Sword, Musket and Machine Gun: Britain's Armed History - Season 1
Season 1
Episodes
Cut and Thrust
In the first episode, Sam receives a lesson in swordsmanship from the earliest combat manual as he gets to grips with the swords, shields and lances that dominated the battlefield a thousand years ago. Sam finds out what the Bayeux Tapestry reveals about the brutal reality of combat, why the crossbow came to be seen as an instrument of the devil, and he tries his hand at a longbow, the decisive weapon of medieval warfare.
The Big Bang
From the Saxon shield-wall to the discovery of gunpowder and the invention of the machine gun, Dr. Sam Willis traces the history of the weapons that have shaped Britain. In the second episode, Sam charts the impact of gunpowder on the battlefield, from the first cannons to early handheld weapons, and finds out what it's like to fire an English Civil War musket.
Rapid Fire
Dr. Sam Willis concludes his history of the weapons that have shaped Britain by looking at the drive to develop ever more precise weapons on the battlefield, from artillery shells to rifles to the Maxim machine gun. He test fires a 'Brown Bess' musket, the infantry weapon of choice at Waterloo in 1815; he tells the story of Spencer Percival, the only British prime minister ever to be assassinated, shot at point blank range in the lobby of the House of Commons in 1812; and he finds out whether a bulletproof vest made of silk might have stopped a bullet fired at Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which led to the outbreak of World War I.
Recently Updated Shows
Resident Alien
Resident Alien is a dark, twisted and comedic fish-out-of-water story that follows a crash-landed alien named Harry who, after taking on the identity of a small-town Colorado doctor, slowly begins to wrestle with the moral dilemma of his secret mission on Earth — ultimately asking the question, "Are human beings worth saving?"
Foundation
When revolutionary Dr. Hari Seldon predicts the impending fall of the Empire, he and a band of loyal followers venture to the far reaches of the galaxy to establish The Foundation in an attempt to rebuild and preserve the future of civilization. Enraged by Hari's claims, the ruling Cleons – a long line of emperor clones – fear their grasp on the galaxy may be weakening as they're forced to reckon with the potential reality of losing their legacy forever.
The Chosen
The Chosen is the first-ever-multi-season TV show about the life of Jesus. Created outside of the Hollywood system, The Chosen allows us to see Him through the eyes of those who knew him. No matter where you are at in your journey with Jesus Christ, this TV show is for you.
The First 48
The First 48 follows detectives from around the country during these first critical hours as they race against time to find the suspect. Gritty and fast-paced, it takes viewers behind the scenes of real-life investigations with unprecedented access to crime scenes, autopsies, forensic processing, and interrogations.