The BEST episodes written by Michael Wood
#1 - Freedom (1700 CE - 2009 CE)
The Story of India - Season 1 - Episode 6
This episode examines the British Raj and India's struggle for freedom. Michael Wood reveals how in South India a global corporation came to control much of the subcontinent, and explores the magical culture of Lucknow, discovering the enigmatic Briton who helped found the freedom movement. He traces the Amritsar massacre, the rise of Gandhi and Nehru, and the events that led to the Partition of India in 1947.
Watch Now:Amazon
#2 - Ages of Gold (300 CE - 1000 CE)
The Story of India - Season 1 - Episode 4
Michael Wood seeks out the achievements of the country's golden age, discovering how India discovered zero, calculated the circumference of the Earth and wrote the world’s first sex guide, the Kama Sutra. In the south, he visits the giant temple of Tanjore and sees traditional bronze casters, working as their ancestors did 1,000 years ago.
Watch Now:Amazon#3 - Ancestors
The Story of China - Season 1 - Episode 1
Michael Wood joins the Qin family reunion as they gather to worship their ancestors.
Watch Now:Amazon#4 - The Last Empire
The Story of China - Season 1 - Episode 5
The story of China's last empire, the Qing, which lasted from 1644 to 1912.
Watch Now:Amazon
#5 - The Meeting of Two Oceans (1000 CE - 1700 CE)
The Story of India - Season 1 - Episode 5
This episode charts the coming of Islam to the subcontinent and one of the greatest ages of world civilisation: the Mughals. Michael Wood visits Sufi shrines in Old Delhi, desert fortresses in Rajasthan and the cities of Lahore and Agra, where he offers a new theory on the design of the Taj Mahal. He also looks at the life of Akbar, a Muslim emperor who decreed that no one religion could hold the ultimate truth, but whose dream of unity ended in civil war.
Watch Now:Amazon#6 - The Ming
The Story of China - Season 1 - Episode 4
The tale of the Ming dynasty begins with the amazing story of Hongwu, a peasant rebel.
Watch Now:Amazon
#7 - The Power of Ideas (500 BCE - 200 BCE)
The Story of India - Season 1 - Episode 2
Michael Wood’s epic series moves on to the revolutionary years after 500BC - the Age of the Buddha. Travelling by rail to the ancient cities of the Ganges plain, by army convoy through Northern Iraq, and on down the Khyber Pass, he shows how Alexander the Great’s invasion of India inspired her first empire.
Watch Now:Amazon#8 - The Age of Revolution
The Story of China - Season 1 - Episode 6
Michael Wood investigates three cataclysmic revolutions which shaped modern-day China.
Watch Now:Amazon#9 - The Golden Age
The Story of China - Season 1 - Episode 3
Michael Wood looks at the Song dynasty era, including its art, inventions and cuisine.
Watch Now:Amazon
#10 - Beginnings (50,000 BCE - 1000 BCE)
The Story of India - Season 1 - Episode 1
Michael Wood journeys through the subcontinent, tracing the incredible richness and diversity of its peoples, cultures and landscapes. Through ancient manuscripts and oral tales Michael charts the first human migrations out of Africa. He travels from the tropical backwaters of South India through lost ancient cities in Pakistan to the vibrant landscapes of the Ganges plain. In Turkmenistan dramatic archaeological discoveries cast new light on India's past.
Watch Now:Amazon#11 - Silk Roads and China Ships
The Story of China - Season 1 - Episode 2
Michael Wood looks at China's first great international age under the Tang Dynasty.
Watch Now:Amazon
#12 - Spice Routes & Silk Roads (200 BCE - 300 CE)
The Story of India - Season 1 - Episode 3
In this episode Michael Wood traces India in the days of the Roman Empire. In Kerala the spice trade opened India to the world, whilst gold and silk bazaars in the ancient city of Madurai were a delight for visiting Greek traders. From the deserts of Turkmenistan Michael travels down the Khyber Pass to Pakistan to discover a forgotten Indian Empire that opened up the Silk Road and at Peshawar built a lost Wonder of the World.
Watch Now:Amazon
#13 - Michael Wood on Beowulf
BBC Documentaries - Season 2009 - Episode 68
Historian Michael Wood returns to his first great love, the Anglo-Saxon world, to reveal the origins of our literary heritage. Focusing on Beowulf and drawing on other Anglo-Saxon classics, he traces the birth of English poetry back to the Dark Ages.