Professor Alice Roberts charts the rise of civilisation from 6100BCE to the end of the Bronze Age. A time of great work in architecture, literature, and the arts, until most of these great civilisations suddenly collapsed, never to rise again, plunging the world into a dark age. Alice reveals how scientists are uncovering what happened to these civilisations - the devastating flood that separated Britain from Continental Europe; the cataclysmic volcanic eruption that wiped out Minoan civilisation; and the discovery of Europe's earliest battlefield – throwing new light on disasters that shaped the world today.

The disastrous final days of the Roman Empire are examined in this episode, including the cataclysmic power vacuum following its collapse and the effects felt even beyond the Empire's borders. Once known as the Dark Ages, this period saw kingdoms rise and fall, cities wiped out by invasion, and plague ravage Europe and the Middle East. Despite these disasters, archaeologists are revealing a world where trade continued, cultures flourished, and new world religions emerged and spread. Alice reveals how humankind continued to prosper even during the darkest of times.