In Search of the Dark Ages was a television series, written and presented by Michael Wood, and first shown in 1979. It is also the title of a book written by Wood to support the series, which was published in 1981.
The television series consisted of a series of separate programmes, hence the collective title is often written as In Search of ... The Dark Ages. It began with In Search of Offa, recorded in 1978 by BBC Manchester, and shown on 2 January 1979. Subsequent programmes in the first series were on Boadicea, King Arthur and Alfred the Great, shown with a re-run of Offa over successive nights in March 1980. The first series was such a success when shown in an off-peak slot on BBC Two that a second series was broadcast in 1981, with subjects including William the Conqueror, Ethelred the Unready, Athelstan and Eric Bloodaxe.
Ended
In Search of the Dark Ages
January 2, 1979
April 9, 1981
2
8
English
1944: The greatest amphibious invasion in history lands on the Normandy beaches. Today the wreckage of war still stands in the shallows where 35 years ago armies drawn from much of the free world began the liberation of Europe. But great events are not new to these shores; for the whole of recorded history momentous waves of immigrants and invaders have crossed the narrow sea between England and the Continent and shaped our history. Nine-hundred years ago an amphibious invasion left these shores which was to have as great an effect on our destiny as 1944 may prove to have. From these beaches, in 1066, an army set sail for England. Its leader would become known to history as William the Conqueror.
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