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NARRATOR Over 2,000 years,
they will forge a nation,

2
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dominate the globe

3
00:00:11,727 --> 00:00:13,877
and invent the modern world.

4
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This is the story of how a small group
of islands becomes a superpower.

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The British.

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00:00:26,647 --> 00:00:28,478
This is our story.

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London, September 2nd, 1 666,
after midnight.

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00:00:44,007 --> 00:00:46,441
The King's bakery in Pudding Lane.

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A few sparks and a gust of wind
are all it takes.

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(WOMAN SCREAMING)

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Fires are common
in this overcrowded city.

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But tonight, a fierce wind spreads
the flames at a terrifying speed.

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London is recovering after a century
of religious conflict and civil war.

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Timber houses, cellars full of firewood,

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gunpowder from the civil war.

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The worst inferno in London
until the Blitz.

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How it must have been
to either be caught within it or

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to run out from it,
it must have been cataclysmic.

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I would think it would've been

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sheer terror of not knowing
how bad this was gonna get,

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and whether you were gonna survive.

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-(BABY CRYING)
-Help me! Help!

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Be careful!

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NARRATOR 1t's a disaster
that will destroy London.

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DAN CRUICKSHANK The speed and enormity
of the catastrophe was overwhelming.

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The alarm started rippling
through the city

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that things could change forever.

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If this fire gets out of control,
the heart of our great city,

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the heart of the British Empire,
would be devoured.

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What on earth will become of us?

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NARRATOR As Londoners flee
for their lives,

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one man heads towards the blaze.

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Samuel Pepys has lived in London
his entire life.

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His diary documents the fear
of half a million Londoners.

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Here's a man, bearing his soul,

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explaining a catastrophe
in the most moving way possible.

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To read it now still has the power
to shock and bring tears to your eyes.

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SAMUEL PEPYS 1 walked through the city,

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the streets full of nothing but people
and carts loaden with goods.

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With one's face in the wind,

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you were almost burned
with a shower of firedrops.

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All on fire and flaming at once.

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And a horrid noise the flames made.

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And the cracking of houses
at their ruins.

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(COUGHING)

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NARRATOR Directly in the fire's path,
a crumbling medieval landmark,

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Old St Paul's Cathedral.

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Nobody believes it can burn.

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1 suppose to understand
the frame of mind

50
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Londoners felt as the fire took hold,

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you gotta think of the attack
on the Twin Towers in New York.

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You would see streets disappearing,
buildings disappearing.

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The incredible sense of loss, of terror.

54
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NARRATOR On the third day,

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whole streets are blown up
to create firebreaks.

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Smoke is seen from Oxford,
50 miles away.

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PEPYS We saw the fire grow,

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in corners and upon steeples,

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between churches and houses,

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as far as we could see.

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1t made me weep to see it.

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NARRATOR The fire swallows
St Paul's whole.

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It's kind of an apocalypse,
and we're all in a religious age.

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We all are, as it were,
being offered a sight of hell.

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NARRATOR London is left a wasteland.

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Four-fifths of the old city gone.

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80,000 homeless.

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PEPYS We saw all the town burned,

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and a miserable sight of Paul's church,
with all the roofs fallen.

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Paul's school, also,

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Ludgate, and Fleet Street,
my father's house.

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NARRATOR A city 1,600 years
in the making,

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lost in four days.

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But a new capital rises.

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Workers flood into London.

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The rebuilding kick-starts
an economic boom.

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1nspired by 33-year-old architect,
Christopher Wren,

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the city reinvents itself,
in stone this time.

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First, a sparkling modern London,

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then Newcastle, Edinburgh and Dublin.

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At London's heart,
one of Britain's greatest buildings,

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the new St Paul's Cathedral.

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These first stones mark a new age,

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with the motto, ''Resurgam'2

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''1 shall rise again. ''

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Above it, a phoenix
arising from the ashes.

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1t takes 35 years to build,

88
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and remains the tallest structure
in London until 1 962.

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For Wren, it's more than a building.

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WREN Architecture establishes a nation

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and makes a people love
their native country.

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FLANAGAN That's what buildings are for,
they're statements.

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They say, ''Look how important we are,
look what we can achieve. ''

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And it's inspirational to people.

95
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St Paul's... I still go
to St Paul's now and marvel at it.

96
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It's a mind-blowing building,

97
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but back then it must have
just been phenomenal.

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NARRATOR By the time
St Paul's is finished,

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Britain has the fastest-growing economy
in the world,

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the largest navy,

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new ideas, new freedoms, new money.

102
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But the same forces
that propelled Britain's meteoric boom

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will drive the nation close to ruin.

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Half a century after the Great Fire,

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Britain is swept up in a gambling fever.

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The first government-run lottery,

107
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cock fighting and bare-knuckle boxing.

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A nation out to get rich quick.

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John Gay, an ambitious young poet,
arrives in London to make his fortune.

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(MEN SHOUTING)

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1n a new world of social mobility,

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even poor boys like him
believe they can make it.

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For now he lives on handouts
from admirers,

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but he's desperate to be rich.

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JOHN GAY Some boys are rich by birth,
while with dry tongue,

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1 lick my lips in vain.

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John Gay is writing poems which
are considered a little bit risque,

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he's essentially a rock star of his day.

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He comes from quite a humble background,

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and yet he's suddenly
going to dinner with dukes

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and chasing after the ladies
of the court.

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And, it's a totally different world

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and he's determined
to milk it for all he can

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because this is his chance.

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NARRATOR John Gay wants a taste
of the new money pouring into Britain,

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driven by a meteoric rise
in overseas trade.

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Textiles and metals are shipped
all over the world.

