Journey Through Time
Episodes
79. McCarthyism: Paving The Way For Trump (Ep 6)
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How did the McCarthy-era blacklist impact Hollywood for many decades to come? What happened when McCarthy’s right-hand-man Roy Cohn met a cocky youn...
78. McCarthyism: The Fall of Joseph McCarthy (Ep 5)
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What happened when Joseph McCarthy turned his communist-catching energy on the army? What film, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando, is...
77. McCarthyism: The Crucible, High Noon, and Hollywood’s Revenge (Ep 4)
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How did the most celebrated writers and directors in America take aim at McCarthyism in works such as High Noon and The Crucible? Why did Roy Cohn, th...
76. McCarthyism: Spies, Lies, And Smears (Ep 3)
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Who is Joseph McCarthy, the young senator who gives his name to these trials? Had Communist agents really infiltrated the US Government? Who were the ...
75. McCarthyism: Hollywood on Trial (Ep 2)
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What happened when the House of Un-American Activities Committee started to prosecute some of the biggest names in Hollywood? Who were the infamous ‘...
74. McCarthyism: How The Red Scare Gripped America (Ep 1)
16 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What was the second Red Scare where government employees, creatives, and intellectuals were prosecuted for holding ‘un-American’ views? What are t...
73. Chernobyl: An Explosion That Brought Down A Superpower (Ep 6)
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Did Chernobyl cause the collapse of the Soviet Union? How did the disaster fuel the fight for independence? What happened when war came to the Exclusi...
72. Chernobyl: Soviet Secrets Are Still Coming Out (Ep 5)
09 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Who were the bio-robots, the 3,000 young reservists drafted in to fight the radiation? Why was an absurdly inadequate, yet enormous, structure built a...
71. Chernobyl: Three Men Who Saved Europe (Ep 4)
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What were the two "nightmare scenarios” that would have led to enormous damage in the weeks following the explosion? What happened when three heroic...
70. Chernobyl: The Battle Against Nuclear Fallout (Ep 3)
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Who were the doomed firefighters, first on the scene after the Chernobyl explosion? What forced the Soviets to come clean about the disaster? How did ...
69. Chernobyl: The Countdown To Catastrophe (Ep 2)
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Why was reactor four two years overdue a critical safety test? What happened in the seconds and minutes leading up to the explosion? Who was the firs...
68. Chernobyl: The Worst Nuclear Disaster In History (Ep 1)
26 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How did a routine safety test turn into the worst nuclear disaster in history? How did Soviet secrecy, impossible targets, and corner-cutting set the ...
67. The Spanish Civil War: The Death of Democracy (Ep 6)
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How did the Spanish Civil War inspire resistance movements throughout the 20th century? Why does Spain contain thousands of hidden mass graves? What i...
66. The Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Picasso and The Nazis (Ep 5)
19 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How did Pablo Picasso capture the horror of aerial bombing? Why did Hitler use a small Spanish town to test the Blitzkrieg? What was Stalin’s role i...
65. The Spanish Civil War: Orwell V Stalin (Ep 4)
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What were Barcelona’s ‘May Days’? How did Orwell manage to escape Stalinist agents? Why did communists and anarchists begin to fight each other?...
64. The Spanish Civil War: A Nazi Training Ground (Ep 3)
12 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What were Barcelona’s ‘May Days’? How did Orwell manage to escape Stalinist agents? Why did communists and anarchists begin to fight each other?...
63. The Spanish Civil War: Fighting Fascism With Hemingway And Orwell (Ep 2)
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Why did 35,000 foreign volunteers join the International Brigades? How did the conflict lead to the first racially integrated military unit in US hist...
62. The Spanish Civil War: A Nation In Flames (Ep 1)
05 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What caused Spain to collapse into civil war in 1936? How did Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin become involved in the conflict? Why did western democraci...
61. A Christmas Carol: From Alastair Sim To The Muppets (Ep 3)
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In what significant ways did the bestselling book ‘A Christmas Carol’ change Victorian behaviour around Christmas? From Christmas movies to the of...
60. A Christmas Carol: The Radical Message Hidden In A Holiday Classic (Ep 2)
29 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did the three Ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future manage to save Scrooge, Tiny Time, and the Christmas spirit? What deadly social proble...
59. A Christmas Carol: The Book That Brought Back Christmas (Ep 1)
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why had the Victorians stopped celebrating Christmas? How did the wretchedness of a London school for poor children inspire Charles Dickens’ famous ...
58. Black GIs: Brown Babies and Broken Hearts (Ep 5)
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does the hysteria around white women sleeping with Black GIs tell us about race and class in wartime Britain? Why were Black GIs banned from marr...
57. Black GIs: American Mutiny On British Streets (Ep 4)
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happened when Black GIs went on strike over their violent treatment at the hands of the white Military Police? Why did the American Army start fi...
56. Black GIs: The Battle of Bamber Bridge (Ep 3)
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did an altercation over the wrong uniform lead into a full scale gun battle with Americans shooting their fellow soldiers on the streets of Bamber...
55. Black GIs: We Ain’t No Slaves, This Is England (Ep 2)
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did the American army try to enforce segregation by stealth on British towns? Why did the British public perceive the white American GIs as ‘ove...
54. Black GIs: When Jim Crow Came To Britain (Ep 1)
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happened when 1.5 million American GIs, including 130,000 African Americans, were stationed in the UK during WWII? How did the Jim Crow segregati...
Introducing: The Rest Is Science
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Forget what you think you know about reality. The Rest Is Science is a mind-bending new show from Goalhanger that tears down familiar ideas… time, r...
53. Harriet Tubman: The Woman Who Led An Army (Ep 4)
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did Harriet Tubman free over 750 enslaved people in the Combahee River Raid? Despite her valiant efforts in the Civil War, why did Harriet have to...
52. Harriet Tubman: How Most Wanted Woman Never Got Caught (Ep 3)
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What surprising tactics did Harriet use to avoid detection on her many missions to rescue enslaved people in the south? Who was John Brown, the fierce...
51. Harriet Tubman: The Underground Railroad From Slavery To Freedom (Ep 2)
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why did Harriet Tubman risk her freedom and become the only formerly enslaved person to return to the slaveholding south? How did the secret Undergrou...
50. Harriet Tubman: The Freedom Fighter Who Escaped From Slavery (Ep 1)
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Who was Harriet Tubman? How did Harriet make the perilous journey escaping north to freedom? What was the Underground Railroad, the secret chain of pe...
49. The Paris Commune: France Wages War On Its Own Capital (Ep 4)
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How many people were slaughtered in the street-to-street battle for Paris known as the ‘bloody week’? Why did the German Chancellor help the Frenc...
48. The Paris Commune: Can The City Of Lights Govern Itself? (Ep 3)
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How many of the radical reforms that the Paris Commune implemented in their 72 day existence influence French laws to this day? Why did the communards...
47. The Paris Commune: The City That Ate Its Zoo (Ep 2)
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did pet dogs, street rats, and the zoo’s elephants make their way onto the menu of Parisian fine dining restaurants? Why did Paris feel so slig...
46. The Paris Commune: France’s Bloodiest Revolution (Ep 1)
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What was the Paris Commune of 1871? How was the first German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, trying to radically reshape the map of Europe? How did the...
45. The Gunpowder Plot: Why Do We Remember The Fifth Of November? (Ep 4)
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did the remaining conspirators manage to blow themselves up? Why is the defeat of the Gunpowder Plot still celebrated 400 years later? What are th...
44. The Gunpowder Plot: Conspirators Caught Red-Handed (Ep 3)
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Once Parliament was blown up, how were the plotters planning on seizing power? How did the King manage to stop the plan to blow up parliament just in ...
43. The Gunpowder Plot: The Recruitment of Guy Fawkes (Ep 2)
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did a series of plots to depose and kill King James I ultimately fail? Who was Robert Catesby, the mastermind behind the Gunpowder Plot? Why was G...
42. The Gunpowder Plot: Britain’s Most Famous Traitors (Ep 1)
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As Queen Elizabeth I lay dying, why were the nation’s high profile Catholics rounded up and imprisoned? Why has history overlooked James I, the firs...
41. Salem Witch Trials: The Legacy (Ep 3)
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did the executions for witchcraft finally come to an end? What does a community do to reckon with the aftermath of all this violence? Why have the...
