# Crusades (1995)

> Terry Jones presents a four-part British history of the Crusades, blending on-camera narration with dramatized scenes of medieval holy war.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/31231

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 4
- Episode runtime: 50 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary, history
- Network: BBC Two
- Cast: Terry Jones, Anthony Smee, Steve Purbrick, Marcello Walton, Robin Sebastian, Kate Binchy, Suheil Zakkar, Sean Arnold
- TMDB rating: 8.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111931/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: measured, thoughtful, sweeping, scholarly

## Synopsis

Crusades (1995) is a British four-part history documentary miniseries created for BBC Two. Presented by Terry Jones, the series traces the Crusades across four episodes of roughly fifty minutes each, using his on-camera commentary to frame the events. Dramatized scenes feature a cast of actors portraying the figures at the heart of the story: Anthony Smee as Pope Urban II, whose call to arms launched the movement, Kate Binchy as the Byzantine princess Anna Comnena, and Sean Arnold as St. Bernard. Kammy Darweish appears as the chronicler William of Tyre, giving voice to the record of the campaigns. The engine of the series is the clash of faith, ambition, and power that drove armies from Europe across the Mediterranean and into the Levant, and each episode follows the momentum of a campaign, its sieges and its bargains. Set in medieval Europe and the Holy Land, the programme is measured and thoughtful, weighing religious conviction against political calculation. Viewers drawn to the sweep of a documentary history, in the vein of Empires of the Sea and The Ascent of Man, will find the same blend of scholarship and vivid storytelling.

## Shows like Crusades

- [Age of Tanks (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/80680)
- [Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut) (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/29235)
- [Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days (1989)](https://ember.film/tv/808)
- [Knightfall (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/63690)
- [The Cuba Libre Story (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/58149)
- [The Nazis: A Warning from History (1997)](https://ember.film/tv/17481)
- [World War II with Tom Hanks (2026)](https://ember.film/tv/1105057)
- [The Power of Nightmares (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/5768)
- [Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (2006)](https://ember.film/tv/12500)
- [The World at War (1973)](https://ember.film/tv/712)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt