The Celts - Episode 1 of 2 - Full Documentary

In this two-part history documentary series we take a fascinating journey through the history of the Celtic culture, following the trail back to pre-Roman times when the Celts were regarded as the first masters of Iron Age Europe. The appeal of being a Celt has rarely diminished over the centuries. Their leaders were men and women of legend - King Arthur of the Britons, the Warrior Queen Boudicca, and Vercingetorix the Gaul. However few people understand who the Celts actually were or what their true legacy is, they had powerful priests called Druids who memorised the secret knowledge of generations, but it all ended in tragedy. This vibrant culture was wiped out of Europe and the Celts were driven to the Atlantic fringes by the legions of Rome. They became the eternal victims, the romantic underdogs of history. Yet, 2,000 years later, their impact still casts its spell today, but how much is myth and how much is true? This powerful series cuts through the romanticism and clichéd images to give a true picture of Celtic culture, and investigates what ‘Celtic’ actually means, from the first time the term was used in the 7th century BC to the ‘Celtic Christianity’ of the early Middle Ages. There are also insights into various aspects of ‘Celtic’ life and language taken from interviews with a number of historians. Presenter Richard Rudgley follows the trail back to pre-Roman times, looking into every aspect of Celtic life to show how they adapted to change.

In this first episode, we call them the Celts, bloodthirsty warriors who fought naked in battle and took their enemies heads as trophies. They had powerful priests called Druids, who practiced human sacrifice to their gods, and a distinctive artistic style now sold as jewellery across the world. Evidence of Celtic civilizations stretch across Europe, in Germany a huge walled settlement is unearthed, in Switzerland thousands of artifacts illustrate the distinctive Celtic artistic decoration. Excavations in northern Europe uncover a huge engineering achievement. The expanding Roman Empire crushed the Celts in continental Europe and evidence uncovered in Britain and Ireland suggests that migration of a warrior tribe of Celtic settlers occurred, bringing their foreign traditions with them.