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A quarter of all Londoners
now earn their living from the docks.

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The country is flooded with exotic
imports from Britain's new colonies.

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Tea, coffee and sugar,

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once luxuries,
now staples of everyday life.

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By the end of the century, we spend 1 0%
of our food money on sugar and tea.

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LENNOX LEWIS 1 can imagine how it'd
feel tasting sugar for the first time.

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I think it would put a lot of smiles
on a lot of people's faces.

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In the world that was just mainly made
of mud and turnips,

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to get sugar for the first time
would've been absolutely mind-blowing.

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It would have been
the big news in the village.

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00:11:02,047 --> 00:11:05,926
NARRATOR Global trade is driving
a financial revolution.

139
00:11:06,607 --> 00:11:09,963
Scotsman William Paterson
founds the Bank of England.

140
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1t issues its first banknotes.

141
00:11:13,087 --> 00:11:16,875
Modern insurance is invented
to underwrite dangerous voyages.

142
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And there's a new way to make money,
stocks and shares.

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After a decade of living
beyond his means,

144
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John Gay finally gets his big break.

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A book of poems makes him over
£ 1 00,000 in today's money.

146
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He'll gamble every penny
in the stock market.

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Britain has a brand new institution,
the coffee house.

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1t's ''the''place to meet,

149
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get the news of the day
and to make deals.

150
00:12:04,207 --> 00:12:08,485
To a novice investor like John Gay,
the coffee house is a bear pit.

151
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Outlandish business
opportunities abound.

152
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Company to extract silver from lead.

153
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Company to extract
sunshine from vegetables.

154
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To make a perpetual motion wheel, £1 8.

155
00:12:20,367 --> 00:12:24,440
NARRATOR The hottest shares of all
are the South Sea Company.

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South Sea stock selling out, South Sea.

157
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NARRATOR 1t has a monopoly on trade
with South America

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and promises over 1 00% returns.

159
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John Gay invests everything he's got.

160
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TIM ROTH A get-rich-quick scheme
anyone would take.

161
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It's almost like the Wall Street

162
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crap of now.

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It makes perfect sense,
it's completely human.

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NARRATOR Behind the company
is Sir John Blunt,

165
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a man with a cavalier attitude to risk.

166
00:12:59,447 --> 00:13:03,838
For his latest scheme, he takes on more
than half the government's debt,

167
00:13:03,967 --> 00:13:06,481
paying it off with South Sea shares.

168
00:13:09,647 --> 00:13:11,922
He seals this deal with bribes.

169
00:13:12,287 --> 00:13:14,721
The Chancellor of the Exchequer
is promised shares worth

170
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2.5 million pounds today.

171
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Now, if anything goes wrong,

172
00:13:20,687 --> 00:13:23,724
the government and the economy
are on the line.

173
00:13:29,567 --> 00:13:33,082
Joining thousands of investors
is Sir 1saac Newton.

174
00:13:34,047 --> 00:13:37,562
He leads a scientific revolution that's
sweeping Europe.

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Reason and science replace
superstition and fear.

176
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He buys £ 1,000 of South Sea stock.

177
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1nvestments pour in,

178
00:13:51,847 --> 00:13:54,600
but there's no trade with South America.

179
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The rising share prices
fuelled only by Blunt's spin

180
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and his investor's greed.

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00:14:02,927 --> 00:14:06,158
JOHN BLUNT The people must not know
what we're about.

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00:14:06,927 --> 00:14:08,645
Let confusion reign.

183
00:14:09,727 --> 00:14:12,639
MOORE The thing that's really
disturbing about the South Sea Bubble

184
00:14:12,727 --> 00:14:14,843
is how closely tied in it was
to government.

185
00:14:14,927 --> 00:14:16,804
And there was the government actually

186
00:14:16,887 --> 00:14:19,401
basing the sort of well-being
of the country

187
00:14:19,487 --> 00:14:23,799
on its ties to a company
that didn't actually exist.

188
00:14:28,167 --> 00:14:30,806
NARRATOR Worth £ 1 28 in January,

189
00:14:30,887 --> 00:14:34,243
by June shares are selling
for over £ 1,000.

190
00:14:35,447 --> 00:14:37,756
John Gay is wealthy on paper.

191
00:14:39,207 --> 00:14:41,038
All the investors are.

192
00:14:42,247 --> 00:14:45,125
Gay dreams of a country estate in Devon.

193
00:14:45,807 --> 00:14:49,083
The entire country is caught up
in South Sea mania.

194
00:14:50,647 --> 00:14:53,002
The city ladies buy South Sea jewels,

195
00:14:53,087 --> 00:14:54,600
hire South Sea maids,

196
00:14:54,727 --> 00:14:57,366
and take new South Sea country houses.

197
00:15:00,287 --> 00:15:03,438
The company is now valued
at £300 million,

198
00:15:04,567 --> 00:15:07,445
more than all the gold in Britain.

199
00:15:07,527 --> 00:15:10,519
The first financial bubble
in British history.

200
00:15:13,487 --> 00:15:15,876
A few lucky investors
take their money and run...

201
00:15:15,967 --> 00:15:17,844
Nice to do business with you.

202
00:15:17,927 --> 00:15:20,316
NARRATOR ...selling at more
than 300% profit.

203
00:15:27,167 --> 00:15:30,000
But Blunt realises
the bubble has to burst.

204
00:15:33,047 --> 00:15:37,165
He secretly starts offloading
his shares at the top of the market.

205
00:15:40,407 --> 00:15:42,875
By late summer, the price falters,

206
00:15:44,007 --> 00:15:45,804
then tumbles.

207
00:15:47,967 --> 00:15:50,356
People panic and rush to sell it.

