By examining the camp’s surviving structures, Dr Bulgin reveals how mass murder was organised, refined, and expanded over time. Joined by historians and experts, he reinforces a vital truth: Auschwitz was not a static symbol of evil, but a site that evolved through deliberate human decisions, administrative structures, and mechanical systems.

Sign up to watch

“The access to people and places secured by History Hit was genuinely revelatory,” says Dr Bulgin. “Walking around spaces inaccessible to the general public that have been left as they were since the end of the war offered an unfiltered authenticity which was both sobering and eerily elucidating”.

Dan Snow, founder and creative director of History Hit, added: “What we’ve managed to achieve in this documentary, alongside James, is truly groundbreaking”. “These locations aren’t just places on a map; they are the silent witnesses to one of the darkest chapters of human history”.

From Krakow’s streets to Auschwitz’s gates

Dr Bulgin begins in Krakow, viewing one of only two remaining sections of the Ghetto wall. Established in March 1941, the wall featured rounded tops, a cruel reference to Jewish tombstones, signalling the fate intended for the 20,000 people trapped within.

James talks to historian Dr Alicja Jarkowska, who explains that Auschwitz was not chosen at random. Its proximity to Krakow and its rail links made it ideal for the Nazi vision of Lebensraum – a racial empire where occupied Poland would be cleared of many of its inhabitants to secure Germany’s future.

One of only two remaining sections of the Krakow ghetto (established in March 1941, and liquidated in March 1943).

Image Credit: History Hit

From concentration to extermination

James meets with guide and Auschwitz Educator Agata Miodowska, who explains that the first prisoners were German (30 in total), who were later made to guard the first 728 Polish political prisoners that arrived in June 1940 – considered the start date of the functioning of the camp. At this stage, Auschwitz I was a modest site of 20 single-story brick buildings, – a brutal labor camp, but not yet an extermination centre. However, the system of terror was already being codified.

James is granted rare access to Block 3, preserved almost exactly as it was upon liberation 80 years ago. Viewing the cramped bunk-beds, he notes how “Frozen in time, Block 3 provides a chilling snapshot of daily life in Auschwitz”. Inside, researchers made a terrifying discovery: blue staining on the walls. Initially, Zyklon B (a hydrogen cyanide pesticide) was used here to disinfect clothing. James observes: “The blue stains mark a chilling stage – actual traces of the chemical that would be used to kill hundreds of thousands.”

The blue staining on the walls is evidence of Zyklon B (a hydrogen cyanide pesticide) – initially used in this room to disinfect clothing.

Image Credit: History Hit

The transition to mass murder occurred nearby in Block 11, the penal barracks. In September 1941, the Nazis conducted their first experiments using Zyklon B on 850 Soviet and Polish prisoners. The experiment proved the chemical’s lethality but highlighted logistical “failures” – the small rooms took too long to ventilate. The lesson was purely technical: the Nazis needed a purpose-built, large-scale facility – leading to the construction of the first permanent gas chamber.

“It should come as no surprise that Auschwitz retains all of its ability to shock and horrify, but there’s something about this block in particular that is appalling. Not just because of the terrible suffering that those who were sent here were subject to, but because of the significance of what happened underneath my feet in this place”.

– Dr James Bulgin

The industrialisation of death at Birkenau

From 1941 onwards, Auschwitz entered a phase of rapid and deliberate expansion. By 1942, the centre of gravity shifted 3km away to Birkenau (Auschwitz II). Between March and June 1943, four massive gas chambers were brought into operation, each capable of killing 2,000 people at a time. As James points out, in a cruel twist, the Nazis forced the Sonderkommandos (Jewish prisoners) to operate these facilities.

Dr Bulgin examines the ‘Auschwitz Sketchbook’ – 22 drawings made by an anonymous prisoner, the only known illustrations created inside the camp depicting the extermination process. They show a site in constant flux, an engineering project designed to process 1.1 million victims. James notes a chilling paradox: the sheer volume of victims eventually overwhelmed even this industrialised machine, forcing the Sonderkommandos to cremate bodies on open-air pyres when the furnaces could no longer keep pace.

The perpetrators and the myth of ignorance

The documentary confronts the “normality” of the killers. Commandant Rudolf Höss lived with his family in ‘House 88’, within sight of the crematoria. From the upstairs windows, the killing zone was clearly visible.

Jacek Purski, Director at House 88, explains that the Höss family’s proximity to the gas chambers demonstrates a high level of ideological radicalisation. Höss was a professional criminal and a “graduate” of the SS structure at Dachau; he was not an accidental participant, but a prepared operative.

View of Auschwitz 1 from one of the windows at the house Auschwitz Commandant Rudolf Höss lived in with his family – ‘House 88’.

Image Credit: History Hit

The fragility of justice

Following the war, Höss was captured by a British War Crimes Investigation Team. He was tried and hanged in 1947 on a gallows constructed just steps from the Auschwitz crematorium.

Historian and author Thomas Harding (whose Great Uncle arrested Höss) notes, however, that Höss was the exception. While the 1945 Belsen trials confronted 45 staff members, the Holocaust required the active participation of tens of thousands. Only a tiny fraction were ever held accountable.

‘Auschwitz: The Evolution of Terror’ is a ground-level examination of how bureaucracy, engineering, and human choice created a nightmare. It forces us to confront the fact that these were not monsters from another world, but real people who made systematic choices to commit the unthinkable.

Watch Auschwitz: The Evolution of Terror now, exclusively on History Hit.

Sign up to watch

What followed was the most radical political experiment in British history. The House of Lords was abolished, the monarchy swept away, and the British Isles were declared a republic. Yet, within just 11 years, the monarchy was restored with exuberant celebration.

