प्लॉट

Simon Schama begins his history of Britain at the miraculously preserved Stone Age cottages of Skara Brae in Orkney and then moves on to the world of Anglo-Saxon England.

Simon Schama begins his history of Britain with a visit to the miraculously preserved Stone Age cottages of Skara Brae in Orkney and then moves all the way to the world of Anglo-Saxon England, newly converted to Christinanity, and plagued by Vikings. He describes how a nation was conceived by war, trade, migrations of peoples, religion, and an infatuation with Rome.

This is a documentary. As such, it does not have a plot, characters, or characterization; it does have settings and episodic accounts of events presented in a vivid series of vignettes with colorful camera work, historical re-creations, and narratives. Have I reached the mandatory ten lines yet? Reflect upon the fact that for ten years, the synopsis was zero lines long; if I only provide five lines of synopsis, give me a break.

(1) Iron Age settlement at Skara Brae, Orkney (2) Nearby tomb-barrow (3) Iron Age Britain before the Roman conquest (4) Roman conquest with emphasis on Boudicca (5) Hadrian's Wall -- a zone of control, not a besieged fortress (6) Transition to Anglo-Saxon England; a fusion rather than a tidal wave (7) Christianization: Patricius and the Venerable Bede (8) Vikings and the Danelaw (9) King Alfred the Great