Blood of the Vikings was a 5 part 2001

2001 in television

The year 2001 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2001.-Events:-Debuts:-1940s:*Meet the Press .*Candid Camera .*CBS Evening News ....

 BBC Television

BBC Television

BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...

 documentary series that traced the legacy of the Vikings in the British Isles

British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

 through a genetics survey.

Production

The series was presented by Julian Richards

Julian Richards

Julian Richards FSA, MIFA is a British television and radio presenter, writer and archaeologist with over 30 years experience of fieldwork and publication.-Early career:...

 who has a long-held fascination with the Vikings.
Geneticist Professor David Goldstein, from University College London

University College London

University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

, lead the 15-month study that compared mouth swabs from 2,500 male volunteers from 25 different locations across the country with DNA samples from Scandinavian locals to find out how much Viking heritage remains in the UK.
The study traced the past movements of peoples to discover how many Vikings stayed after the raids. The study of history and archaeology alone could not answer this question.
BBC Two Controller Jane Root

Jane Root

Jane Root is a creative executive in the media industry, who has run major television networks on both sides of the Atlantic...

 described the station's work with UCL as a unique, nationwide project.
The research confirmed that the Vikings did not just raid and retreat to Scandinavia, but settled in Britain for years. They left their genetic pattern in some parts of the UK population. Concentrations of Norwegian genetic heritage were found in part of Cumbria

Cumbria

Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

 in northwest England, the area around Penrith

Penrith, Cumbria

Penrith was an urban district between 1894 and 1974, when it was merged into Eden District.The authority's area was coterminous with the civil parish of Penrith although when the council was abolished Penrith became an unparished area....

, the Shetland

Shetland Islands

Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...

 and Orkney Islands

Orkney Islands

Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...

 and the far north of the Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 mainland.

In addition the research revealed surprising new information about Celtic and Anglo-Saxon heritage on the British mainland. Men who were tested in mainland Scotland had a percentage of Celtic genetic heritage similar to the population of southern England. This showed 1) that Celtic heritage persisted among men in southern England after Anglo-Saxon settlement; and 2) that the Scots were not predominantly Celtic.

The series included clips from Richard Fleischer

Richard Fleischer

-Early life:Fleischer was born in Brooklyn, the son of Essie and animator/producer Max Fleischer. He started in motion pictures as director of animated shorts produced by his father including entries in the Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman series.His live-action film career began in 1942 at the RKO...

’s 1958

1958 in film

The year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....

 film The Vikings

The Vikings (film)

The Vikings is an adventure film directed by Richard Fleischer in 1958 Technicolor, produced by and starring Kirk Douglas, and based on the novel The Viking by Edison Marshall, based in its turn on legendary material from the sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons. Other actors included Tony Curtis,...

starring Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...

 to illustrate common modern attitudes towards the Vikings.

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast
1	First Blood	2001-11-05
2	Invasion	2001-11-12
3	The Sea Road	2001-11-19
4	Rulers	2001
5	The Last of the Vikings	2001

External links

• Blood of the Vikings Video Clips at BBC Online
• Julian Richards chat transcript at BBC Online
• History Programme Archive at BBC History