In a special panel edition of Not Just The Tudors…Lates – Why the English Revolution Failed, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb sits down with leading historians Dr Jonathan Healey, Dr Miranda Malins, and Professor Ronald Hutton to unpick the decade of the “Interregnum.” Together, they ask: was the English Republic doomed from the start, or was it a missed opportunity that changed the world?

Sign up to watch

A republic born of a coup

The panel begins by addressing how unlike modern revolutions driven by popular uprisings, England’s republic was established via a military coup d’état.

“The execution of King Charles I wasn’t what the majority of Parliamentarians wanted,” explains Dr Miranda Malins. “There was no plan to wheel out in January 1649. The regime was a hasty fudge that spent the next decade desperately trying to retrospectively legitimise itself.”

Professor Ronald Hutton adds that the British public never quite forgave the Republic for its origins. To maintain power, the regime required a standing army, which meant heavy taxes. The people were effectively being asked to pay for a military force to prop up a government they didn’t ask for – creating a recipe for instability.

The tyranny of the “free state”

The republic was justified through providence – the idea that God had granted the New Model Army victory – and the sovereignty of the people. However, the leadership never actually trusted the people.

“The tension at the heart of the republic,” says Hutton,“is that its establishment is justified in terms of the will and sovereignty of the people but at no point do those in charge feel able to trust the people to validate their power”. This was not a modern democracy; the franchise was restricted, and the government quickly turned on its most radical supporters, such as the Levellers, who called for genuine legal equality and religious freedom.

By removing the King but leaving the social order (and the wealth of the gentry) intact, the Republic failed to provide the infrastructure for a truly new kind of politics.

Production shots from filming

Image Credit: History Hit

An imperial project: conquering the archipelago

One of the most significant – and brutal – achievements of the Republic was the forced unification of the British Isles.

“In 1649, the English unilaterally decided to kill a British monarch,” says Malins, setting off a chain reaction across Ireland and Scotland. Under Oliver Cromwell, the Republic embarked on a “metropole” project, imposing English republicanism at the point of a sword.

The campaign in Ireland was particularly devastating, resulting in the loss of an estimated 20% of the population according to Jonathan. Professor Hutton argues that the trauma of this period established a Protestant supremacy that would define Irish history until the 20th century. “In many ways, from the Irish point of view, the damage is still there,” he remarks. “The bloodshed in my lifetime can be traced directly to those events.”

The rise and fall of the Protector

By 1653, the experiment shifted. Frustrated by a stagnant Parliament, Cromwell famously cleared the house by force on 20 April, eventually becoming Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland on 16 December 1653. 

Was this a return to monarchy in all but name? Jonathan points out that for a lot of people there was an irony as because the Protectorship was unprecedented, that for them meant that the power of the Protector was potentially unlimited. 

Yet Miranda Malins suggests that while Cromwell acted like a monarch – issuing over 80 ordinances in his first few months – he was trapped. The regime reforms were “not radical enough for the radicals, it’s too monarchical, but equally it’s not legitimately monarchical and royal enough for the royalists, and so he can’t really please anybody”. 

When Cromwell died in September 1658, the lack of a clear succession plan proved fatal. His son, Richard Cromwell, was a “country gentleman” who lacked his father’s military clout. Without Oliver’s ability to balance the competing factions of the army and Parliament, the house of cards collapsed into chaos, with Charles II the beneficiary of this.

Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper

Image Credit: After Samuel Cooper, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Failure or “unfinished business”?

If the Republic lasted only 11 years, can we call it a success?

Jonathan Healey jokes that it “did alright to last as long as it did,” but the panel agrees the legacy is profound. The Interregnum prevented a “healing” that might have occurred under a more conservative settlement, allowing a diversity of Protestant opinion to flourish that could never again be suppressed.

“We’ve been, in many ways, a two-party system ever since,” Hutton observes, “where Cavalier and Roundhead turned into Whig and Tory” and down through the centuries. The dynamic of ‘stabilised disagreement’ that defines British politics today was born in this short-lived republic, he argues.

So why is this period often ignored in our national story? The panel suggests a ‘state-sponsored amnesia’ began with Charles II, who promised a general amnesty and encouraged people to forget previous conflicts, and made it illegal to threaten the King’s life or to advocate for the return of a republic. We prefer the neat narrative of kings and queens over the “back alley” of a failed commonwealth.

As Ronald Hutton concludes, the republic was not ultimately a failure because “it’s a prelude to the victory of democracy and toleration in the 1680s, and everything that is good about us follows from that …the republic is not so much a failure as unfinished business.”

Hear the full, unedited debate between these world-class historians on Not Just The Tudors…Lates: Why the English Revolution Failed on History Hit.

Sign up to watch

Join Natalie as she reveals how this myth gave birth to the ancient world’s most profound and secretive religious tradition: the Eleusinian Mysteries. Tracing the path of ancient initiates from Athens to Eleusis, Natalie examines rare fragments like the ‘Great Eleusinian Relief’ and the ‘Ninnion Tablet’ to uncover the only surviving visual clues to these top-secret rituals. She explores why thousands of pilgrims flocked to Eleusis for centuries, and how this visceral tale of maternal fury and restorative love has inspired two and a half millennia of art. 

A mother’s strike

Greece has always been a land of harsh agricultural reality. In the ancient world, if the land failed, death followed swiftly. When Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, abandoned Mount Olympus in grief over her daughter’s abduction, the world withered.

