History from scratch – stories you haven’t learned, people you never met, shape history in ways you never thought you had.
When launched on March 20, 2025, the journey through time reveals neglected, forgotten and unknown aspects of history – from hidden stories to new perspectives of events we think we know. The show, by British Nigerian historian and BAFTA-winning filmmaker David Olusoga and American cultural historian Sarah Church, president of the Public Humanities at the University of London, explores the past from scratch.
Each plot woven the commemorativeness with the individual. “We don’t just tell you what happened in the past; we want to show you how it feels to live through it,” said co-host Olusoga. “Like the show I made on TV, the show will reveal history that didn’t happen in parliament or palace. What Sarah and I are doing is exploring political decision-making, new technologies and how the past can be played on the streets, at home or in the battlefield.”
Co-host Churchwell added: “We want to uncover the hidden layers of history – stories of ordinary people in extraordinary times. Our goal is to challenge familiar narratives and reveal the surprising truth behind what you think you know, or perhaps not thinking of questioning. It’s not just understanding history, not only what we study, but the power that shapes our world.”
Two storytelling David and Sarah will blend storytelling with keen historical insights to bring their unique perspectives to stories that challenge what we know about the past. They will reveal the experiences of humanity behind famous and forgotten events, revealing the choices, struggles and ambitions that change history in ways that continue to echo today.
In the first two episodes of Journey, David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell explored the terrorist attacks that shocked the United States, led to the formation of new national security agencies, and helped the United States drive the war in the United States. But this is not 9/11, they reveal the story of the 1916 Black Tom Island explosion, a devastating explosion that sways and paves the way for the modern state of security in the United States.
In the upcoming episode, David and Sara reveal the outstanding story of Victoria Woodhull, a woman who ran for president in the United States in 1872. Tracking the road to the 1703 storm, the most violent weather event ever recorded in England; and following the scandal murder of architect Stanford White, a crime that exposed the dart side of the Gilded Age of America.
They will revisit the grand exhibition of 1851, where Britain displays its industrial capacity and its insecurity; explore the true story of Bass Reeves, a formerly enslaved man who became one of the most legendary American marshals in the American West; and reveal the lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, two women rebel against the British Empire as pirates in the Caribbean.
Join the show’s launch partner, the online genealogy service FindMypast, while Google’s NotebookLM is joining in support of the entire series of research.