208
00:15:51,687 --> 00:15:53,484
1t's too late.

209
00:15:55,647 --> 00:15:58,684
By the end of the year,
the stock is worthless.

210
00:16:00,927 --> 00:16:03,441
MICHAEL PORTILLO These speculations are
a game of musical chairs.

211
00:16:03,887 --> 00:16:06,526
You're fine if you're sitting down
when the music stops,

212
00:16:06,607 --> 00:16:10,236
but if you're still standing,
then it's going to mean ruin.

213
00:16:11,247 --> 00:16:13,363
NARRATOR Businesses fold.

214
00:16:15,567 --> 00:16:17,364
Banks collapse.

215
00:16:19,327 --> 00:16:21,921
London suicide rate rises 40%.

216
00:16:27,167 --> 00:16:28,486
Even Newton,

217
00:16:28,567 --> 00:16:33,038
the man who unlocks the laws of gravity
and light, is caught out.

218
00:16:33,967 --> 00:16:37,482
ISAAC NEWTON 1 can calculate
the motion for heavenly bodies,

219
00:16:37,567 --> 00:16:40,001
but not for the madness of man.

220
00:16:43,167 --> 00:16:45,397
NARRATOR John Gay is ruined.

221
00:16:46,487 --> 00:16:49,240
But eventually,
he will make his fortune.

222
00:16:49,767 --> 00:16:51,564
He will write The Beggar's Opera,

223
00:16:51,647 --> 00:16:53,797
the first West End musical hit,

224
00:16:53,887 --> 00:16:56,720
a tale of greed and corruption.

225
00:16:58,167 --> 00:17:01,443
''Why did 'Change Alley
waste thy precious hours

226
00:17:01,527 --> 00:17:04,564
''Among the fools who gaped
for golden showers?

227
00:17:04,687 --> 00:17:07,440
''No wonder they were caught
by South Sea schemes

228
00:17:07,527 --> 00:17:10,485
''Who ne'er enjoyed
a guinea but in dreams''

229
00:17:14,927 --> 00:17:18,840
NARRATOR The government launches
a huge clean-up operation.

230
00:17:18,927 --> 00:17:21,441
The Bank of England,
free from the taint of corruption,

231
00:17:21,527 --> 00:17:23,722
takes over the national debt.

232
00:17:25,247 --> 00:17:27,761
The Chancellor is sent to the Tower.

233
00:17:28,567 --> 00:17:32,480
Disgraced company directors
are forced to compensate investors,

234
00:17:32,727 --> 00:17:37,164
but John Blunt implicates his
colleagues and gets off scot-free.

235
00:17:37,847 --> 00:17:40,566
John Blunt understood
that he was defrauding people,

236
00:17:40,647 --> 00:17:43,241
so in that sense he is a bit
like a Bernie Madoff,

237
00:17:43,327 --> 00:17:46,080
but it was all a new world, no one knew
anything about anything, it was...

238
00:17:46,167 --> 00:17:48,317
Everybody was guessing.
Even the people who were

239
00:17:48,407 --> 00:17:50,716
setting the schemes up
were guessing how it would all work.

240
00:17:54,447 --> 00:17:57,917
NARRATOR Trade once again revives
Britain's economy.

241
00:17:58,647 --> 00:18:01,115
Within a year, business is thriving.

242
00:18:02,927 --> 00:18:05,680
1t's the birth of
boom-or-bust capitalism.

243
00:18:09,487 --> 00:18:13,605
But beneath this glittering new world
is a terrible industry.

244
00:18:18,207 --> 00:18:21,722
An English merchant ship sails west
across the Atlantic,

245
00:18:25,767 --> 00:18:28,804
carrying some of Britain's
most valuable cargo,

246
00:18:33,087 --> 00:18:34,884
African slaves.

247
00:18:37,367 --> 00:18:39,005
During the 1 8th century,

248
00:18:39,087 --> 00:18:42,238
Britain becomes the world's
largest slave trader,

249
00:18:42,887 --> 00:18:45,640
transporting over
2.5 million abducted Africans

250
00:18:45,727 --> 00:18:49,481
to work on our sugar, tobacco
and cotton plantations.

251
00:18:50,567 --> 00:18:52,319
It's shameful, it's disgusting.

252
00:18:52,407 --> 00:18:54,079
It's one of those things that

253
00:18:54,167 --> 00:18:57,045
we can't hide from,
we'd much rather it went away.

254
00:18:58,847 --> 00:19:02,078
NARRATOR This young boy
will sell for about £ 1 5.

255
00:19:04,007 --> 00:19:07,124
The name his parents gave him
will be forgotten.

256
00:19:08,087 --> 00:19:11,318
The village where he was born,
a distant memory.

257
00:19:13,567 --> 00:19:17,355
His owners will give him a new name,

258
00:19:17,447 --> 00:19:19,278
Somerset.

259
00:19:19,367 --> 00:19:22,040
He'll be a slave for the next 20 years.

260
00:19:25,767 --> 00:19:31,524
Britain's wealth was built off the blood
of those stolen Africans.

261
00:19:32,487 --> 00:19:35,081
And, I think about it often, actually.

262
00:19:35,167 --> 00:19:37,283
It's something that's
very much part of me.

263
00:19:38,967 --> 00:19:40,366
NARRATOR Goods from all over Britain

264
00:19:40,447 --> 00:19:44,326
are traded for humans
on the West African coast,

265
00:19:45,127 --> 00:19:48,005
guns from Birmingham,
textiles from Manchester,

266
00:19:48,087 --> 00:19:50,442
even Samuel Whitbread beer.

267
00:19:51,927 --> 00:19:53,963
The fact is that money talks.

