Personified in the sharply different reactions of two of its greatest figures, Winston Churchill and George Orwell, the programme explores the fate of the country through two world wars, the slump and a nervous postwar peace. What was the impact of the crusades and the protests of the century, and did Winston Smith, hero of Orwell's 1984, foresee the contemporary political landscape?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of A History of Britain Season 3
Every episode of A History of Britain Season 3 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of A History of Britain Season 3!
Stretching from the Stone Age to the year 2000, Simon Schama's Complete History of Britain does not pretend to be a definitive chronicle of the...
Genre:Documentary
Network:BBC Two
Season 3 Ratings Summary
"Forces of Nature (1780 - 1832)" is the best rated episode of "A History of Britain" season 3. It scored 7.5/10 based on 35 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 5/28/2002. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "Victoria and Her Sisters (1830 - 1910)".