In this special, Professor Alice Roberts reveals the forgotten story of the Roman Army's secret weapon in Britain - their cavalry. These fearsome horsemen were the key to defending Britain's most famous Roman monument fortification, Hadrian's Wall.\n\nAlice sets off across Hadrian's Wall to investigate any evidence the Roman cavalry left behind, while a team of archaeologists and historical re-enactors attempt to re-stage a Roman cavalry tournament - a spectacle that no one has seen for over 1,600 years. \n\nWe follow the team's training as they prepare for the performance, and Alice joins them at a public display in Carlisle where 30 riders perform in front of a crowd of spectators. \n\nTo put the cavalry's story in context, the film also explores the latest archaeological digs happening across the UK, each of which is searching for new evidence of the Roman cavalry.\n\nOn her journey across Hadrian's Wall, Alice visits some of the most iconic sites associated with the Roman cavalry, including Chester's Roman fort, Vindolanda fort and museum and Hexham Abbey. Along the way she builds a picture of the horsemen's lives here on the northern frontier of the Roman Empire.
Source: BBC 4
Series 7: 4. Iron Age Revealed
Alice Roberts follows the excavation of Iron Age Britain’s most spectacular grave. A team of archaeologists in East Yorkshire have uncovered the remains of only the third ...
15-07-2024
BBC 4
Series 8: 4. Wwii Special
The team are on an archaeological hunt of our more recent past as they follow the search for artefacts from World War II. They join marine archaeologists in the Solent as they r ...
08-07-2024
BBC 4
Series 8: 3. South
In this episode covering the south of Britain, we find out how a lobster led archaeologists to the discovery of an 8,000-year-old neolithic underwater settlement, go to a secret ...
01-07-2024
BBC 4
Series 8: 2. North
The remains of a Tudor house in Leicestershire were thought to be the childhood home of England’s forgotten queen, Lady Jane Grey. But when archaeologists excavate, they f ...
24-06-2024
BBC 4
Series 8: 1. West
Professor Alice Roberts returns with the eighth series of BBC Four’s Digging for Britain. In the first episode, we explore this year’s finds in the west of Britain. ...
17-06-2024
BBC 4
The Greatest Discoveries: Episode 3
Professor Alice Roberts re-examines the key archaeological sites of Roman Britain, from the foundation of Londinium in the south to fierce siege battles in the north.
14-06-2024
BBC 4
The Greatest Discoveries: Episode 2
Professor Alice Roberts re-examines the key archaeological sites of Iron Age Britain, from an incredible chariot burial in Yorkshire to a vast coin hoard on Jersey.
07-06-2024
BBC 4
Series 11: 6. Forgotten Fortresses And Lost Villages
Digs in the west of Britain reveal a forgotten fortress teetering on the edge of a cliff, evidence of the oldest house in Cardiff and a discovery at a Roman mosaic that shocks t ...
16-05-2024
BBC 4
Series 11: 5. 3000-year-old Shoes And Giant Axeheads
Archaeology in the south of England unearths Britain’s oldest shoe, the lost shipyard of one of England’s greatest warrior kings and Britain’s top-secret WWII ...
15-05-2024
BBC 4
Series 11: 4. A Roman Mystery And Waterloo’s Disappearing Dead
Roberts reveals the most fascinating archaeological finds this year in the East of England: a Roman dodecahedron, the secrets of Boudicca’s hill fort and Waterloo’s ...
14-05-2024
BBC 4
Series 11: 3. A Norman Panic Room And A Mesolithic Fish Trap
In the west of Britain, there's a rare medieval cemetery, a disappearing Mesolithic landscape, a mysterious Iron Age burial and the ruins of a Gothic masterpiece.
13-05-2024
BBC 4
Series 7: 1. North
Professor Alice Roberts celebrates the biggest and best archaeological discoveries of 2018 from the north of the UK. Each digging team has been filming its own excavations, givi ...
05-05-2021
BBC 4
Series 11: 2. Anglo-saxon Gold And Rebellious Nuns
In central England, an RAF airbase with a Roman past, a forgotten medieval nunnery, a gold pendant from a 7th-century grave and a pub with a very long history of hospitality.
09-05-2024
BBC 4
Series 7: 3. East
Professor Alice Roberts explores this year’s most exciting archaeological finds from the east of Britain. Every new discovery was filmed by the archaeologists themselves, ...
09-02-2022
BBC 4
Series 10: 2. Arthur's Stone And A Georgian Mine
In the west of the UK, a spectacular monument older than Stonehenge, a 200-year-old mine trapped in time and a lost medieval friary.
16-05-2023
BBC 4
Series 8: 2. North
The remains of a Tudor house in Leicestershire were thought to be the childhood home of England’s forgotten queen, Lady Jane Grey. But when archaeologists excavate, they f ...
24-06-2024
BBC 4
Series 8: 4. Wwii Special
The team are on an archaeological hunt of our more recent past as they follow the search for artefacts from World War II. They join marine archaeologists in the Solent as they r ...
08-07-2024
BBC 4
Series 9: Episode 5
The west of Britain is explored for the best of its archaeological digs and post excavation discoveries.\n\nIn north Somerset, archaeologists are blown away by the discovery of ...
28-03-2024
BBC 4
Series 10: 1. Roman Towns And Tudor Shipwrecks
Digs in southern England reveal a previously unknown Roman town, a Tudor ship buried beneath a quarry and evidence of Henry VIII’s financial\nforgery under the Tower of Lo ...
15-05-2023
BBC 4