268
00:19:54,047 --> 00:19:55,878
Slavery was big business.

269
00:19:55,967 --> 00:19:59,039
It brought money in
and wealth into the country.

270
00:19:59,127 --> 00:20:01,038
Why would anyone want it to end?

271
00:20:03,127 --> 00:20:07,723
NARRATOR The profits build
banks, schools, entire cities.

272
00:20:10,607 --> 00:20:14,361
Slavery transforms Liverpool
from a sleepy port of 5,000

273
00:20:14,487 --> 00:20:16,762
to a prosperous city of 78,000.

274
00:20:19,767 --> 00:20:23,396
But one day, Somerset
will rock this industry to its core.

275
00:20:30,847 --> 00:20:35,716
Another business that traffics human
flesh is also flourishing in Britain,

276
00:20:35,807 --> 00:20:37,320
the sex trade.

277
00:20:37,727 --> 00:20:40,116
Britain's a commercial powerhouse,

278
00:20:40,207 --> 00:20:42,960
and yet, beneath it all
is a kind of engine

279
00:20:43,047 --> 00:20:45,561
that is dark and grimy and dirty.

280
00:20:45,647 --> 00:20:46,636
And for the 1 8th century,

281
00:20:46,727 --> 00:20:49,525
those engines were
the sex trade and slavery.

282
00:20:55,287 --> 00:20:58,643
NARRATOR Britain's cities have
always traded in sex.

283
00:20:58,727 --> 00:21:00,763
Now it's big business.

284
00:21:02,927 --> 00:21:04,280
1n London alone,

285
00:21:04,367 --> 00:21:08,246
the sex industry is worth an estimated
£20 million a year,

286
00:21:08,327 --> 00:21:10,477
more than £2 billion today,

287
00:21:12,967 --> 00:21:16,846
almost as much as London's
entire overseas trade.

288
00:21:19,127 --> 00:21:22,642
Catalogues are published
to rate and review prostitutes.

289
00:21:23,367 --> 00:21:28,157
Contemporary reports show one in five
women in London is a sex worker,

290
00:21:28,247 --> 00:21:30,715
vulnerable to violence and disease.

291
00:21:34,847 --> 00:21:37,645
But for women with access
to high society,

292
00:21:37,727 --> 00:21:39,718
there are ways to cash in on this boom.

293
00:21:39,807 --> 00:21:43,004
Hey, watch yourself
or you'll get out of here!

294
00:21:43,087 --> 00:21:45,237
NARRATOR Moll King,

295
00:21:45,327 --> 00:21:48,683
one of the most
successful businesswomen in London.

296
00:21:49,767 --> 00:21:53,123
Daughter of a cobbler,
she's been the mistress of aristocrats.

297
00:21:53,207 --> 00:21:55,880
How you doing?
I think you've had enough.

298
00:21:58,127 --> 00:22:01,437
NARRATOR Now, Moll runs London's
most popular salon,

299
00:22:02,407 --> 00:22:06,002
a late-night coffee house
in the heart of the sex industry,

300
00:22:06,087 --> 00:22:07,725
Covent Garden.

301
00:22:07,807 --> 00:22:10,799
Drink up, squire,
it's not a library, eh?

302
00:22:11,727 --> 00:22:13,126
NARRATOR 1t isn't a brothel,

303
00:22:13,207 --> 00:22:16,677
but it brings together a raucous mix
of prostitutes, market traders,

304
00:22:16,767 --> 00:22:19,565
actors, courtiers and businessmen.

305
00:22:21,447 --> 00:22:24,245
When you look at the courtesans
around that time,

306
00:22:24,447 --> 00:22:28,406
their ingenuity and their bravery
just always thrills and astonishes me,

307
00:22:28,487 --> 00:22:31,877
because if you had a personality and
you were chatty and you were garrulous,

308
00:22:31,967 --> 00:22:34,481
you could either become
a school mistress, or a governess,

309
00:22:34,567 --> 00:22:37,035
or you can become a salon keeper.

310
00:22:37,127 --> 00:22:41,086
And these women found a way
to take power for themselves.

311
00:22:42,127 --> 00:22:46,359
NARRATOR But London's promiscuity's
provoking a violent backlash.

312
00:22:48,567 --> 00:22:51,684
Less than a hundred years ago,
under Oliver Cromwell,

313
00:22:51,767 --> 00:22:54,406
even adultery was punishable by death.

314
00:23:01,327 --> 00:23:05,843
Now, Puritan vigilante societies are
determined to clean up London's vice.

315
00:23:11,247 --> 00:23:14,683
John Gonson, city magistrate

316
00:23:14,767 --> 00:23:16,485
and moral crusader.

317
00:23:17,287 --> 00:23:19,243
Tonight he's on a mission to arrest

318
00:23:19,327 --> 00:23:22,160
the woman he believes
is corrupting London.

319
00:23:27,047 --> 00:23:29,607
But Moll has friends on the street.

320
00:23:40,567 --> 00:23:43,161
For running what's called
''a disorderly house'2

321
00:23:43,247 --> 00:23:45,761
Moll faces hard labour and flogging.

322
00:23:47,127 --> 00:23:49,880
Gonson has been targeting her regularly.

323
00:23:52,087 --> 00:23:53,759
Okay, come on back. Come on.

324
00:23:56,447 --> 00:23:59,120
Hurry up!
Come on, come on, get up and get out.

325
00:23:59,207 --> 00:24:01,118
Get out!

326
00:24:01,407 --> 00:24:03,045
Get out, get out.

327
00:24:19,247 --> 00:24:23,877
1n Moll's lifetime, men like Gonson
will prosecute 20,000 women.