40. How The Salem Witch Trials Became Deadly (Ep 2)
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Now the witch trials have been set up, what evidence is used to send many innocent people to their death? Why are young women shrieking and convulsing...
39. What Started The Salem Witch Hunt? (Ep 1)
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What were the Salem Witch Trials that resulted in the deaths of more than 20 innocent people? Why was this puritan community in New England so vulnera...
38. The Man Behind Big Brother: Why We’re Hooked on Reality TV (Ep 4)
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What did it feel like to be at the centre of the most popular Reality TV moment of the century? Why was the nation captivated by Big Brother? What can...
37. From The Kardashians to Donald Trump: The History of Reality TV (Ep 3)
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What unbelievable and ethically dubious Reality TV concepts made it onto our screens in the 2000s? What was behind Big Brother’s game changing popul...
36. The Art of Manipulation: The History of Reality TV (Ep 2)
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Who was Lance Loud, America's first openly gay TV celebrity? What ethically dubious tactics did producers pioneer in MTV's hit show 'The Real World' t...
35. Why We’re Obsessed With The Traitors: The History of Reality TV (Ep 1)
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What was David's experience on Celebrity Traitors like? How can we trace the origins of this beloved show back to WWII? How has Reality TV shaped the ...
34. Cotton Will Bring The World To its Knees: The Craziest Gamble in History (Ep 3)
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why did the Confederate states think that stopping the global supply of cotton would force Britain to join their side in the American Civil War? What...
33. Prince Albert’s Dying Wish: Stopping An American-British War (Ep 2)
28 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why did Britain and America nearly go to war over the capture of two Confederate officers from a British Ship? What did President Lincoln’s Emergen...
32. From Lincoln to Obama: A History of the Special Relationship (Ep 1)
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
David has just come off stage with Barack Obama - what does the 44th President think about the ‘Special Relationship’ between the UK and the US? W...
31. Martin Luther King: I Have A Dream (Ep 2)
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Harry Belafonte, Josephine Baker, Bob Dylan, and which other celebrities joined the 250,000 marching on Washington in August 1963? How were the Americ...
30. The March That Changed America (Ep 1)
14 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How were figures like Martin Luther King organising to fight for Civil Rights in the Jim Crow era? Why were tensions so exceptionally high in America...
29. The Downfall of Billy the Kid: Gun Fights and Prison Breaks (Ep 2)
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How many times did Billy the Kid escape from prison? Who was Pat Garrett, the man who murdered Billy? Why does the story of Billy the Kid remain one o...
28. Billy The Kid: The Outlaw Who Became A Legend (Ep 1)
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Who was the notorious Western icon, Billy the Kid? How did he get caught up in the murder which made him famous? And, who was really in charge in the ...
27. The Trial That Made Hitler Famous (Ep 2)
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did Hitler get caught after leading the failed Beer Hall Putsch, which killed 20 people? Why was he allowed to turn his 24 day trial into a piece ...
26. The Failed Nazi Coup (Ep 1)
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Nazis were voted into power in 1933, but how close did they come to seizing power 10 years before? What catastrophic economic conditions fuelled t...
25. The Marketing of Fear: Selling Guns to America (Ep 3)
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did the NRA manage to gain so much control over the American President and the Supreme Court? Who are the armed citizens masquerading as secret p...
24. Cowboys, Gangsters, and Assassins: How Gun Laws Died (Ep 2)
10 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Was the Wild West really lawless? Why did the 1960s mark a turning point in the gun debate? How did a convicted killer become one of the most influent...
23. The Gun Myth That Shaped A Nation (Ep 1)
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How does the history of the National Rifle Association explain how the pro-gun lobby got such a stranglehold on modern US politics? Was the United Sta...
22. The Great Fire: London Rises From The Ashes (Ep 2)
30 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did the flames engulf the stone building of St Paul’s Cathedral, jump over the River Fleet, and reach 1,700 degrees celsius? After four days, ho...
21. The Great Fire: London’s Burning (Ep 1)
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What caused London to go up in flames on 2nd September, 1666? How did a fire that started in a bakery grow to engulf so much of the city? Who was Samu...
20. How Sci-Fi Became Reality: The History of AI
20 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What role did WWII enigma hero Alan Turing play in the early development of AI? Why are games so important to the history of AI? Did 2001: A Space Ody...
