Synopsis
How the liberal politics and free-market economics of the British Empire unravelled, leading to the potato famine in Ireland and mutiny in India.
- Programme: A History of Britain by Simon Schama
- Series: 3
- Episode: 3: The Empire of Good Intentions
- Channel: BBC Two
- Broadcast year: 2002
- History
Licence: ERA Licence required
UK only
Staff and students of licensed education establishments only
Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
More clips from 03

S3E1: Forces of Nature | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
S3E1: Forces of Nature | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
The French Revolution sent shockwaves through Britain. While some watched transfixed, others were horrified. Si...

S3E2: Victoria and Her Sisters | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
S3E2: Victoria and Her Sisters | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
A look at the social and economic changes which took place during Queen Victoria's reign, such as indus...

S3E4: The Two Winstons | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
S3E4: The Two Winstons | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
Examining the 20th century through the lives of Winston Churchill and George Orwell, who both wrote about the D...

S3E1: Forces of Nature | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
S3E1: Forces of Nature | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
The French Revolution sent shockwaves through Britain. While some watched transfixed, others were horrified. Si...

S3E2: Victoria and Her Sisters | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
S3E2: Victoria and Her Sisters | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
A look at the social and economic changes which took place during Queen Victoria's reign, such as indus...

S3E4: The Two Winstons | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
S3E4: The Two Winstons | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
Examining the 20th century through the lives of Winston Churchill and George Orwell, who both wrote about the D...
More resources about The British empire

Episode 2 | The Road to Partition
Episode 2 | The Road to Partition
The second episode explores how political tensions and outbreaks of sectarian violence threatened to destabilise the new Northern Irish state.

Episode 3 | Rebel Heart
Episode 3 | Rebel Heart
Ernie is sent to the west of Ireland by Michael Collins to rally support but learns that Kelly and O'Toole are awaiting execution.

Episode 4 | Rebel Heart
Episode 4 | Rebel Heart
It's 1922 and Ernie and Ita are together at last, while Ireland is poised to win her independence.

1: A People Stolen | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson
1: A People Stolen | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson
Samuel L Jackson and a team of journalists and divers explore 400 years of slavery. What happened to the 12 million ensla...

1: A Taste of Power | Empire
1: A Taste of Power | Empire
Jeremy Paxman begins by asking how such a small country got such a big head and came to rule a quarter of the world.

1: Betrayal | Suez: A Very British Crisis
1: Betrayal | Suez: A Very British Crisis
Archive material, interviews, and dramatisations provide an insight into to the Suez crisis of 1956; the Egyptian uprising that bro...

1: Home from Home | Lost World of the Raj
1: Home from Home | Lost World of the Raj
The first episode recreates the era of the 1930s, when British expatriates attempted to create an idyllic version of English life i...

1: Martial Races | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
1: Martial Races | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
David Olusoga challenges our perceptions of the First World War with the stories of the millions of Indian, ...

1: The Atlantic Slave Trade | History File
1: The Atlantic Slave Trade | History File
The development of the triangular trade is described from its ancient origins, through the European involvement in the 16th and 17...

1: The Viceory of India | A Passage to Britain
1: The Viceory of India | A Passage to Britain
Dr Yasmin Khan tracks down passengers who travelled from Mumbai to Britain in the 1930s on the luxurious P&O liner The Viceroy...

1: Why Britain? | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
1: Why Britain? | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
In this programme we learn about the origins of the British empire in the 17th century and how its foundations we...

10: India: The Brightest Jewel | Twentieth Century History
10: India: The Brightest Jewel | Twentieth Century History
Programme covers events in India from the 1930s to Independence and Partition in 1947.

2: A Precious Cargo | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson
2: A Precious Cargo | Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson
Samuel L Jackson examines how, for over 400 years, the transatlantic slave trade became the greatest wealth-generating m...

2: Foreign Legions | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
2: Foreign Legions | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
In part two, historian David Olusoga explains how the First World War spread far beyond the mud and trench...

2: Making Ourselves at Home | Empire
2: Making Ourselves at Home | Empire
Jeremy Paxman continues by examining how traders, conquerors and settlers spread the British way of doing things.

2: Pirates | Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues
2: Pirates | Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues
Sam Willis explores the golden age of piracy during the early 18th century and charts the devastating impact p...

2: Sex and Sensibility | Lost World of the Raj
2: Sex and Sensibility | Lost World of the Raj
Raj society was based on a formal order of precedence, but behind the scenes there was a great deal of flirtation, fun, affair...

2: White Plague | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
2: White Plague | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World
The concept of 'plantation' is explored in this programme, referring not to crops but the settlement of British p...

2. On trial | The Compass
2. On trial | The Compass
Ken Saro Wiwa and Ledum Mittee come face to face with the power of the Nigerian state.

3: Lady Constance Lytton | Shoulder to Shoulder
3: Lady Constance Lytton | Shoulder to Shoulder
1908: Constance Lytton: daughter of the Viceroy of India, she came from one of the leading families in the land. Almost any d...
More from Simon Schama

S3E1: Forces of Nature | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
S3E1: Forces of Nature | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
The French Revolution sent shockwaves through Britain. While some watched transfixed, others were horrified. Si...

Simon Schama: The Road to Auschwitz
Simon Schama: The Road to Auschwitz
In the most personal and unflinching film of his career, historian Simon Schama confronts the Holocaust as not just a Nazi obsession but ...

Handmaid's history | Simon Schama Meets
Handmaid's history | Simon Schama Meets
Margaret Atwood describes how history is cyclical and contemporary leaders or movements are based on nostalgic whims of the past. ''T...

Art from concentration camps | Civilisations
Art from concentration camps | Civilisations
Simon Schama views the art that was made by children in concentration camps.

Judaism and Hellanism | The Story of the Jews
Judaism and Hellanism | The Story of the Jews
A look at how Jewish culture changed through the influence of Hellenic culture but eventually remained intact.

To His Mistress Going to Bed' | Simon Schama's John Donne
To His Mistress Going to Bed' | Simon Schama's John Donne
A reading and analysis of John Donne's poem 'To His Mistress Going to Bed'.

6: Van Gogh | Simon Schama's Power of Art
6: Van Gogh | Simon Schama's Power of Art
Simon Schama investigates what drove Van Gogh to paint Wheat Field with Crows.