328
00:24:28,927 --> 00:24:32,522
But Moll manages to stay in business
for over a decade.

329
00:24:36,287 --> 00:24:40,599
Like thousands of newly rich Londoners,
she invests her earnings wisely

330
00:24:41,207 --> 00:24:43,084
in bricks and mortar.

331
00:24:44,607 --> 00:24:46,837
She builds three houses in Hampstead,

332
00:24:46,927 --> 00:24:49,157
known as Moll King's Row.

333
00:24:49,247 --> 00:24:51,158
They still stand today.

334
00:24:55,927 --> 00:24:57,360
They are part of a building boom

335
00:24:57,447 --> 00:25:00,439
that creates the British cities
we know today,

336
00:25:03,047 --> 00:25:06,676
including a distinctive
British style of home, the terrace,

337
00:25:09,007 --> 00:25:13,205
tall houses built on small plots
to maximise space and profit.

338
00:25:16,527 --> 00:25:17,880
Over the next century,

339
00:25:17,967 --> 00:25:22,119
cities sprawl outwards turning
green fields into streets and squares.

340
00:25:23,607 --> 00:25:26,041
The urban population trebles.

341
00:25:32,207 --> 00:25:35,563
New opportunities open up
all over the British 1sles.

342
00:25:38,687 --> 00:25:42,236
Commerce is booming
in England's oldest colony, 1reland.

343
00:25:45,127 --> 00:25:48,802
1rish grain, beef and pork,
feeding British towns.

344
00:25:49,927 --> 00:25:52,600
The linen trade clothing the colonies.

345
00:25:54,127 --> 00:25:57,244
Dublin is the second largest city
of the Empire.

346
00:25:59,327 --> 00:26:03,798
Most of 1reland's fertile land is owned
by a tiny Protestant minority.

347
00:26:09,047 --> 00:26:12,517
But for 1rish Catholics,
there are severe restrictions.

348
00:26:14,687 --> 00:26:20,478
The penal laws would not allow
any Irishman to own property or land.

349
00:26:21,447 --> 00:26:24,996
So it was an extraordinary
repressive regime.

350
00:26:25,807 --> 00:26:29,163
But it's a surprise, you see,
in view of that,

351
00:26:29,647 --> 00:26:33,322
that the Irish have not resented
the English far more.

352
00:26:36,447 --> 00:26:40,360
NARRATOR There are also laws to stop
Catholics from holding public office,

353
00:26:40,447 --> 00:26:44,235
joining the army and even owning
a fine horse or a gun.

354
00:26:51,487 --> 00:26:55,241
County Mayo, one of the poorest parts
of the country.

355
00:26:56,887 --> 00:27:00,038
Oppressive British rule has turned
outlaws and highwaymen

356
00:27:00,127 --> 00:27:03,597
like Captain Gallagher
into 1rish folk heroes.

357
00:27:07,127 --> 00:27:10,597
Today's raid targets the home
of a wealthy landowner.

358
00:27:12,047 --> 00:27:13,560
(WOMAN YELPS)

359
00:27:13,647 --> 00:27:15,524
(GLASS SHATTERING)

360
00:27:16,167 --> 00:27:18,761
Greyson, go take a look around.

361
00:27:26,767 --> 00:27:28,917
You have a very pretty wife.

362
00:27:31,727 --> 00:27:33,604
NARRATOR During the raid,
Gallagher discovers

363
00:27:33,687 --> 00:27:36,247
eviction notices for several tenants.

364
00:27:40,887 --> 00:27:43,606
His actions become the stuff of legend.

365
00:27:46,287 --> 00:27:48,437
Eat it. Eat it.

366
00:27:48,887 --> 00:27:51,845
I think what made people identify
so strongly with Gallagher

367
00:27:51,927 --> 00:27:55,203
was that he was expressing
the desires that none of them

368
00:27:55,487 --> 00:27:57,478
were able to put into practice

369
00:27:57,567 --> 00:28:00,445
or would ever possibly either dare to

370
00:28:00,527 --> 00:28:01,755
or have the opportunity to.

371
00:28:01,847 --> 00:28:03,838
He was like the rogue

372
00:28:03,927 --> 00:28:08,318
that represented all their
hopes and all their resentment.

373
00:28:13,287 --> 00:28:15,482
NARRATOR By the time
he's caught and hanged,

374
00:28:15,567 --> 00:28:19,116
the British government realises
that the time for reform has come.

375
00:28:25,087 --> 00:28:28,397
Britain is in the middle
of a century of war with France.

376
00:28:28,487 --> 00:28:31,638
The army desperately needs
every man it can find.

377
00:28:32,887 --> 00:28:37,517
So, the ban on 1rish Catholics is lifted
and thousands quickly sign up.

378
00:28:39,727 --> 00:28:45,484
I think it's because of the
extraordinary oppression and repression

379
00:28:45,567 --> 00:28:48,923
that Ireland retained its individuality,

380
00:28:49,007 --> 00:28:54,559
and continued to struggle
and eventually won its freedom.

381
00:28:59,007 --> 00:29:01,237
NARRATOR Back on the streets of London,

382
00:29:01,327 --> 00:29:04,285
a young man
is also fighting for his freedom.

383
00:29:06,247 --> 00:29:09,284
Twenty years ago,
Somerset was sold into slavery.

384
00:29:13,567 --> 00:29:16,639
Now, living in London
and baptised as James,

385
00:29:17,087 --> 00:29:19,476
he's running away from his owner.

386
00:29:20,847 --> 00:29:25,204
1f captured, Somerset faces a life
of abuse and hard labour.

387
00:29:33,287 --> 00:29:37,121
What happens to him
will help change the course of history.