Natalie explains that Demeter’s fury was a cosmic strike, refusing to let the earth be fertile until Persephone was returned. This forced the hand of Zeus, who intervened not out of compassion, but because the mortals had stopped sending sacrifices – there were simply no crops to offer the gods.

The pomegranate trap

In the myth, Zeus sent Hermes to the Underworld to retrieve Persephone, but Hades, the possessive and cunning King of the Dead, was prepared – freedom would come at a price. He offered Persephone a parting gift: a handful of pomegranate seeds.

In the ancient logic of the Underworld, eating the food of the dead binds you to that realm forever. This was no romantic gesture; in the oldest versions of the Homeric Hymn, Persephone is trapped by a “trap wrapped in sweetness.” 

Persephone was returned to her mother in an ecstatic homecoming. Interestingly, Natalie points out how although the Homeric Hymn was written in patriarchal times, the poet still knew the depth and value of the female bond between mother and daughter. However, their joy was cut short when Demeter realised Persephone had eaten while in the Underworld. 

Zeus, keen to restore the flow of mortal offerings, brokered a dodgy deal: Persephone would spend one-third of the year with Hades and two-thirds of each year above ground with her mother. This “dark compromise” created the seasons: the winter of Demeter’s mourning and the spring of her daughter’s return.

Interestingly, Natalie explains how “this is one of the few times in all of Greek mythology that a god or goddess stands their ground against Zeus, king of the gods, and wins – at least a partial victory”.

Hermes delivers the message to Persephone and Hades

Image Credit: History Hit

The Eleusinian Mysteries

The myth explains how in gratitude to the people of Eleusis who sheltered her during her grief, Demeter gifted them sacred rites. These became the Eleusinian Mysteries, a phenomenon that lasted for over a millennium, promising immense spiritual wealth.

The story of Demeter’s gift grew into a phenomenon of the ancient world, with evidence as far back as the 7th century BC of people gathering in Athens to process to Eleusis. Thousands flocked to Eleusis each year. Anyone – regardless of class, age or gender – could take part, provided they hadn’t committed murder – from common servants to philosophers such as Plato, orators like Cicero, and even Roman Emperors like Hadrian and Augustus. 

The appeal was simple but revolutionary: the Mysteries offered hope. While most Greeks viewed the afterlife as a dreary existence as a powerless “shade,” initiates were promised a better fate.

Tantalising clues: the archaeology of a secret

Because the rites were protected by a vow of silence – punishable by execution – nothing was ever written down. Natalie visits the National Archaeological Museum in Athens to speak with Dr Tulsi Parikh, an expert on the archaeology of Ancient Greek religion, and piece together the rituals from “tiny, tiny fragments” of evidence that have survived – noting how remarkable it is “how much we can still uncover from so little”.

• The Great Eleusinian Relief: A 5th-century marble masterpiece showing Demeter handing sheaves of wheat to Triptolemus, teaching humankind the art of agriculture. He is also pictured with a winged, serpent-entwined chariot,  gifted so he could spread agricultural knowledge across the globe.
• The Ninnion Tablet: The only known visual representation of the rituals. It depicts initiates with lit torches and wreaths walking toward the goddesses, suggesting the ceremony’s climax took place in the dead of night.

Dr Tulsi Parikh and Natalie Haynes standing by The Great Eleusinian Relief

Image Credit: History Hit

Ritual purification and hallucinogens?

Natalie follows the 13-mile ‘Sacred Way’ from the Acropolis to Eleusis for the 9 day celebration. Archaeologist Professor Rebecca Sweetman explains the visceral nature of the purification: initiates would carry animals (usually piglets) into the sea to wash them before a massive sacrifice.

After reaching the sanctuary at Eleusis (surrounded by symbols and performances to remind them of the myth), the climax occurred in the Telesterion, the “holiest of holies.” Inside this auditorium, the deepest secrets were revealed. Rebecca shares a fascinating theory: given the massive grain silos nearby, initiates may have been given kykeon – a grain-based drink that potentially contained ergot (mouldy grain). This would have provided a potent hallucinogenic effect, ensuring the “mind-blowing” spiritual experience that kept pilgrims returning for centuries.

Sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis

Image Credit: History Hit

A legacy of maternal fury

The power of this myth lies in its rare focus on female emotion in what was a patriarchal Greece. Natalie examines how this “maternal fury” has inspired two and a half millennia of art, from 4th-century BC frescos to the modern musical Hadestown.

In the Broadway hit, Persephone is reimagined as a darker queen, a modern woman yearning for the surface, while Hades remains the manipulative schemer of the ancient sources.

The unbreakable bond

Finally, Natalie views the ‘Demeter of Knidos’, a breathtaking statue capturing the goddess’s patient, serene expression – a reminder that Demeter is a goddess who will wait as long as it takes to get what she wants.

Natalie concludes by reflecting how “The ultimate victory of the myth is that maternal devotion proved to be the single unbreakable force in the Greek cosmos”. The bond between mother and daughter was a source of both destructive fury and creative, restorative love – a power that forced even the King of the Gods to compromise.

Watch the series conclusion of Divine Fury: Demeter and Persephone – The Mystery on History Hit to see Natalie Haynes delves into the dark compromise that resolved the myth of Demeter and Persephone.

Sign up to watch

By 930 AD, the initial “Age of Settlement” had ended, and the true test began: the “Age of Survival“, a period defined by the need for order, domestic ingenuity, and the power of the spoken word.

Sign up to watch

Law on the edge of the world

As Iceland’s population swelled, the need for order became paramount. Dan’s journey begins at Þingvellir, the breathtaking Mid-Atlantic rift where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates pull apart at a rate of 2.5cm every year. 

