For years gladiators have been legendary figures of the Ancient World; the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters like ‘Spartacus,’ or ‘Gladiator.’ But our knowledge has been based largely on speculation - until now. Timewatch have secured exclusive access to the biggest archaeological gladiator research project of all time. As it approaches its conclusion, Gladiator C.S.I reveals the secrets of how gladiators lived, fought and died, not from speculation but from forensic Science.

Medieval tournaments weren’t about jousting for ladies—they were about the mêlée, a brutal mass clash where knights fought in teams to capture rivals for ransom. William Marshal rose from humble origins to become the greatest knight of this era, gaining fame, wealth, and power. Timewatch follows his life to reveal how these contests shaped politics, heraldry, literature, and even Magna Carta, using expert insight and dramatic reconstructions.

On the outskirts of York, archaeologists have made a remarkable yet sinister discovery. Just 60 miles from the edge of the known Roman world, Hadrian’s Wall, they have unearthed the skeletons of 49 beheaded men. Even stranger – one of the victims was buried with thick iron rings around his ankles that could only have been forged onto him while he was alive. Never has anything like this been discovered in the Roman world. So were these men legionaries defeated and then defiled after battle? Or enemies whose ghosts the Romans did not want returning to haunt them. This is a unique find and Timewatch has been given exclusive access to the discovery… Who were these men and why were they decapitated? Were they beheaded before or after their death? Was this a ritual killing, a punishment, or were they killed in battle? And who was the man with the leg irons – a slave or prisoner? Using dramatic inserts to illustrate the various hypotheses; state of the art CGI to bring the city of York and Hadrian’s Wall back to life as they once were.

Archaeologists in Egypt’s central desert have uncovered a cemetery of 1,000 people from the lost capital of Amarna. Built by Akhenaten as a radical new city devoted to his revolutionary religion, Amarna flourished briefly before being abandoned and erased from history. Timewatch reveals the dramatic rise and fall of this one-generation metropolis, reconstructing its palaces, temples, and workshops with cutting-edge CGI to uncover why the city vanished for over 3,000 years.

The most important shipwreck since the Mary Rose has been found, possibly part of Sir Francis Drake’s fleet. Lying 100ft deep off Alderney, the fully armed Elizabethan warship contains muskets, swords, bombs, and six giant cannons, including the world’s earliest complete provenance gun. After decades hidden beneath shifting sand, exclusive access to the deep-water excavation reveals the ship’s true identity and the extraordinary sophistication of Elizabeth’s navy during the Armada era.

Hadrian’s Wall, a unique Roman frontier stretching 73 miles, stood for 300 years as an imposing boundary. Its purpose remains mysterious—was it defence, a customs border, or both? Archaeologists have excavated only one percent, yet findings from forts and milecastles reveal the lives of soldiers, families, and slaves. Built with astonishing precision and manpower, the wall offers a time capsule into Roman military, political, and social life. New evidence may finally unlock its secrets.

Five years ago, a four thousand five hundred year old skeleton of a man was unearthed in Amesbury near Stonehenge. Buried with the bones was a treasure trove of gold and copper – the richest Neolithic grave ever uncovered in Britain. A number of arrowheads were found lying alongside the skeleton which became known as the Amesbury Archer. These bones held the tantalising prospect of finally being able to solve the riddle of the stones and answer the question of why Stonehenge was built. It was however, a false dawn – the stones have held onto their secrets. That might be about to change. Two of Britain’s leading archaeologists and world-renowned experts on Stonehenge, Professor Tim Darvill and Professor Geoff Wainwright, believe they have finally unlocked the mystery of the monument. They are convinced that Stonehenge was a place of healing. An ancient Lourdes. A place where people came on a pilgrimage to get cured. And in world without modern medicine the stones had magical powers.

On 1st July 2007, for the first time in 900 years, a Viking Warship set sail from Denmark on a unique voyage of discovery to Britain and Ireland. The ship was the product of forty years of preservation, research and painstaking construction work by archaeologists, historians and boat builders. Using only Viking tools and technology they were confident they had re-created an exact ocean-going warship which would allow us, for the first time, to understand how the Vikings achieved such vast dominance. Her crew laid their lives on the line to prove that they had got it right. With exclusive access, we are on board to chronicle this extraordinary voyage and to uncover the Lost Secrets of the Viking Ship. After 6 weeks at sea the ships arrival in Dublin Harbour was met by thousands of people giving the 65 men and women aboard a heroes welcome. They’d suffered hypothermia, sea-sickness, exhaustion, broken bones, broken masts, broken rudders, high seas, the threat of shipwrecks. They’d been greeted with amazement wherever they landed, feted by Royalty, and had fully probed the lost secrets of the Viking shipbuilders.

Prompted by historical sources and literary clues, historian Bella Bathurst embarks on a global quest to uncover the hidden world of wreckers. From Fiji to Finland, wherever ships are lost, communities have profited from disaster. Yet wrecking remains shrouded in myth, revealed only through folklore and fiction. Bella travels Britain’s remotest coasts—Scilly, Orkney, Anglesey, Goodwin Sands—meeting descendants of wreckers and exposing the dark, ingenious, sometimes murderous history behind this misunderstood profession.