Vikings (TV documentary series)

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Vikings
Series titles over a scandinavian landscape
Genre documentary
Written by Neil Oliver
Directed by Jon Eastman (1)
Rosie Schellenburg (2)
Simon Winchcombe (3)
Presented by Neil Oliver
Composer(s) Ty Unwin
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 1
No. of episodes 3 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Eamon Hardy
Producer(s) Cameron Balbirnie (series)
Jon Eastman (1)
Rosie Schellenburg (2)
Simon Winchcombe (3)
Production company(s) BBC Productions
Release
Original network BBC 2
Original release 11 September (2012-09-11) –
25 September 2012 (2012-09-25)

Vikings is a 2012 BBC television documentary series written and presented by Neil Oliver charting the rise of the Vikings from prehistoric times to the empire of Canute.[1]

Episodes

Episode Title Original air date UK viewers
(millions)
1 "Episode One" 11 September 2012 2.23[2]
Oliver goes to Scandinavia to discover the mysterious world of the Vikings' prehistoric ancestors. The remains of weapon-filled war boats, long-haired Bronze Age farmers, and a Swedish site of a royal palace and gruesome pagan rituals from which the Viking Age was to suddenly erupt.
2 "Episode Two" 18 September 2012 2.09[2]
Oliver heads out from the Scandinavian homelands east with Viking explorers to Russia and Turkey to trace the beginnings of a vast trading empire using rivers of eastern Europe as far as Istanbul and Bagdad that brought back Chinese silks and Buddhist statues. Within the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Viking runes were scratched into the marble. In the west raids on Britain and Ireland commenced exploiting the wealth of Anglo Saxon England.
3 "Episode Three" 25 September 2012 1.82[2]
Oliver heads west tracing the Norse voyages of discovery to Iceland and Greenland. The first Danish kings and the Christian conversions, earlier than first thought, that opened the door to European high society. The blackmailing of English kings by way of the Danegeld which culminated in a Viking conquest of England and the rise of Danish King Canute, who eventually lost control of the Viking empire, ruled England for twenty years and was interred in Winchester cathedral.

Media

A 304-page book authored by Oliver and titled Vikings: A History was published by W&N on 4 October 2012.[3] In addition, a 177-minute PAL region 2 DVD version of the series was released by the BBC on 12 November 2012 [4]

References

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External links