Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues

Sam Willis reveals the tale of the most glamorous, romantic and glorified outlaw of them all - the Highwayman. This is the story of the masked horseback robber who stole hard cash and admirer's hearts in pursuit of a merry life and a short one. In an age with no police force to stop them, Highwaymen were a menace to society. And yet the public couldn't get enough of their escapades.

A new breed of gentleman criminal rose out of the ashes of the English Civil War: the highwayman. These glamorous gangsters were heavily romanticized in literature, with heroes such as Dick Turpin. But, as historian Sam Willis discovers in this illuminating history documentary, they became a social menace. Underneath the dashing image of stylish robbers on horseback lay a far darker reality.

Pirates are portrayed as swashbuckling anti-heroes in many adventure stories. But they had a devastating impact on trade and society. In this eye-opening history documentary, historian Sam Willis takes to the high seas in search of the infamous Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Calico Jack and others. He charts how these legendary figures became the most wanted outlaws on the planet.

18th century Britain seems to have been filled with a fascinating rogues’ gallery of fraudsters and villains. In this enlightening history documentary, Sam Willis investigates some of these criminals such as thief Jack Sheppard, so notorious that a quarter of a million people witnessed his hanging. And Mary Toft, who convinced no less than King George I that she had given birth to rabbits!