Vikings

2012 • BBC

4.8

101 reviews

Eligible

Season 1 episodes (3)

1 Episode 1

9/11/12

Neil Oliver heads for Scandinavia to reveal the truth behind the legend of the Vikings. In the first episode of the series Neil begins by discovering 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 ritual conjure up an ancient past from which the Viking Age was to suddenly erupt.

2 Episode 2

9/18/12

In this second episode, Neil Oliver heads out from the Scandinavian homelands to Russia, Turkey and Ireland to trace the beginnings of a vast trading empire that handled Chinese silks as adeptly as Pictish slaves. Neil discovers a world of "starry-eyed maidens" and Buddhist statues that are a world away from our British experience of axe-wielding warriors, although it turns out that there were quite a few of those as well.

3 Episode 3

9/25/12

Neil Oliver explores how the Age of the Vikings finally ended, tracing the Norse voyages of discovery, the first Danish Kings, and the Christian conversions that opened the door to European high society. It turns out own King Canute was a Viking, but not an arrogant leader who thought he could hold back the waves, but ruler of an entire Empire of the North and an early adopter of European standardisation - the EU would have loved him.

About this show

The accepted history of the Vikings is of a band of blood-thirsty pirates raiding the peaceful monasteries of Christendom - and all of it is completely true. The Vikings took no prisoners, relished cruel retribution, and prided themselves as warriors. But their prowess in battle is only a small part of the story. The Vikings did not document their history themselves so we have had to discover it, and that discovery - of the Vikings from their point of view - reveals an extraordinary story of a people who, from the brink of destruction, in the course of 200 years reached around a quarter of the globe, and built an empire.

Ratings and reviews

4.8

101 reviews

Jay Carling

August 21, 2016

Bloody good love every single bit start to finish have a butcher's you will no be disappointed with it believe me on that on people god d top drawer that's why I have given it a rating of 5 and I never normally give ratings for any thing either well I'm of no all me best little jay

Samitch Man

July 22, 2016

Blood, fantastic story, great actors, very high budget, but none of the pollitical bullshit GoT . Game of Thrones has this but in much lower quantities.

Daniel North

May 25, 2015

Awsome series. Defo the best series there has ever been on TV without a doubt. Wish I could become an extra in the show or play a serious part. Lol. Loved every episode. It makes you want to watch more and more of it the more you watch it.

11 people found this review helpful