- David Starkey - Presenter: So this is not another picture book story of kings and queens. Instead, it's a real, grown up history of how a monarchy created a nation. It starts where the monarchy of the nation did: the chaos and the violence of the Dark Ages.
- David Starkey - Presenter: When Alfred died in 899, he still ruled over only part of England, but his legacy was to be the permanent unification of the country. The actual work was the task of his sons and grandsons, but it was Alfred who, in the crucible of the Viking invasions, had forged an idea of England that was more than simply cultural or linguistic. It was political, or rather, uniquely in Europe at the time, it was a combination of all three.