Tony Robinson's Gods and Monsters: The Undead

In this five-part series, Tony Robinson explores the weird and wonderful history of belief, superstition and religious experience in Britain. For 2000 years, Britain has been a Christian country. Or has it? In fact, our ancestors actually kept many other dark, fantastical beliefs alive. It was a world underpinned by outlandish, dangerous and plain weird beliefs. Ideas that today seem unbelievable, but were seen as uncontroversial and hugely influential, with some having shaped our history as much as mainstream religion. Featuring dramatic reconstructions, This programme examines our fascination with and terror of dead bodies. People in the past believed that even in death a body retained some vital force, and that the dead could rise from the grave to cause havoc among the living. Why did they believe this? What powers did they believe the dead had?