muskebiis Guess what? Most of what we think we know about the middle ages is actually: The Middle Ages as interpreted by the Victorians, and was neatly adjusted to fit the mores of their time. Terry Jones peels away this Victorian smokescreen and gets rid of all the popular clichés about witches, chivalry,(lack of)science and chaste helpless damsels in a refreshing way. This documentary series is whimsical enough to be enjoyed by a twelve year old, but at the same time so factual, informative, and well researched that it will please... everyone really. For example, Jones walks through actual medieval art during his explanations, which is not just funny, but also an actual 'academically correct' choice. Every episode has its own theme: The Peasant (Feudal Farming and the Farmers rebellion), The Monk (Religion), The Damsel (Woman and sexuality), The Minstrel (Music, acting, and court culture), The Night, The Philosopher (science), The Outlaw (Law and Order), and the King. In these times where history having to do with woman seems to be out of fashion or deemed unimportant again, I particularly enjoyed The Damsel.Do yourself a favour and check it out!

dumbpoet69 I was a little put off by the other commenter when they spoke of the playful nature of this series because I generally prefer my facts to be undiluted. Unfortunately comedic documentaries tend to blur the line between fact and fiction to the point where the more extreme facts seem doubtful and certainly wouldn't hold up in conversation.However, this series does a fantastic job of keeping the subject light hearted while still being dense with facts. The general structure of each episode is a brief introduction to the "stereotype" and then the rest of the episode focuses on deconstructing that stereotype, sometimes even showing where the misconception came from.

brammus Terry Jones, tells the public how the myths really were. That Robin H. wasn't as nice as he seemed to be, and that history is really told by the winner.He has taken the python-esquire way of display, and it works out great. The graphics the humor and the sometimes very detailed look at things that happened.Every program consists of one subject which will be analyzed and put against the way of life today.... No, not much change if you watch carefully.If you are interested in history, but you don't want to be lectured, than this is a series for you!Would be great BTW, if Terry Jones took a look at the rest of Europe/the world this way :)

Anzillu This show is great, you can learn a lot of fun facts from it (even if you have knowledge of the time period already you still find out some interesting stuff from time to time) and the Mony Pythonish way all is brought is hilarious, especially the multiple characters Terry Jones portrayals, from monk to knight to...damsel LOL, but even so you don't want to learn it's still good to watch for the sheer fun factor of it all. truly on of the more interesting docu's you'll find out there if you like this also check out Ancient lives (also Terry Jones here) who i have seen so far (dont know if there are more) Roman life, and Egyptian life.