It was atop this literal scar in the earth that the Vikings established the Althing, the world’s oldest surviving national parliament. In 930AD, in a land of extremes without a king, these pioneers chose to “thrash out” a legal code peacefully, proving that survival was as much about communal structure as it was about physical grit.  While much of Europe was governed by the whim of monarchs, the Icelanders were practicing a raw, tectonic form of democracy.

Production shot at at Þingvellir, the site of the Viking Althing.

Image Credit: History Hit

The Sagas: storytelling as a survival strategy

Yet, law alone couldn’t get a family through a brutal Arctic winter. Survival required a social fabric to match the stockpiled grain: stories. From supernatural tales of witches and ghosts to the legendary Icelandic Sagas, these narratives – later collated by figures like the 13th-century scholar Snorri Sturluson – became the island’s cultural glue. 

These epic tales cover everything from bloody revenge to the crushing weight of loneliness, providing hope, entertainment, and a moral and historical anchor for a people on the fringe of the known world. Today, these sagas remain the blueprint for modern fantasy, inspiring everything from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Original book making up part of the Icelandic Sagas

Image Credit: History Hit

Viking “vanity”?

Whilst we often imagine the Vikings as “stinky, uncontrolled louts,” the archaeological record tells a different story. In reality, the Norse were far more meticulous about their appearance than the Christian chroniclers they despoiled gave them credit for.

Dan explores one of the most commonly found Viking-age artefacts: the bone comb. Far from being dishevelled, Viking men were famously well-groomed. The 12th-century English chronicler John of Wallingford noted that the Vikings caused “much trouble to the natives” of England because they combed their hair daily, bathed every Saturday, and changed their garments often. 

Dan Snow with a replica of a Viking bone comb (replica made from plastic)

Image Credit: History Hit

“The reputation for being filthy likely comes from their enemies – Christian priests,” Dan explains, whose monasteries the Vikings despoiled. “They painted the Vikings as dishevelled on the outside to reflect an ‘evil, pagan soul’ within.” 

In Iceland, this cleanliness was bolstered by the island’s geology; the Vikings harnessed natural hot springs for bathing and cleaning clothes – a tradition Dan experiences firsthand with a dip in a remote volcanic spring.

Production shot of Dan Snow at an Icelandic thermal stream

Image Credit: History Hit

The reality of violence

While the Sagas are filled with blood feuds, Dan investigates whether the Icelandic Vikings were actually more peaceful than their European neighbours. Speaking with Dr Joe Wallace Walser III at the Museum of Iceland, Dan handles a genuine Viking skull and notes a surprising lack of swords.

“We see more axe heads and spears,” Joe explains. “Axes were multi-functional tools for farmers and fishermen.” The evidence suggests that most settlers were looking for opportunity rather than a constant battle.

Large-scale warfare is rare in the early Icelandic record; instead, we see a life of hard work and interpersonal disputes settled at the Althing. The Sagas’ massive battles were likely “colourful” exaggerations or memories of a more violent life left behind in Scandinavia.

Dan Snow speaks to Dr Joe Wallace Walser III at the Museum of Iceland and sees a real Viking skull

Image Credit: History Hit

The invisible backbone: the role of women

Dan speaks to historian Dr Kate Lister to uncover the vital, often overlooked role of women. “Without the women, there is no Viking Age at all,” Kate notes. As men spent long periods away, women were the primary keepers of the homestead, with the Sagas even describing powerful matriarchs leading settlement charges from the Hebrides to Iceland. 

While their roles were primarily domestic – weaving, sewing, cooking and managing the homestead – they were the ultimate managers of the Viking economy and the educators of the next generation.

A genetic mystery

Research into early Icelandic DNA has revealed a surprising truth: up to half of the female (mitochondrial) DNA in the earliest settlements came from the British Isles. This suggests that as the Norse travelled toward Iceland, they “picked up” women from the UK. Whether these unions were consensual or the result of Viking slavery or their use of a system of concubinage remains one of history’s “unknowable questions,” says Kate, though evidence suggests a complex mix of both.

Dan has a go at combing wool as the Viking women would have done, with Viking expert expert Bjarnheidur Jóhannsdóttir

Image Credit: History Hit

The endless labour of survival

To understand the sheer scale of the work performed by women, Dan visits a replica longhouse 90km from Reykjavik. He speaks to expert Bjarnheidur Jóhannsdóttir, who explains how survival in the harsh environment meant no one was ever idle. A staggering amount of work was required, which also helped them to stay warm. Even during the dark winters, often while reciting the Sagas, hands were busy whittling or braiding in the low light.

Combing wool was a massive, time-consuming process. Bjarnheidur explains that a single 80-square-metre sail for a longship could take up to three years to weave, making it as expensive as the ship itself. The sail – the very symbol of Viking expansion – was a testament to the patient, persistent labour of the women left behind.

Dr Kate Lister and Dan Snow in Iceland with Laura and Annie from History Hit’s production team

As women combed wool and men braved the North Atlantic, they shared the stories that would eventually include the Saga of Erik the Red and the Vinland Sagas. At the Árni Magnússon Institute, Dan and curator Gisli Sigurðsson discuss this adventurous dynasty, including Leif Erikson, the first European to set foot in North America.

The recording of these stories was the beginning of our global fascination with Viking culture. From sophisticated grooming to the indomitable strength of the women who ran their world, the story of Icelandic survival is a testament to human resilience.

