Historical film TV and radio

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Zazie Beetz and Jonathan Majors in the Netflix film The Harder They Fall (2021), directed by Jeymes Samuel. (Photo by Netflix–Overbrook Entertainment–Alamy)

Black cowboys on screen . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

6th August 1965: A scene from 'Mission to the Unknown', an episode of the popular British television sci-fi series 'Doctor Who', shows a meeting in the Dalek city on Kembel, 6th August 1965. Representatives of the seven galaxies meet and approve the Daleks' plan to conquer Earth.(Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Doctor Who through the ages

Jodie Comer plays Marguerite de Carrouges in the upcoming film 'The Last Duel',

“A spotlight on historic societal misogyny and disbelief of women”: what The Last Duel gets right and wrong

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Pod Hannah Skoda WL

Trial by combat: the real history behind The Last Duel . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A 14th-century illustration shows two bishops watching men fight to the death in a trial by combat.

Medieval trial by combat: the real history behind The Last Duel

Tony Robinson as Private Baldrick and Rowan Atkinson as Captain Blackadder

Q&A Was there a real Blackadder?

Jodie Comer plays Marguerite de Carrouges in the upcoming film 'The Last Duel',

The medieval women who spoke out against sexual violence

Dev Patel stars as Sir Gawain in The Green Knight an adaptation of the Arthurian romance Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

“An intoxicating triumph true to the grandeur of the poem”: a historian’s review of The Green Knight

The Green Knight shows his severed – and still talking – head to King Arthur in this illustration of the beginning of the 14th century legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: what’s the story?

The Spartan king Leonidas at the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The conflict has become the archetype for the courageous last stand, pitting around 200,000 Persians against 7,000 Spartans.

Your guide to the battle of Thermopylae

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Historian Bettany Hughes in front of the Rock of Gibraltar

Bettany Hughes “We were trying to find stories that tell us about resilience – history as a kind of therapy” . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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A panel of experts tackle the big questions surrounding period drama in the 21st century and ask: what’s next? (Images by Getty, Channel 5 and Alamy)

What’s next for period drama? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

William Wallace on trial in 1305

William Wallace: who was the Scottish rebel who defied Edward I?

Portraits of Anne, Thomas and Mary Boleyn.

The Scandalous Boleyns Why Do They Continue To Fascinate Us?

A composite of characters from 21st century period drama

What’s next for period drama?