Britain's Outlaws: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Few figures in British history have captured the popular imagination as much as the outlaw. From gentleman highwaymen, via swashbuckling pirates to elusive urban thieves and rogues, the brazen escapades and the flamboyance of the outlaw made them the antihero of their time - feared by the rich, admired by the poor and celebrated by writers and artists.

In this three-part series, historian Dr. Sam Willis travels the open roads, the high seas and urban alleyways to explore Britain's 17th- and 18th-century underworld of highwaymen, pirates and rogues, bringing the great age of the British outlaw vividly to life.

Sam shows that, far from being 'outsiders', outlaws were very much a product of their time, shaped by powerful national events. In each episode, he focuses not just on a particular type of outlaw, but a particular era - the series as a whole offers a chronological portrait of the changing face of crime in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Sam begins with the arrival of a new breed of gentleman criminal out of the ashes of the English Civil War - the highwayman. Heavily romanticised in literature, these glamorous gangsters became a social menace on the roads and a political thorn in the side of the creaking British state - threatening to steal our wallets and our hearts. But underneath the dashing image of stylish robbers on horseback lay a far darker reality.

Series details

• Title: Britain's Outlaws
• Format: Documentary
• Language: English
• Genres: History
• Premiere date: 2015-11-23
• Final broadcast date listed: 2015-12-07
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: BBC Four
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 60 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 9097
• IMDb ID: tt5259324
• TVDB ID: 303640

Cast and credited roles

• Dr. Sam Willis — Presenter

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2015-11-23; final listed air date 2015-12-07; episode order: 3.

Source and licence

Adapted from Britain's Outlaws on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.