Watch Icelandic Vikings: Survival now, or catch-up with Episode 1, Icelandic Vikings: Arrival

Sign up to watch

A new year is a blank page in the history books, and we’re ready to fill it. We have a packed slate of original programming coming up in 2026. Here’s a sneak preview of what you can expect – we can’t wait to share it with you:

Meanwhile, why not snuggle up on the sofa, finish off that selection box, and binge-watch some of our carefully chosen documentaries to help ease you into the new year while learning something new:

Catch up on our full 2025 on History Hit collection now.

In History Hit’s new documentary, Divine Fury: Demeter and Persephone – How a Mother’s Love Made the Seasons, acclaimed classicist Natalie Haynes explores the enduring legacy of this ancient tale – one of the Greeks’ most powerful and enduring myths. It is a story of love, loss, rage, and transformation that brought the mortal world to the brink of ruin and, ultimately, gave the Greeks an explanation for the very rhythm of the seasons.

Sign up to watch

The Abduction

Episode 1: ‘Abduction’ sees the start of the story – and a kidnapping. Hades, the dark Lord of the Underworld, emerged from the earth to snatch the young goddess Persephone while she was gathering flowers. It was an act of divine sanctioned theft; Persephone’s own father, Zeus, had secretly given Hades permission to take her as his bride.

However, Hades made a catastrophic error: he forgot about Persephone’s mother, Demeter. As the goddess of agriculture and the Earth’s fertility, Demeter was one of the most powerful Olympian deities. When her daughter vanished, her grief quickly curdled into a terrifying fury.

Natalie Haynes explains that for the ancient Greeks, this wasn’t just a bedtime story; it mirrored the traumatic reality of marriage customs, where young girls (often only 14 years old) were abruptly removed from their families to live as strangers in a new home. She talks to classicist Dr Daisy Dunn to explore what marriage meant for women in ancient Greece, and how the story of Persephone helped girls prepare for this transition. 

Dr Daisy Dunn shows Natalie Haynes some ancient artefacts depicting Persephone on the eve of her marriage

Image Credit: History Hit

Tracing the “Homeric Hymn”

To unravel the layers of this myth, Natalie turns to a miraculous survival of ancient literature: the Homeric Hymn to Demeter – investigating how this myth mirrored the lives of people in Ancient Greece. Lost for centuries, a manuscript of the poem was famously rediscovered in a Russian farmhouse in 1777. Though written down in the 7th or 6th centuries BC, the hymn preserves an even older oral tradition.

Natalie’s journey takes her from the British Museum to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, where she examines the dual nature of these goddesses. Demeter is depicted as a figure of maternal tenderness but also of world-ending power. Meanwhile, Persephone evolves from Kore (the innocent girl) to the “Red Queen,” the formidable and dreaded co-ruler of the Underworld.

History Hit crew filming in Athens

The desolation of the earth

As Demeter searched for her daughter, she refused to eat, wash, or return to Mount Olympus. She wandered the earth in the guise of an old woman, eventually finding rest at the Kallichoron well in Eleusis.

Natalie visits the ruins of the sanctuary at Eleusis, where myth and reality coincide. It was here that Demeter was welcomed into the home of King Celeus. However, because she was in mourning, she rejected the finest hospitality, only finding a brief moment of respite when a servant named Iambe coaxed a laugh from her with audacious jokes.

But Demeter’s sorrow could not be contained by mortal kindness. In her rage, she made the “all-nourishing land” barren. For a civilisation where 4 out of 5 people were farmers, this was a story that played into their deepest fears. Crops withered, sheep perished, and the human race faced extinction. Crucially for the gods, the smoke of animal sacrifices stopped rising to Olympus. It was this – the hunger of the gods – that finally forced Zeus to intervene.

History Hit filming on the River Acheron

The descent to the ‘River of Woe’

To understand Persephone’s imprisonment, Natalie travels to the rugged mountains of Epirus and the River Acheron, one of the mythical rivers of the Underworld, known to the ancients as the “River of Woe.” Legend says the ferryman Charon transported souls across these waters to Hades’ realm.

Natalie Haynes and some of the History Hit production crew on the River Acheron

Natalie explores the Necromanteion of Acheron, a site where the living once spoke to the dead. Accompanied by expert Dr Tobias Myers, she descends into underground chambers where ancient pilgrims may have used hallucinogens and blood sacrifices to communicate with the spirits below.

“For the Greeks,” Natalie notes, “myth was simply history that happened long ago.” The geography of the underworld wasn’t abstract; it was mapped onto real-world spots like these dark, vaulted ruins.

Production shot of Dr. Tobias Myers talking to Natalie Haynes about the Necromanteion of Acheron

Image Credit: History Hit

The great mystery remains

Persephone remained languishing in the dark, but the earth could not survive without Demeter’s favour. Is Persephone doomed to spend eternity in the shadows, or can a mother’s love force the gates of hell to open?

The dramatic conclusion of the myth – and the birth of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the most secret and sacred religious rites of the ancient world – awaits in the next chapter of our journey.

Episode 1: ‘Abduction’ is available now. Episode 2: ‘The Mystery’ will be released on 15 January 2026.

Sign up to watch

There are far too many wonderful people we’ve worked with, places we’ve been and fascinating facts we’ve uncovered to mention, but here are some of our 2025 highlights:

Global exploration

In a landmark expedition, Dan Snow and team headed to war-torn Libya, becoming the first history documentary crew in 15 years to film at the breathtaking ruins of Cyrene. Once a jewel of the Greek and Roman worlds, this site offered us an unprecedented look at ancient Mediterranean civilisation.

Sign up to watch

Closer to home, the team plunged into the depths of maritime history with the discovery of new remains from HMS Northumberland, a ship of the line lost in the Great Storm of 1703.

