Television series
In Search of the Trojan War
Michael Wood's six-part investigation into Troy's reality and legend, blending archaeology, Homer, and myth into a gripping historical detective story. Wood walks you through the evidence—from Heinrich Schliemann's controversial digs to Linear B tablets—making you feel like you're solving a 3,000-year-old puzzle alongside him. For anyone who loved the Iliad but wanted to know what actually happened.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy a patient detective story where a presenter pieces together ruins, poems and myth like clues, and you'd rather be walked through the evidence than handed a dramatised reconstruction.
Skip it if you want a documentary that moves briskly or leans on re-enactments; this is a sit-down, talking-head investigation, and the pleasure depends on following Wood's reasoning step by step.
What it asks of you: Six hour-long episodes, so a real commitment of an evening or two, and it unfolds at a measured, unhurried pace, rewarding steady attention more than quick skimming.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Odyssey1997
Glossy, high-energy adaptation that brings Homer's epic alive with real actors and genuine spectacle. If Troy intrigued you but you want narrative momentum and beauty, this delivers both in spades.
But Liberalizes the source material considerably. The Cyclops looks like a man in rubber makeup, which undercuts the grandeur Wood was after.
Civilisations2018
Wood's later masterpiece, a global history of human creative achievement. Same meditative intelligence and forensic eye, applied to millennia rather than decades. Visually sumptuous and deeply moving.
But Nine hours is a commitment. Lacks the mystery-story momentum of the Troy series—it's more contemplative.
A History of Ancient Britain2011
Wood examining how Britain became itself through archaeology and myth. The same detective work as Troy, but closer to home, and with startling revelations about how little we actually knew.
But The earlier discoveries are more dramatic than the later ones. Pacing can drag in the middle episodes.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from In Search of the Trojan War
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Civilisation1969
Both are TV history done with scholarly rigor and genuine love for the subject. Both ask: why should we care about this? Wood found Troy; Clark shows you what it built.
Kenneth Clark's legendary thirteen-part survey of Western culture, beginning where Troy ends. If Wood's detective work makes you hungry for the bigger picture—how this ancient moment shaped everything that followed—Clark's the next step.
But Made in 1969; the pace is glacial by today's standards. Clark's very English, upper-class perspective will read as dated to some. Seriously committal.
People
Cast
Michael WoodPresenter