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Poster for Civilisations: Rise and Fall

Civilisations: Rise and Fall

2025 · 1 season

A scholarly, visually rich tour of lost empires that rewards close attention with fascinating artefacts and sober reflection.

Created by
David Lee, Duncan Singh
Genres
Documentary
Starring
Sophie Okonedo, Luca Saraceni-Gunner, Leander Vyvey
Overview
Four mighty civilisations - Rome, Egypt, Japan's Samurai and the Aztecs. Their legends remain - now priceless artefacts reveal what led them to fall into the echoes of history.

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Free in the UK
  • BBC iPlayer
More options Data from JustWatch
Created by
David Lee, Duncan Singh
Genres
Documentary
Starring
Sophie Okonedo, Luca Saraceni-Gunner, Leander Vyvey
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 1 of 3
  • darkstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • power
  • corruption
  • war
  • death
  • fate
Places
None
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • documentary
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language none
  • Violence mild
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action2
Horror1
Humour1
Realism9
Romance1
Tension4
Darkness5
Complexity6
Emotional weight5

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Where to watch in the UK

Free
  • BBC iPlayer
Buy
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
documentary
Created by
David Lee, Duncan Singh, Richard Pearson, Patrick Dickinson
Starring
Sophie Okonedo, Luca Saraceni-Gunner, Leander Vyvey, Roberto Davide, Jake Meniani, Melissanthi Mahut, Calin Bleau, David Bedella
Length
1 seasons, 4 episodes, 59 min each
Network
BBC Two
Languages
English

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