Meanwhile, our “land of fire and ice” takeover saw the production of three documentaries in Iceland, a YouTube video and a podcast episode, exploring everything from the first Viking arrivals to the staggering geological forces that shaped Norse mythology.

Sign up to watch

Our journey through time didn’t stop there. We traversed the Great Wall of China to unpack the engineering of empires and returned to the birth of the United States with our American Revolutions series. We also leaned into the history of the people, exploring the fascinating and often visceral world of Body Modification through the ages, and re-examining the tragic, controversial reign of Edward II.

Catch up on a year of original history documentaries with Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb and more here in our 2025 on History Hit collection.

An award-winning team

None of this would be possible without the passion of our audience and the dedication of our crew. We were incredibly honoured to be named Best Factual Channel at the Broadcast Digital Awards this year. This recognition is a wonderful testament to our hardworking team – from the researchers and archaeologists to presenters like Dan Snow and Suzannah Lipscomb – who strive to make history accessible, accurate, and thrilling.

And of course a huge thank you to you, our subscribers, for being a part of our winning journey.

History Hit won Best Factual Channel at the prestigious Broadcast Digital Awards 2025

Image Credit: History Hit

Looking ahead: what’s next in 2026?

As we look toward 2026, we have a packed slate of original programming, including the highly anticipated Divine Fury: Demeter and Persephone and more deep-dives into the “hidden” histories of the world’s most famous cities. Here’s to a fantastic 2026 – and here’s a sneak preview of what you can expect, we can’t wait to share it with you:

Ready to dive back in? Catch up on our full 2025 on History Hit collection now.

Sign up to watch

In an age of rapid industrialisation, these thinkers turned inward – engaging with the era’s most pressing questions around female independence, civil liberties, and harmony with nature. Dan discovers the special places where their famous words were penned, which collectively helped shape the American identity – themes of the past that still inspire today.

Sign up to watch

Inside Orchard House: the heart of ‘Little Women’

Dan’s journey begins at Orchard House, the weathered brown home where Louisa May Alcott lived with her parents and sisters in 1858. Here, he sits at the simple semi-circular desk where Louisa May wrote her compelling, quintessential American coming-of-age story: ‘Little Women’.

While the March sisters of fiction are beloved worldwide, the reality of the Alcott family was even more compelling. Guided by Executive Director Jan Turnquist, Dan gets a personal insight into Orchard House where he explores rooms preserved in time and filled with original intimate artefacts that reveal insights into the family’s life. Some of these include a whimsical hidden inkwell within an owl’s head (reflecting Louisa’s personal tastes), and the poignant keyboard belonging to Lizzie Alcott (the sister immortalised as the gentle, tragic Beth). Even the walls tell a story, adorned with the original sketches and paintings of the youngest sister, May.

Owl inkwell given to Louisa May Alcott

Image Credit: History Hit

Orchard House served as the model for the March family home in ‘Little Women’, a novel that famously champions a household fuelled by  love, creativity and tireless endeavour. At the centre of this world, Louisa placed a character mirroring herself: Jo March, the quintessential image of a strong-willed, independent, and creative young woman.

In the film, Jan explains to Dan how the real Alcotts were radical egalitarians. In an era defined by rigid social hierarchies, they held a steadfast belief in the absolute equality of all people, regardless of gender or race. This revolutionary spirit led Louisa’s father, Bronson, to found the Concord School of Philosophy, one of America’s first adult education programs, hosted right in the family living room.

Concord’s radical spirit

Concord’s reputation for independent thinking was forged long before the Alcotts arrived. In 1775, at the Old North Bridge, local militia faced British troops in the opening clash of the Revolutionary War – the “shot heard ’round the world.”

By the mid-19th century, that spirit had evolved into the Abolitionist Movement. The Alcotts didn’t just talk about freedom; they lived it. While residing at Hillside (now known as The Wayside), the family operated as a secret safehouse for the Underground Railroad, sheltering those escaping slavery on their perilous journey toward Canada.

Ellen Garrison: A civil rights pioneer

Concord was more than a literary hub; it was a sanctuary where previously enslaved people could find both community and a voice. Outside the historic Robbins House, Dan meets museum president Nikki Turpin to uncover the legacy of Ellen Garrison, an African American educator whose fight for equality predated the modern Civil Rights Movement by a century.

Growing up in the Concord School District, Ellen was a brilliant student, yet was not immune to the sting of prejudice. Aged 12, she was nearly forced out of a local town parade, only for a white friend to grab her hand so they could walk together in a defiant display of racial harmony, realised long before Martin Luther King Jr’s “dream” was ever spoken.

In 1866, Ellen took her activism to the national stage. Testing the new Civil Rights Act, she took a seat in a “whites-only” waiting area at a Baltimore train station. Decades before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, Ellen was forcibly removed for daring to claim her legal rights. Her story, preserved at the Robbins House, serves as a powerful reminder that Concord’s literary greatness was inextricably linked to its moral courage.

Dan meets with the Robbins House museum’s president Nikki Turpin outside Ellen Garrison’s house.

Living deliberately

No pilgrimage to Concord is complete without a visit to the tranquil shores of Walden Pond. In 1845, a 27-year-old Harvard graduate named Henry David Thoreau embarked on a radical experiment in self-reliance, moving into the woods to “live deliberately” and strip life down to its barest essentials.

Dan visits a precise replica of Thoreau’s 10-by-15-foot cabin. Contrary to the myth of the lonely hermit, Thoreau famously enjoyed “solitude but not isolation.” With the railroad only 300 yards away and a steady stream of visitors (including the Alcott family), Thoreau’s retreat was less about escaping society and more about finding a new way to inhabit it. Over the course of 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days, he observed the natural world with a unique blend of scientific precision and spiritual awe.

