The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice

Original version

BBC Four

Knowledge, arts, music and culture from the UK and the world.

BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

BBC Four HD

The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver

BBC Two Scotland

BBC Two Northern Ireland

Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

BBC Two Wales

BBC Two England

England

Simulcast of network BBC Two in high definition.

BBC Two HD

Alice Roberts

Neil Oliver

Cameron Balbirnie

Jeremy Hall

The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver: Episode 1

Documentaries

the-celts_ep1_051015_e_pp.jpg

Episode 1

BBC Two - The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver, Episode 1

Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver explore the origins of the Celts in central Europe.

Series exploring the Celts. The first part looks at the origins of the ancient civilisation in the Alps of central Europe and the moment of first contact with the Romans.

Anthropologist Professor Alice Roberts and archaeologist Neil Oliver go in search of the Celts - one of the world's most mysterious ancient people. In Britain and Ireland we are never far from our Celtic past, but in this series Neil and Alice travel much further afield, discovering the origins and beliefs of these Iron Age people in artefacts and human remains right across Europe, from Turkey to Portugal. What emerges is not a wild people on the western fringes of Europe, but a highly sophisticated tribal culture that influenced vast areas of the ancient world - and even Rome. 

Rich with vivid drama reconstruction, we recreate this pivotal time and meet some of our most famous ancient leaders - from Queen Boudicca to Julius Caesar - and relive the battles they fought for the heart and soul of Europe. Alice and Neil discover that these key battles between the Celts and the Romans over the best part of 500 years constituted a fight for two very different forms of civilisation - a fight that came to define the world we live in today.

In the first episode, we see the origins of the Celts in the Alps of central Europe and relive the moment of first contact with the Romans in a pitched battle just north of Rome - a battle that the Celts won and that left the imperial city devastated.

BBC Two

Knowledge, drama, comedy and the arts for a broad adult audience.

BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

Factual: History

Anthropologist Alice Roberts and archaeologist Neil Oliver go in search of the Celts.

Documentary series in which anthropologist Alice Roberts and archaeologist Neil Oliver go in search of the Celts - one of the world's most mysterious ancient civilisations.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver

Episode 1

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Series

BBC Four HD

About BBC Four