1066 The Battle for Middle Earth
1066 The Battle for Middle Earth | |
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Genre | Historical Drama |
Written by | Peter Harness |
Directed by | Justin Hardy |
Starring | Ian Holm, Mike Bailey, Francis Magee, Tim Plester, Søren Byder, Kate Ambler, Gemma Lawrence, Sam Hardy, Katrine Bach, Amber Celeste, Christopher Sloman, Christopher Leveaux |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 2 |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Lucy Bassnett-McGuire, Susan Horth |
Running time | 150 minutes |
Distributor | Channel 4 |
Broadcast | |
Original airing | 2009 |
External links | |
Website |
1066: The Battle for Middle Earth is a British television documentary series. In this blend of historical drama and original source material Channel 4 re-imagines the story of this decisive year, not from the saddles of kings and conquerors, but through the eyes of the ordinary men who fought on their behalf. The documentary was narrated by actor Ian Holm.
Story
The story begins in early September 1066, in the Anglo-Saxon village of Crowhurst, located off the south-eastern coast of England in the land of Sussex. In a barn, a young man named Tofi (Mike Bailey), is about to be married. The wedding is soon interrupted by Ordgar (Francis Magee), an Anglo-Saxon general and warrior. Leofric (Tim Plester), a friend of Tofi and Ordgar, meets him. Ordgar has travelled from Westminster Abbey and has received orders from King Harold II that he is fearing impending attack from William the Conqueror, the cousin of the previous Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor. They have to go fighting the Vikings of Harald Hardrada in the north east of England. After defeating the Vikings at the battle of Stamford Bridge, they are told that the Normans landed in the south, near Hastings. They walk all the way back to fight them. When they arrive in Crowhurst, they see that all women have been taken away by the Normans. They arrive to free some of them but some others were already dead. At the end, they go to fight at Hastings and most of them die. Tofi is the only one to survive.