Days That Shook the World

Days That Shook the World is a series of one-hour programmes that shows dramatic movie-like reconstructions of various dates in history. Each programme is split into two half hours that show reconstructions of two different dates that are connected in some way.

The reconstructions make extensive use of background music and split-screens in a film-like way. Actors play the key historical figures, but they speak very little in the actual scenes. Instead, the characters mainly communicate with the viewer by means of voiceovers of actual quotes made by the person that they are portraying. Usually, the events that unfold over the course of the day in question are explained by the programme's narrator, Peter Guinness.