Diarmaid MacCulloch

Thomas Cromwell has gone down in history as one of the most corrupt and manipulative ruffians ever to hold power in England. A chief minister who used his position to smash the Roman Catholic church in England and loot the monasteries for his own gain. A man who used torture to bring about the execution of the woman who had once been his friend and supporter - Anne Boleyn. Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of the history of the church at Oxford University, reveals a very different image of Cromwell. He describes Cromwell as an evangelical reformer, determined to break the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church and introduce the people of England to a new type of Christianity in which each individual makes direct contact with God.

A BBC Timewatch documentary examining history's first major attempted terrorist attack. His attempt to blow up Parliament has seen Guy Fawkes go down in infamy, but the attempted coup was about much more than just one man. Hatched by a group of 13 conspirators, the 1605 plot came after decades of simmering religious tension in England. Fed by an atmosphere of fear and alienation, a group of disaffected young Catholics decided to assassinate King James I and the entire political establishment. Now with the help of CGI to recreate early 17th-century London, see how much damage would have been caused by the explosion, while dramatic reconstructions uncover the men behind the plan and explore what drove them to radicalism.

Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch - one of the world's leading historians - reveals the origins of Christianity and explores what it means to be a Christian.

Historian Diarmaid MacCulloch explores both what it means to be English and what has shaped English identity, from the Dark Ages, through the Reformation to modern times.