Walden Pond, Concord

Image Credit: History Hit

His masterpiece, ‘Walden, Or Life In The Woods’, wasn’t just a book about trees; it was a manifesto for the individual soul. Dan speaks with local expert Richard Smith to learn how Thoreau’s nature excursions with a young Louisa May Alcott provided her with the sense of escape and independence she so deeply craved. To truly step into Thoreau’s world, Dan even takes a bracing, chilly dip in Walden pond, experiencing firsthand the ‘refreshing’ morning ritual that Thoreau used to do.

A legacy for today

The authors of Concord were concerned with the questions that still haunt us: What does it mean to be genuinely free? How do we connect with a world that is moving too fast? Whether it is the domestic warmth of Little Women or the transcendental silence of Walden, these “small town” stories contain the biggest ideas in history.

Step back in time this season. Watch Big Stories from a Small Town: The Real Lives Behind Little Women and Walden on History Hit.

Sign up to watch

In History Hit’s new two-part documentary, Icelandic Vikings, Dan Snow journeys across this mythical terrain to uncover the secrets of the first settlers. From visiting a replica turf home to the ingenious use of geothermal springs to bake ‘volcano bread’, in episode 1, Icelandic Vikings: Arrival, Dan uncovers how a band of defiant explorers tamed one of the most remote islands on Earth.

Sign up to watch

When did the Vikings truly arrive?

The term ‘Viking’ stems from the Old Norse víkingr (Vigh-king) – meaning pirate, raider. They came from Scandinavia and quickly spread across the world. During the 9th and 10th centuries, an estimated 60,000 vikings made Iceland their home. 

For decades, historians relied on traditional sagas to date the settlement of Iceland to the late 9th century. However, at the Settlement Exhibition museum in Reykjavík, Dan Snow talks to guide Vala Gardarsdóttir and sees evidence that is rewriting history. By analysing tephra (layers of volcanic ash from known eruptions that act as a ‘geological clock’) archaeologists have identified Norse structures dating back as far as 800 or 830 AD.

This discovery, including a boundary wall unearthed during the construction of an underground parking lot in 2001, suggests that permanent Norse settlements were established nearly 70 years earlier than previously thought, revealing that the roots of Icelandic culture run far deeper than the sagas suggest.

Dan Snow visits the Settlement Exhibition museum in Reykjavík where he talks to guide Vala Gardarsdóttir

Image Credit: History Hit

Life inside a turf house

In the documentary, Dan travels to the Dalasýsla region to explore a meticulously reconstructed Viking home, where he meets Bjarnheidur Jóhannsdóttir to uncover the realities of Norse domestic life in this landscape.

These weren’t drafty wooden huts; they were sophisticated turf houses. With walls over a metre thick, constructed from tightly packed roots and turf, these homes were marvels of thermal insulation. Inside, around 15 people lived together in a single longhouse, centred around a communal hearth that served as a primary sources of heat, light, and social connection.

Bjarnheidur explains how while the ‘Master of the House’ was often absent for months on raiding or trading expeditions, the women ruled the domestic sphere. The ‘lady of the house’ held the keys to the locked pantry – the most vital room in the home, where winter provisions were guarded to ensure the family’s survival in winter.

Before the Vikings, 40% of Iceland was covered in birch forests. Within a century, the voracious need for fuel and grazing land decimated these woodlands, forcing the settlers to adapt by using turf as their primary building material.

Dan Snow and Bjarnheidur Jóhannsdóttir in a replica Viking turf house, in the Dalasýsla region of Iceland.

Image Credit: History Hit

Mastering the North Atlantic

The Vikings were, first and foremost, the greatest mariners of their age. Viking ships were clinker-built, featuring overlapping hull planks that made them light, flexible, yet incredibly strong. Vikings relied on ingenious natural markers for navigation, including solar navigation and by observing the flight of birds, specifically ravens; if the bird flew high and returned to the ship, land was far away. If it disappeared toward the horizon, the crew knew they were nearing an island and followed its lead.

To understand how they navigated the treacherous waters of the North Atlantic, Dan takes to the sea off the coast of Reykjavík for some fishing.

Dan has some success at fishing in the North Atlantic!

Image Credit: History Hit

The Book of Settlements

For Icelanders, history is far more than a chronology of dates – it is a living record of ancestral rights. Dan visits the Árni Magnússon Institute to see a copy of one of the most sacred documents in Icelandic culture: the Landnámabók, or ‘Book of Settlements’.

This extraordinary document serves as a bridge between the medieval and modern worlds. It places Iceland within the wider context of early European history, referencing the Venerable Bede (the ‘father of English history’) and noting with seafaring precision that Iceland lay exactly six days’ sailing north of Britain.

More than just a chronicle, this was a massive folklore project designed to codify the nation’s origin story. It meticulously records the names of the original pioneers and the precise boundaries of their claims. As expert Gísli Sigurðsson explains, the text is so geographically accurate that it still defines the borders of many modern-day farms. It is truly a ‘map of a nation’s soul’, securing the land through the epic stories of those who first stepped onto its black sand beaches.

Dan speaks to Gísli Sigurðsson at the Árni Magnússon Institute to see the Landnámabók – the ‘Book of Settlements’ – with production crew.

Image Credit: History Hit

A taste of the settlement age

Life in the North Atlantic wasn’t just about survival; it was also about flavour. In the wild Westfjords, Dan forages for crowberries and helps bake traditional geothermal rye bread. By burying the dough in a pipe in the bubbling hot springs of a volcanic area, the Vikings learnt to harness the island’s subterranean energy to create a delicious, dense cake-like loaf of bread – a culinary tradition that continues in Iceland to this day.