388
00:29:46,287 --> 00:29:48,926
February, 1 772,

389
00:29:49,007 --> 00:29:53,523
at Westminster Hall, Somerset's case
is gripping the British public.

390
00:29:55,447 --> 00:29:59,486
He is forcing the court to choose
between two British aspirations,

391
00:29:59,727 --> 00:30:02,366
human liberty and making money.

392
00:30:05,807 --> 00:30:09,436
A small group of prosperous idealists
opposes the slave trade.

393
00:30:10,847 --> 00:30:14,044
They've taken Somerset's cause
to the highest court in the land,

394
00:30:14,127 --> 00:30:16,482
putting slavery itself on trial.

395
00:30:17,847 --> 00:30:20,805
Somerset's fate is in this man's hands.

396
00:30:22,287 --> 00:30:26,917
Lord Mansfield, Britain's leading judge
of commercial law.

397
00:30:28,007 --> 00:30:31,477
Slavery is legal in British colonies
and on British ships.

398
00:30:31,567 --> 00:30:36,402
But no one has ever definitively stated
that slavery is legal on British soil.

399
00:30:38,687 --> 00:30:43,203
Defending Somerset,
a young advocate, Francis Hargrave,

400
00:30:43,287 --> 00:30:45,278
offering his services for free.

401
00:30:46,607 --> 00:30:48,359
But this is his first case.

402
00:30:50,807 --> 00:30:53,446
He's never even spoken in court before.

403
00:30:54,527 --> 00:30:57,644
The questions arising on this case

404
00:30:57,727 --> 00:31:00,082
do not merely concern

405
00:31:00,167 --> 00:31:03,284
the unfortunate person
who is the object of it.

406
00:31:03,367 --> 00:31:06,518
NARRATOR There are around
1 5,000 black people in Britain,

407
00:31:07,087 --> 00:31:11,524
a mixture of slaves, ex-slaves,
seamen, servants and musicians.

408
00:31:13,527 --> 00:31:15,722
HARGRAVE If Charles Stewart's right
is recognised...

409
00:31:15,807 --> 00:31:18,275
NARRATOR Even those who are free
face a constant risk

410
00:31:18,367 --> 00:31:21,325
of being kidnapped
and sold into slavery.

411
00:31:21,407 --> 00:31:24,240
The future of every black Briton
is at stake.

412
00:31:24,967 --> 00:31:28,721
...domestic slavery,
with its horrid train of evils

413
00:31:28,807 --> 00:31:32,243
continues to torment
and dishonour the human species.

414
00:31:33,647 --> 00:31:37,276
NARRATOR Plantation owners financed
the defence of slavery.

415
00:31:37,367 --> 00:31:41,246
There are no less than 1 4,000 slaves
now in England.

416
00:31:42,607 --> 00:31:44,996
NARRATOR 40% of the jobs
in Bristol and Liverpool

417
00:31:45,087 --> 00:31:47,123
depend upon the slave trade.

418
00:31:47,207 --> 00:31:51,120
And whose loss will amount to a sum
no less than £700,000.

419
00:31:58,727 --> 00:32:02,606
NARRATOR The legal wrangling
stretches out over six months.

420
00:32:02,687 --> 00:32:07,317
England has too pure an air
for a slave to breathe in.

421
00:32:07,407 --> 00:32:11,116
The setting of 1 4,000 men,
at once, loose,

422
00:32:11,207 --> 00:32:14,358
is very disagreeable in the effects
it threatens.

423
00:32:15,207 --> 00:32:17,767
GERZINA Mansfield was
in very difficult position.

424
00:32:17,847 --> 00:32:21,522
He had sympathy for the slave owners.

425
00:32:21,767 --> 00:32:24,327
Wealth was enormously influential.

426
00:32:24,487 --> 00:32:25,715
CHILD Somerset Case!

427
00:32:25,807 --> 00:32:29,197
NARRATOR The case catches
the imagination of the Empire.

428
00:32:29,287 --> 00:32:33,200
Newspapers in Britain and America
are filled with argument and opinion.

429
00:32:33,967 --> 00:32:36,800
The Twittersphere would have blown up

430
00:32:36,887 --> 00:32:38,684
with the news of the Somerset Case,

431
00:32:38,767 --> 00:32:40,166
'cause it affected everybody.

432
00:32:40,247 --> 00:32:43,239
It affected the city of London,
it affected those in the Caribbean,

433
00:32:43,327 --> 00:32:45,238
it affected finance.

434
00:32:47,687 --> 00:32:49,643
Case of James Somerset...

435
00:32:49,727 --> 00:32:53,197
NARRATOR On the 23rd of June, 1 772,

436
00:32:53,287 --> 00:32:56,484
Lord Mansfield delivers his verdict.

437
00:32:58,647 --> 00:33:01,639
The state of slavery

438
00:33:01,767 --> 00:33:05,123
is so odious

439
00:33:06,647 --> 00:33:09,798
that nothing can be suffered
to support it.

440
00:33:09,887 --> 00:33:15,439
Whatever inconveniences, therefore,
may follow from this decision,

441
00:33:16,087 --> 00:33:21,081
I cannot say that this case
is allowed or approved

442
00:33:22,167 --> 00:33:24,044
by the law of England.

443
00:33:24,647 --> 00:33:25,636
And therefore,

444
00:33:27,807 --> 00:33:28,796
the black

445
00:33:34,087 --> 00:33:35,406
must be discharged.

446
00:33:45,607 --> 00:33:47,359
I think about the Stephen Lawrence case,

447
00:33:47,527 --> 00:33:51,156
and I can imagine
what it must have been like

448
00:33:51,247 --> 00:33:54,045
to take on a nation

449
00:33:54,127 --> 00:33:57,676
and to win, personally

450
00:33:57,767 --> 00:33:59,166
and politically.

