A vast hoard of Roman coins leads John Prescott to discover that political spin began much earlier than he thought, Mary-Ann Ochota tells the story of an astonishing Iron Age mirror, and Bettany Hughes reveals the royal secret behind a hunting badge attached to a bird of prey. Suzannah Lipscomb travels to Essex, where an Elizabethan pendant was found five years ago by a carpenter on the grounds of Ingatestone Hall.

Michael Portillo tells the remarkable story behind a pair of tiny toy soldiers found at Fort George near Inverness, and Bettany Hughes meets the Stirlingshire landscape gardener who uncovered a £1million hoard of gold. Michael Buerk takes a trip along the River Tay in a Bronze Age log boat.