Dan also encounters the Icelandic horse. Brought over on longships by the original 9th century settlers, this unique breed has remained genetically isolate for over a thousand years. Its legendary strength and steady ‘fifth gait’ provided the only reliable way for the first Vikings to traverse the treacherous, rugged, roadless interior.

Dan rides an Icelandic horse

Image Credit: History Hit

Paradise or Valhalla?

With its abundance of walrus ivory, rivers teeming with salmon, and the miraculous gift of geothermal heat, Iceland must have seemed like a paradise to the first settlers. Yet did this ‘Land of Fire and Ice’ truly become an earthly Valhalla, or did the human hunger for power and resources lead to its eventual ruin?

While the first episode of Icelandic Vikings: Arrival celebrates the triumph of human spirit and exploration, the story doesn’t end there. Join Dan Snow for Episode Two (releasing 8 January 2026), as he ventures into the ‘Age of Survival’. From the breathtaking plains of Þingvellir – home to the world’s oldest parliament – to the jagged lava fields of the interior, Dan uncovers the bloody, complex truths hidden within the legendary Icelandic Sagas.

Watch Icelandic Vikings: Arrival now on History Hit (with thanks to Visit Iceland).

Sign up to watch

In History Hit’s new documentary, The Dead of Winter: Medieval Ghost Stories, Eleanor draws on medieval chronicles, religious monuments, and Icelandic sagas to uncover why the dead were believed to walk again. By investigating the supernatural potency of the winter solstice, she reveals how these haunting tales reflect deep-seated anxieties over sin, salvation, and the bonds of medieval community that still echo across the centuries.

Sign up to watch

Purgatory and the returning dead

As the days shorten and the nights stretch toward the winter solstice, the shadowed weeks of Advent transform into a journey into the heart of darkness. In the medieval world, it was believed that the veil between the living and the dead reached its thinnest, allowing spirits to walk openly among the living. As families huddled around the hearth to stave off the biting cold and the darkness, ghost stories shared in the flickering firelight reached the height of their haunting potential.

Countless ghost stories survive from this era because, for the medieval mind, death was a transition rather than an end.  “For medieval people, there wasn’t much of a line between the living and the dead,” explains Eleanor. Spirits returned for many reasons, with purpose: to frighten, to warn, or to plead for mercy.

The emergence of Purgatory – a realm of post-mortem purification – radically transformed the ghost story. Spirits were increasingly seen as souls returning to beg for help, urging the living to shorten their suffering through prayer and religious intercession. These were more than just tales of terror; they were profound expressions of faith and hope in a world where death was a constant companion.

Dr Eleanor Janega on location in Norfolk

Image Credit: History Hit

The Dark Hunt of Peterborough

One of the most chilling accounts comes from Peterborough Abbey, 900 years ago – at the time one of England’s most important strongholds of Christianity. In 1127, the community was paralysed by the arrival of “The Wild Hunt.” Recorded in two separate contemporary chronicles, eyewitnesses described a terrifying procession of “black, huge, and loathsome” hunters riding black horses and billy goats, accompanied by wide-eyed hounds. The horns of the hunt reportedly rang through the woods for 50 nights – the entire end of winter.

However, Eleanor uncovers a fascinating political layer to this haunting. The apparition began the night after the arrival of a new abbot, Henry of Poitou. A relative of King Henry I, Poitou was viewed by the local monks as a “drone in the hive” – a foreign interference interested only in wealth and power, and a means through which the king could assert his authority over the monasteries – bypassing the traditional custom of the monks electing their leader.

“The Peterborough hunt is an incredibly convenient haunting,” Eleanor points out. The monks used the story to suggest that God Himself was displeased with the appointment. The Wild Hunt was a tangible sign of divine wrath, showing how ghost stories allowed the Church to resist royal control and assert its own authority on how things should be done.

Dr Eleanor Janega and Bill Locke (Head of Programming and Executive Producer) on location

Revenants: the physical dead

Beyond the spectral warnings from Purgatory lay a much more visceral fear: the revenant. Unlike the ghosts of modern cinema, medieval revenants were often believed to be physical corpses that refused to stay in the ground.

Eleanor explores these “living dead” in the documentary through several chilling examples:

• The Chained Monk: A spirit so restless and troubled that his corpse had to be buried in iron chains to prevent it from rising.
• The Icelandic Sagas: Tales of drowned men returning to their villages, dripping with seawater, to sit by the hearths of the living.
• The Warning from Purgatory: A young choir girl sent back to the world of the living with a chilling message regarding the state of her soul.

Protecting against these physical threats required constant vigilance, turning rituals and prayers into essential tools for survival. The Church became the ultimate shield, using these stories to teach moral behaviour and enforce social order.

Some of the History Hit production team filming in Norfolk

Image Credit: History Hit

A legacy that lingers

Eleanor concludes that medieval ghost stories were never intended just to frighten. They were a way to explain the world, to enforce duty and honour, and to build community around the shared hearth during the long, cold winter.

“We still do it today,” Eleanor says. “We use ghost stories to bring us together and explain the world around us.” Whether it is a warning from Purgatory or a black hound in the night, these stories still echo across the centuries, reminding us that even in our modern world, we still have a fascination with what lingers in the dark.

Step into the shadows this solstice and join Dr Eleanor Janega for The Dead of Winter: Medieval Ghost Stories, available now on History Hit.

Sign up to watch