451
00:34:02,407 --> 00:34:05,843
NARRATOR Mansfield's judgement
is carefully worded.

452
00:34:05,927 --> 00:34:08,566
He rules that no slave
can be forcibly deported

453
00:34:08,647 --> 00:34:11,241
from England to the plantations.

454
00:34:11,807 --> 00:34:17,120
Even though the Somerset Case
didn't actually end slavery in Britain,

455
00:34:17,207 --> 00:34:20,040
it made people believe
that it had done so.

456
00:34:20,127 --> 00:34:25,121
So, just that perception
of slavery ended was worth the decision.

457
00:34:29,407 --> 00:34:32,160
NARRATOR 1t's the beginning
of the end of slavery.

458
00:34:34,807 --> 00:34:38,004
The slave trade
is finally banned in 1 807.

459
00:34:39,247 --> 00:34:44,924
And by 1 838, nearly all slaves
in the British Empire are free.

460
00:34:52,327 --> 00:34:56,559
This Empire now stretches over
a million square miles.

461
00:34:58,567 --> 00:35:01,320
Britain has the greatest
merchant fleet on earth

462
00:35:01,407 --> 00:35:04,877
and controls valuable trade routes
all over the world.

463
00:35:06,647 --> 00:35:10,799
But Britain's supremacy
of the seas is under threat.

464
00:35:10,887 --> 00:35:13,117
A new power is sweeping Europe.

465
00:35:13,207 --> 00:35:19,043
France prepares to invade Britain, led
by their emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte.

466
00:35:20,207 --> 00:35:22,880
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE With God's help,
1 will put an end to the future

467
00:35:22,967 --> 00:35:25,117
and the very existence of England.

468
00:35:28,127 --> 00:35:32,757
NARRATOR October the 2 1 st, 1 805,
Cape Trafalgar, off the coast of Spain.

469
00:35:34,167 --> 00:35:37,637
A British warship sails into
the mother of all sea battles.

470
00:35:38,807 --> 00:35:44,484
France and Spain have joined forces
to smash Britain's control of the seas.

471
00:35:46,207 --> 00:35:48,926
Britain's fleet is outnumbered,

472
00:35:49,007 --> 00:35:50,838
but it has a deadly weapon.

473
00:35:54,607 --> 00:35:56,404
The Victory,

474
00:35:56,487 --> 00:36:01,117
a floating fortress
with walls of oak two feet thick,

475
00:36:01,287 --> 00:36:07,396
1 04 cannon, manned by over 800
well-drilled, battle-hardened seamen,

476
00:36:08,447 --> 00:36:11,166
a symbol of Britain's maritime might.

477
00:36:17,247 --> 00:36:19,636
1n command,

478
00:36:19,727 --> 00:36:25,802
Admiral Horatio Nelson, 4 7,
and a brilliant but maverick tactician.

479
00:36:26,607 --> 00:36:30,156
He's lived and breathed the Royal Navy
from the age of 1 2.

480
00:36:31,767 --> 00:36:34,600
He's already lost an arm
and the sight in one eye

481
00:36:34,687 --> 00:36:36,882
fighting the French and Spanish.

482
00:36:38,247 --> 00:36:40,715
HORATIO NELSON You must hate
a Frenchman as you do the devil.

483
00:36:40,807 --> 00:36:43,321
1t is annihilation
that the country wants

484
00:36:43,407 --> 00:36:45,875
and not merely a splendid victory.

485
00:36:49,847 --> 00:36:51,565
NARRATOR Nelson has a plan.

486
00:36:51,727 --> 00:36:54,480
1t is daring, maybe suicidal.

487
00:36:55,327 --> 00:36:57,887
Tomorrow didn't matter,
this was all there was.

488
00:36:57,967 --> 00:37:01,198
There wasn't gonna be another battle,
this was the only battle for Nelson.

489
00:37:01,287 --> 00:37:05,121
And he was gonna do whatever it took,
and he was able to think of something

490
00:37:05,207 --> 00:37:07,846
that the French would
never have expected him to do.

491
00:37:10,607 --> 00:37:13,997
NARRATOR 1nstead of fighting
a traditional side-by-side battle,

492
00:37:14,087 --> 00:37:17,921
his ships sailed directly
into the enemy fleet.

493
00:37:18,007 --> 00:37:20,043
By breaking up the enemy line,

494
00:37:20,127 --> 00:37:23,358
Nelson's men will be
at their most destructive.

495
00:37:25,207 --> 00:37:28,165
But until then,
his ships are sitting ducks

496
00:37:28,287 --> 00:37:30,323
unable to return fire.

497
00:37:30,927 --> 00:37:32,883
Victory leads the attack.

498
00:37:32,967 --> 00:37:35,720
All enemy cannon trained on her.

499
00:37:41,127 --> 00:37:45,405
Sailors called the gun deck
the ''slaughter house''.

500
00:37:45,487 --> 00:37:49,002
1t will soon be strewn with body parts.

501
00:37:49,087 --> 00:37:52,159
Sand is laid to soak up the blood.

502
00:37:58,527 --> 00:38:01,519
Powder monkeys carry
gunpowder to the cannons.

503
00:38:02,087 --> 00:38:04,123
1t's one of the most dangerous jobs,

504
00:38:04,207 --> 00:38:07,040
usually given to young boys
and sometimes even women.

505
00:38:11,447 --> 00:38:14,120
Nelson must get among
the enemy ships quickly,

506
00:38:14,887 --> 00:38:17,276
but the wind drops.

