Bettany Hughes provides an insight into how British inhabitants evolved over 8,000 years, beginning with the story of man's battle with the environment in 6,000 BC, when global warming transformed Britain into an island covered by dense, impenetrable forests.

Sweeping changes transformed the lives of the masses beyond recognition during the Bronze and Iron Ages.

The gradual collapse of the Roman Empire led to the disintegration of Britannia. For the next 600 years people would watch their homelands become battlegrounds invaded and plundered by men from Scandinavia and northern Europe, hungry for power and land.

Bettany Hughes considers the fifth age of Britain, from 1066 to 1350, charting the period between two shattering historical events - the invasion of William the Conqueror and the Black Death.

The penultimate programme in the series follows the course of the greatest revolution in British history: a revolution of the mind.