19. The Wrath of God: England’s Greatest Natural Disaster (Ep 2)
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What death and destruction did the people of England wake up to after the 1703 storm? How did people make sense of this biblical devastation? Why do w...
18. England’s Hurricane: 10,000 Dead (Ep 1)
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did a storm in November 1703 turn into one of the deadliest natural disasters in England’s history? Why is Daniel Defoe, ‘father of the Britis...
17. Britain vs America: The Deadly Culture War (Ep 2)
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why did the audience of Macbeth begin hurling theatre seats and food then cobble stones and bricks? What caused the militia, drafted in by New York’...
16. Carnage in New York: Killing Over Shakespeare (Ep 1)
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did a fight about Shakespeare descend into America’s bloodiest riot during peace time? Why were tensions so high in New York City in May 1849? W...
15. Showdown at Sea: Pirates vs Bounty Hunters (Ep 2)
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What piratical crimes did ‘good girl’ Anne Bonny and ‘bad girl’ Mary Reed commit on the high seas? Who were the bounty hunters chasing Calico ...
14. The Real Pirates of the Caribbean: Sex, Scandal, and the Golden Age of Piracy (Ep 1)
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did ‘good girl’ Anne Bonny and ‘bad girl’ Mary Reed end up sailing with Pirates of the Caribbean? Who was ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham, th...
13. The Woman Behind the Welfare State
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Eleanor Rathbone was instrumental to the implementation of child benefit and the welfare state, why have we forgotten her? Who were the two million ...
12. Murder Trial of the Century: Execution, Dissection and Revenge (Ep 2)
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
17 murders in, what finally brought serial killers Burke and Hare to justice? How did the notorious partners in crime turn against each other? Which o...
11. Scotland’s Most Notorious Serial Killers (Ep 1)
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did Burke and Hare get into the lucrative business of murder? Why was there such a demand for fresh corpses in 1820s Edinburgh? What gruesome meth...
10. 1983: The World On The Brink (Ep 2)
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why did a military training exercise seem like an imminent threat of nuclear attack? Despite being minutes away from launching Nuclear missiles, what ...
9. Able Archer: The Closest We Ever Came To Nuclear War (Ep 1)
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why was the world so close to the brink of nuclear war in November 1983? What tactics were the Americans employing to play high stakes mind games...
8. The Myth of Tokyo Rose: Truman and the FBI Witch Hunt (Ep 2)
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why did Iva Toguri get branded America’s first female traitor, despite there being no evidence to convict her? How did her case become important ...
7. The Myth of Tokyo Rose: The Woman Accused of Betraying America (Ep 1)
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did Tokyo Rose, a woman who never existed, become one of WWII’s most well known Japanese figures? Who was Iva Toguri, the American citizen ca...
6. Darwin, Dickens, and a Giant Diamond: Inside The Great Exhibition (Ep 2)
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Paranoid predictions of crime fill the newspapers - so how will the well-to-do react to the incoming crowds of the working-class? From Harrods to the...
5. The Great Exhibition: Prince Albert, Revolutionaries, and the Duke of Wellington (Ep 1)
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Great Exhibition is to open in May 1851 and millions of people will descend on the capital to marvel at exhibitions of culture and industry. Victo...
4. The First Woman to Run for President: Sex, Scandal, and Suffragists (Ep 2)
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From the trading floor of Wall Street to the campaign trail, Victoria Woodhull was a force to be reckoned with. Sadly, her scandalous presidential cam...
3. The First Woman to Run for President: Rags to Riches (Ep 1)
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The American public is outraged by the announcement of a woman running for president. The year is 1872 and the candidate is Victoria Woodhull. Vict...
2. The Attack that Shook America: Black Tom Explodes (Ep 2)
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
New York harbour erupts with an explosion as Black Tom island is ripped apart. The shock waves ripple out around Manhattan and New Jersey, shattering ...
1. The Attack That Shook America: German Spies in New York (Ep 1)
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
New York, 1916. America is supposedly neutral in the war but they are shipping huge quantities of supplies to the allies. However, it being a nation o...
Journey Through Time Trailer
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Join historians Sarah Churchwell and David Olusoga on Journey Through Time, as they expose forgotten history, and bring to light extraordinary events ...