Historian Neil Oliver has had two series of history programmes on BBC TV tracing the story of Scotland and they have now appeared on YouTube. They are an excellent introduction to Scottish history from earliest times to almost the present day. Note, however, that many of these videos cannot be downloaded to mobile phones or tablets or indeed downloaded for storage on a PC - they have to be played on a Web browser on a desktop PC or laptop. The ten, hour-long, videos can be found at:
- A History of Scotland - The Last of the Free Series 1, Episode 1
- A History of Scotland - Hammers of the Scots Series 1 Episode 2
- A History of Scotland - Bishop Makes King Series 1 Episode 3
- A History of Scotland - Language Is Power Series 1 Episode 4
- A History of Scotland - Project Britain Series 1 Episode 5
- A History of Scotland - Gods Chosen People Series 2 Episode 1
- A History of Scotland - Lets Pretend Series 2 Episode 2
- A History of Scotland - The Price of Progress Series 2 Episode 3
- A History of Scotland - This Land Is Our Land Series 2 Episode 4
- A History of Scotland - Project Scotland Series 2 Episode 5
Neil Oliver also presented a four-part TV series History of Celtic Britain which runs for nearly four hours. The four episodes cover:
- (1/4) - Age of Iron. Neil Oliver continues his epic story of how Britain and its people came to be. Diving for 3,000-year-old treasure and pot-holing through an ancient copper mine, he discovers how a golden age of bronze collapsed into social and economic crisis set against a period of sharp climate change and would eventually be replaced by a new era, of iron.
- (2/4) - Age of Warriors. Neil Oliver explores the age of Celtic Britain - a time of warriors, druids, and kings of unimaginable wealth. He encounters a celebrated warrior from 300 BC, owner of the finest Iron Age sword ever discovered. He tries his hand at divination in an effort to discover the power of Celtic priests and searches into his own DNA for clues to Celtic identity.
- (3/4) - Age of Invasion Continuing his epic story, Neil Oliver explores the remains of brutal Iron Age battles and Celtic rebellion as he reaches the moment when Celtic Britain was ripped apart by the world's great empire - Rome.
- (4/4) - Age of Romans Neil Oliver completes his epic journey through thousands of years of ancient history with the modern marvels of Rome. He digs beneath a London tower block, discovers building work from a massive stadium, and encounters the remains of an African woman who lived in York 1800 years ago - all evidence of the extraordinary multicultural modern world of Rome.
There are also some other miscellaneous Scottish history programmes on YouTube including the following:
- Scotland - Rome's Final Frontier A BBC Scotland documentary about the Roman Empire and Scotland (58 minutes)
- Forgotten History of Scotland Part of a series on a range of subjects (45 minutes)
Where else would you like to go in Scotland?