Civilisations: Rise and Fall

“Civilisations: Rise and Fall reminds us, over and over, that the past is the place to go for the solutions to what’s going so catastrophically wrong in our present. It’s gripping, if despairing stuff. And mightily stressful to watch, using running countdowns – 15 years until the fall … eight years … two years … The Fall! – to demonstrate history’s terrifying and inexorable march.”
Chitra Ramaswamy, The Guardian

“It’s beautifully filmed and edited, and has fantastic talking heads telling a punchy story with gusto… [But] the story has far too much dumbshow acting, a curse of modern documentary making on all channels but here overdone by actors looking as if they have severe constipation as they stare morbidly into the distance while eating a plate of fruit. And, its brilliant experts apart, there’s a fair dose of voguish modern analysis telling us how the challenges faced by ancient people were ‘all too familiar’.”
Ben Dowell, The Times

“It has much to recommend it, despite the BBC’s best efforts to make you switch off. The episode on Rome is at pains to teach us that the empire brought problems on itself by failing to welcome refugees, in this case Goths fleeing the Huns. So you’ll need to gird your loins against all of that, but there is an intelligent history series here with contributions from the likes of Dominic Sandbrook and Max Hastings, plus more than a dozen historians with specialisms in these particular civilisations.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“I can’t help thinking that Civilisations might have been a great deal more interesting had it spent more time telling us about the history of Rome, and less time trying to lecture us about modern political problems.”
Roland White, Daily Mail