507
00:38:17,367 --> 00:38:19,801
Britain's ships are left drifting.

508
00:38:24,367 --> 00:38:26,358
Nelson rallies his troops.

509
00:38:27,327 --> 00:38:30,717
NELSON England expects every man
will do his duty.

510
00:38:31,847 --> 00:38:34,645
At Trafalgar we see
this extraordinary fighting spirit

511
00:38:34,727 --> 00:38:36,445
of the ordinary British servicemen.

512
00:38:36,527 --> 00:38:39,485
It takes incredible nerve
but also teamwork,

513
00:38:39,567 --> 00:38:42,127
because they have
to trust that their fellows behind them

514
00:38:42,207 --> 00:38:44,357
are gonna come up
and eventually support them.

515
00:38:49,327 --> 00:38:51,602
NARRATOR French guns open fire.

516
00:38:56,847 --> 00:39:00,522
Enemy cannonballs fall short,

517
00:39:00,607 --> 00:39:02,677
but it's just a matter of time.

518
00:39:02,767 --> 00:39:04,803
I think being below decks
in the Battle of Trafalgar

519
00:39:04,887 --> 00:39:06,366
must have been an absolute nightmare.

520
00:39:06,887 --> 00:39:09,799
You're there waiting to be blown up.

521
00:39:18,567 --> 00:39:22,276
NARRATOR Now, 200 French guns
are blasting the Victory.

522
00:39:22,967 --> 00:39:25,356
The ship becomes a deathtrap.

523
00:39:27,967 --> 00:39:32,643
Below deck, more men are killed by
flying shards of wood than enemy fire.

524
00:39:36,567 --> 00:39:39,001
Victory's ship's wheel is blown away,

525
00:39:39,087 --> 00:39:41,203
but Nelson pushes on.

526
00:39:42,647 --> 00:39:44,399
I always feel,
and I think it's always true,

527
00:39:44,487 --> 00:39:46,682
that when we have that kind
of fire in our belly,

528
00:39:46,767 --> 00:39:51,363
that I think we can have,
we can give ourselves such a big lift.

529
00:39:51,567 --> 00:39:53,922
When our backs are against the wall
and we need to really dig in,

530
00:39:54,007 --> 00:39:55,725
I think we have
that great ability to do so.

531
00:39:57,687 --> 00:39:59,803
NARRATOR After 40 minutes under fire,

532
00:39:59,887 --> 00:40:02,242
Victory breaks through French lines.

533
00:40:08,847 --> 00:40:13,079
Nelson unleashes
Britain's superior firepower.

534
00:40:13,167 --> 00:40:17,763
The nearest French ship loses
over 1 00 men in minutes.

535
00:40:17,847 --> 00:40:20,122
Nelson's plan was working.

536
00:40:21,167 --> 00:40:23,078
Half an hour into the battle,

537
00:40:23,167 --> 00:40:25,727
a French musket ball finds its target.

538
00:40:31,847 --> 00:40:34,156
I doubt there's much you can do for me.

539
00:40:39,567 --> 00:40:42,320
NARRATOR The musket ball has torn
through an artery,

540
00:40:42,407 --> 00:40:45,399
punctured a lung,
and broken Nelson's spine.

541
00:40:48,287 --> 00:40:50,926
He's drowning in his own blood.

542
00:40:51,087 --> 00:40:52,998
(COUGHING)

543
00:40:56,767 --> 00:40:59,600
The battle rages for nearly five hours.

544
00:41:03,287 --> 00:41:06,723
Victory's gunners can reload
at twice the speed of the French

545
00:41:06,807 --> 00:41:09,401
and are now firing point-blank.

546
00:41:11,367 --> 00:41:13,881
I'm going to give you
something for the pain.

547
00:41:22,727 --> 00:41:25,639
NARRATOR Napoleon's fleet is decimated.

548
00:41:26,367 --> 00:41:29,279
Nelson has triumphed.

549
00:41:29,367 --> 00:41:32,439
1t's the news he's been hanging on for.

550
00:41:35,647 --> 00:41:37,877
Thank God I've done my duty.

551
00:41:53,647 --> 00:41:57,435
1n the end,
the British Navy destroys 1 8 ships,

552
00:41:57,527 --> 00:41:59,836
over half the enemy's fleet.

553
00:41:59,967 --> 00:42:02,037
Nelson loses none.

554
00:42:04,967 --> 00:42:08,755
Forty years later,
London erects Nelson's Column,

555
00:42:08,847 --> 00:42:11,645
a memorial from a grateful nation.

556
00:42:14,767 --> 00:42:17,042
The great lions of Trafalgar Square,

557
00:42:17,167 --> 00:42:20,318
cast from metal
from captured enemy cannon.

558
00:42:21,967 --> 00:42:24,003
If Nelson hadn't won Trafalgar,

559
00:42:24,087 --> 00:42:27,796
the British Empire would not have had
the reach it had across the globe.

560
00:42:27,887 --> 00:42:31,596
All the places that we colonised would
not have been speaking English.

561
00:42:31,687 --> 00:42:33,678
The modern world would be
a completely different place

562
00:42:33,767 --> 00:42:35,564
had it not been for that one victory.

563
00:42:39,567 --> 00:42:44,243
NARRATOR The Royal Navy commands
the ocean for the next 1 00 years.

564
00:42:46,767 --> 00:42:49,361
Britain is now a superpower.

565
00:42:50,087 --> 00:42:53,204
Control of world trade
generates huge profits

566
00:42:53,287 --> 00:42:57,326
that are about to finance
the world's first industrial revolution

567
00:42:57,407 --> 00:43:00,126
and utterly transform British life.