In 1794, French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre produced the world's first defense of "state terror" - claiming that the road to virtue lay through political violence. This film combines drama, archive and documentary interviews to examine Robespierre's year in charge of the Committee Of Public Safety - the powerful state machine at the heart of Revolutionary France. Contesting Robespierre's legacy is Slavoj Zizek, who argues that terror in the cause of virtue is justifiable, and Simon Schama, who believes the road from Robespierre ran straight to the gulag and the 20th-century concentration camp. The drama, based on original sources, follows the life-and-death politics of the Committee during "Year Two" of the new Republic.

Writers and historians including Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory revisit the last days of Anne Boleyn, who in 1536 became the first queen in British history to be executed.

One of the world’s greatest living writers - Hilary Mantel - delves into her past and present, intertwining the themes of the Wolf Hall trilogy with stories from her own life.