Boys watching TV in the 1950s

Historical film TV and radio

From binge-worthy period dramas to award-winning documentaries, find out why historical movies, TV and radio programs are more popular than ever, with this series of articles, podcasts and video

The 1969 documentary was made amid a feeling that there was an increasing awareness of a need to ‘sell’ the monarchy to the people, writes historian Sarah Gristwood. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

‘Royal Family’: the fly-on-the-wall documentary the Palace doesn’t want you to see

Queen Elizabeth II invests her eldest son, Prince Charles

Charles, The Prince of Wales’s 1969 investiture at Caernarfon Castle, 50 years on

A young American woman gazes at a human skull, sent to her by a boyfriend during WW2

Opinion: Midway’s treatment of the Japanese enemy highlights the power and limits of empathy

The War of the Worlds. (Photo by BBC/© Mammoth Screen)

Days of future past: how the new BBC TV series The War of the Worlds reinvented the sci-fi classic

The King: Henry V on film. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Timothée Chalamet as Prince Hal

“It’s hard to square Prince Hal’s pacifism with what we know about Henry V”: a historian’s review of The King

1st May 1975: Three documents, for and against, published for the referendum on the Common Market

Britain decides: the first European referendum. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Princess Margaret and her husband, Lord Snowdon, in San Francisco during a visit to America, November 1965. (Photo by Harry Benson/Express/Getty Images)

“Cheap men and expensive bottles”: Princess Margaret’s love affairs

Margaret Thatcher surrounded by British soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Royal Hampshire Regiment, during a surprise visit to the Falkland Islands, January 1983. Britain has "ceased to be a nation in retreat," declared the prime minister in the wake of the victory over Argentine forces.

How the Falklands War fired up Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Billy Fullerton, gang chief of the Glasgow gang the Billy Boys

Who were the real Billy Boys, the Glasgow gang in Peaky Blinders?

Catherine the Great: fact and fiction. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of George V's wife, Queen Mary, who was born Princess Mary of Teck.

Was Queen Mary, wife of George V, a kleptomaniac?

The cast of Downton Abbey in front of Highclere Castle

Downstairs in Downton: a guide to the life of an Edwardian servant. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Highclere Castle

The secrets of Downton Abbey’s Highclere Castle. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A dinner scene from Downton Abbey, with large candlesticks on the table

Could you survive an Edwardian dinner party?

Courtiers dancing La Volta in a scene from 1953 film The Sword And The Rose

Strictly shocking: the dances that shook the world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A 16th-century portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Mary, Queen of Scots: the real history behind the film

A real Peaky Blinder mug-shot

In pictures: what did the real Peaky Blinders look like?

19th-century mugshots

The real Peaky Blinders

Making history funny: is any historical topic off-limits?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historian Greg Jenner

Making jokes about Romans. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark. The BBC television drama is putting Cornwall’s coastline at risk of "over-tourism” as visitors flock to the area to visit the show's scenic filming locations, tourism chiefs have warned. (Photo by BBC/Mammoth Screen/Mike Hogan)

Poldark, Peaky Blinders and 6 other historical TV shows that have tourists flocking to Britain

Historian, presenter and author Dan Jones. (David Levenson/Getty Images)

Dan Jones on the Templars and ‘Knightfall’. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Gentleman Jack, Suranne Jones as Anne Lister (Photo by BBC/Lookout Point/Jay Brooks)

Gentleman Jack. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Love before Prince Albert: Queen Victoria’s suitors

Empire Cinema and Casino, Leicester Square, London. It was originally a theatre and ballet venue, before reopening as a music hall in 1884. (Image by Alamy)

History explorer: The birth of British cinema. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The food served at the wedding of Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell may be inspired by accounts of ancient Roman excess, says Ayelet Haimson Lushkov. (© Home Box Office, Inc/Sky Atlantic)

Power plays and scheming queens: the ancient history behind Game of Thrones. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How historically accurate are film portrayals of Jesse James?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce in 'Outlaw King'. (Photo by Netfix / David Eustace)

Robert the Bruce: what do we know?

Prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

5 myths of the Second World War's Great Escape. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.