british empire

When wily pirate Captain Barbossa seizes Jack Sparrow’s beloved ship, the Black Pearl, and kidnaps the governor’s daughter, Elizabeth Swann, blacksmith Will Turner reluctantly teams up with the unpredictable pirate Jack to rescue her—only to uncover a terrifying curse that turns Barbossa’s crew into the undead.

Adventurer James Keziah Delaney returns to London from Africa in 1814 along with fourteen stolen diamonds to seek vengeance after the death of his father.

A fictional history of two legendary revolutionaries' journey away from home before they began fighting for their country in the 1920s.

During World War I, English officer Thomas Edward 'T.E.' Lawrence sets out to unite and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes to fight the Turks.

Agnostic Charles Ryder is seduced by the allure of the Flytes, a wealthy aristocratic family. Although he finds himself at odds with their strong Catholicism, his ties to the family deepen for the decades between the two world wars.

South Africa, 1823. The Zulu Empire, headed by King Shaka, a brilliant but ruthless military strategist, begin to encroach on the British colony of Cape Town. A volunteer cadre of explorers, mercenaries and professional soldiers are sent to Zululand to try to make contact with Shaka and assess the real threat of his army.

In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.

In late 19th century Hong Kong, the British may rule the land, but the pirates rule the waters. Coast Guard officer Dragon Ma is determined that his beloved Coast Guard will not be made a fool of.

In 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War, man-of-the-people Lt. Chard and snooty Lt. Bromhead are in charge of defending the isolated and vastly outnumbered Natal outpost of Rorke's Drift from tribal hordes.

A young British officer resigns his post when he learns of his regiment's plan to ship out to the Sudan for the conflict with the Mahdi. His friends and fiancée send him four white feathers as symbols of what they view as his cowardice. To redeem his honor, he disguises himself as an Arab and secretly saves their lives.

In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive, and a young man is killed. Damien joins his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army, but political events are soon set in motion that tear the brothers apart.

The story of the Opium War between China, in the waning days of the Qing Dynasty, and the British Empire, in the 1830s, and the subsequent takeover of Hong Kong by Britain; through the eyes of the key figures, fiercely nationalistic Lin Zexu, and opportunistic British naval diplomat Charles Elliot.

The British governor of a tiny island nation in the Caribbean Commonwealth finds his idyllic existence thrown into chaos when an American drilling company finds a huge source of natural mineral water there.

Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

English General Charles George Gordon is appointed military governor of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan by the Prime Minister. Ordered to evacuate Egyptians from the Sudan, Gordon stays on to protect the people of Khartoum, who are under threat of being conquered by a Muslim army.

England, 1763. After being convicted of a crime, the young and beautiful Abigail Hale agrees, to escape the gallows, to serve fourteen years as a slave in the colony of Virginia, whose inhabitants begin to hear and fear the sinister song of the threatening drums of war that resound in the wild Ohio valley.

In early 19th century England, orphaned Becky Sharp defies her poverty-stricken background and ascends the social ladder alongside her best friend.

British army sergeants Ballantine, Cutter and MacChesney serve in India during the 1880s, along with their native water-bearer, Gunga Din. While completing a dangerous telegraph-repair mission, they unearth evidence of the suppressed Thuggee cult. When Gunga Din tells the sergeants about a secret temple made of gold, the fortune-hunting Cutter is captured by the Thuggees, and it's up to his friends to rescue him.

Tired of life as soldiers, Peachy Carnehan and Danny Dravot travel to the isolated land of Kafiristan, where they are ultimately embraced by the people and revered as rulers. After a series of misunderstandings, the natives come to believe that Dravot is a god, but he and Carnehan can't keep up their deception forever.

Alexandria, Egypt, 1940. Three young Egyptians come to the aid of a woman being attacked by three British soldiers. One of them is arrested and thrown in jail. When the military surrounds the police station and begins an all-out assault, it's up to one man, Gen. Youssef al-Masri, to defend his prison and protect his people.

In 1879, the British suffer a great loss at the Battle of Isandlwana due to incompetent leadership.

The working-class Smiths change their initially sunny views on World War I after the five boys of the family witness the harsh reality of trench warfare.

During the Crimean War between Britain and Russia in the 1850s, a British cavalry division, led by the overbearing Lord Cardigan, engages in an infamously reckless strategic debacle against a Russian artillery battery.

The dramatic inside story of 6 November 1956, the final day of the Suez Crisis. A day that changed Britain forever. Exactly as it happened - hour by hour, minute by minute.

How did a small island once rule over a quarter of the world's population? This shared history still shapes us today - and billions of people are part of its story.

Follow Marc Fennell on a globe-trotting, emotional quest for the truth as he unravels the twisted mysteries behind six iconic and priceless objects taken by the British Empire and meets those who want them back.

In 1922, Egypt’s fight for independence and a global mania over Tutankhamun’s tomb provoke an extraordinary struggle for control of the country’s ancient history.

Writer Sathnam Sanghera travels across the country exploring the effects of the British Empire on modern Britain

Empire is a major five-part series presented by Jeremy Paxman. It tells the story of the British Empire in a new way, tracing not only the rise and fall of the empire but also the complex effects of the empire on the modern world – political, technological and social – and on Britain.

The British Empire in Colour is a major three part series that examines the history and experience of the British Empire, form the perspectives of both the rulers and the ruled. Using original colour archive film - much of which had never previously been seen - together with personal letters and diary extracts helping to capture the many complexities and contradictions of life in the British Empire.

The series "Zanghat Arreeh" is a historical social drama, the events of which take place in 1945 in the city of Tripoli in Libya. It highlights the suffering of the Libyan people under the rule of the British administration that was installed in Libya after World War II and the defeat of Italy. In the absence of any media or legal interest, the British military administration facilitated procedures for foreign communities at the expense of the sons of the homeland. The series also highlights the social life, customs and traditions that prevailed among the residents of Tripoli of all religions and ethnicities, united by one city and one homeland, in which they share their joys and sorrows.

As a young reporter, David Dimbleby made three Panorama films on Rhodesia between 1967 and 1968, following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence. This three-part series tells the inside story of white Rhodesia's revolt against the British crown and the long battle to bring full democracy to an independent Zimbabwe.

Seven Ages of Britain is a BBC television documentary series which is written and presented by David Dimbleby. The seven part series was first aired on Sunday nights at 9:00pm on BBC One starting on 31 January 2010. The series covers the history of Britain's greatest art and artefacts over the past 2000 years. Each episode covers a different period in British history. In Australia, all seven episodes aired on ABC1 each Tuesday at 8:30pm from 7 September 2010.

This is the story of two wars fought at the same time on opposite ends of the globe, often mislabeled as a single war: The Second World War. These conflicts remade our world in just a few decades. A story of how the rise and fall of great powers, from Nazi Germany to Imperial Japan, recast nations into those who could afford, and those that could not afford The Price of Empire.