The Great Fire of London

(Channel 5, 2017)

It was a catastrophe for Britain – the most devastating fire we have ever experience. It destroyed almost every building inside London’s city walls and has burned its ways int our national memory. 350 years on we have all heard of the Great Fire, but what do we really know about the events of those four fateful days in September 1666?

In this stripped three-part special Suzannah Lipscomb, Dan Jones, and Rob Bell take a fresh look at the Great Fire of London by walking the actual route that the fire took across London, hour-by-hour, street-by-street, and in the process uncover what really happened in Britain’s worst inferno.

Suzannah Lipscomb digs deep into archives and museum vaults to uncover new historical evidence that reveals the human scale of the tragedy, from the vast wealth that was lost to the flames to how many people really died. Engineer Rob Bell, with the help of expert fire specialists and firefighters, explores why the fire became so deadly and what made it so unstoppable. And Dan Jones walks the route of the fire, following its four-day trail of devastation as it raged through the city.

‘Television historians Suzannah Lipscomb and Dan Jones are rapidly becoming the Ant and Dec of what used to be a rather stuffy world … fascinating three–part series ‘

Daily Mail

‘The show really works because all three present the information so engagingly and clearly, managing to make an old tale oft told sound revitalised and new’

The Observer

‘Lipscomb and Jones are engaging and knowledgeable’

The Times