The Story of Wales - Season 1

Thirty thousand years in the making, this story begins with the drama of the earliest-known human burial in Western Europe. Huw delves into the biggest prehistoric copper mine in the world, and visits the mesmerising site of an Iron Age hillfort. He reveals the true scale of the Roman occupation and shows how Welsh saints carried the light of the gospel to the rest of the Celtic world, and left a mark on their homeland that we can all still read today.

This Story of Wales spans seven centuries, from the building of a great frontier to Owain Glyndwr's epic struggle for independence. We meet the medieval kings who shaped Wales and watch a nation emerge out of their lust for power and land. Amidst battles with Vikings, Saxons and Normans, Welsh culture flourishes. But the death of the last native prince is followed by a century of plague and famine. Then, the charismatic Glyndwr leads a rebellion against the English Crown.

It is 1485: a young nobleman sails to the land of his fathers from exile in France. His mission - to capture the English crown. For the first time, a self-proclaimed Welshman will be king of England. Under the dynasty he founds, Wales becomes united with England. For every generation of Welsh people to come, the consequences are huge. But exactly what it means - for the next 250 years, at least - depends on whether you are a landowner or one of the ordinary people.

The Industrial Revolution turns Wales into a global player, bringing unimaginable wealth - and desperate poverty. From Parys Mountain on Anglesey to Copperopolis, Swansea, in the south, the copper trade transforms the landscape and economy. Iron does the same for Merthyr Tydfil, making it a world-class centre of technology. This brave new Wales fuels massive social turmoil, riots and uprisings - and leads to the first national demands for democracy and workers' rights.

It's boom time as Wales becomes known the world over for one particular product - Welsh steam coal, the best you can get. In the space of 50 years, 'black gold' builds a new Wales. The coalfield pulls in hundreds of thousands of migrants with a different language and culture, becoming a bustling modern world of its own. Yet no sooner has Wales found itself at the centre of global trade, than the Depression causes an industrial crash with a bitter social fallout.

In the last seventy years, Wales changes more rapidly than ever. In this final episode, a Welshman battles to set up Britain's most cherished institution, the NHS, the British parliament votes to drown a Welsh valley, a new generation of sporting heroes sets the flags waving and television itself becomes part of the story of Wales. The Welsh are a nation of commuters and consumers, but their sense of history is revived: they are a people with a story - and that story gives them power.