Inside the Tower of London Episode Rating Graph

The Beefeaters, the first 400 years and royal connections.

The tower staff prepares to reopen to paying visitors after lockdown results in the longest closure in 75 years, beginning with a special ceremonial lowering of the drawbridge. The ravenmaster makes sure his birds are ready to interact with members of the public after months in isolation, while the chief curator oversees the launch of a gruesome new attraction commemorating the executions on Tower Hill.

The Chief Curator reveals the history of Anne Boleyn.

It's March 2023, and the Tower prepares for the crowning of a new monarch.

In this episode we follow the remarkable discovery of the first complete skeletons discovered by archaeologists at the Tower of London. Two skeletons, buried for centuries as visitors walked innocently over their graves. But who are they, and why were they buried right by the entrance to the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula?

It is June and staff at the Tower are bringing out the big guns to celebrate the anniversary of the Queen's coronation in 1953. A massive 62-gun salute is planned on the Wharf, but with his boss, the Chief Yeoman Warder, away, new Yeoman Gaoler Rob Fuller is in charge for the first time. Three 4,000lb guns and thousands of visitors to contend with mean the pressure's on Rob to get it right.

Examining the execution of German spies captured in the two world wars. There's a profile of suffragette Leonora Cohen, who took aim at the crown jewels to publicize her cause. Plus, a look back to 2014, when the Tower hosted a display of nearly 900,000 ceramic poppies in the moat for Remembrance Day. And cameras follow Scott, a new recruit for the Beefeaters.

The return of the documentary that goes behind the scenes at one of the nation's most historic and best-loved attractions. The tower's oldest raven goes missing and ravenmaster Chris Skaife must come to terms with the fact it might have gone for ever, while in April a special gun salute is organised to mark the death of Prince Philip.

As the country goes into lockdown in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, the Tower is forced to close its gates for the first time since the Second World War. As the weeks turn into months, cameras follow the small team of Yeoman Warders locked within the tower, keeping this great fortress running in isolation.

In February 2020, Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall visit the Tower to celebrate the Yeoman Warders' anniversary, the first time Prince Charles has visited the Tower in over a decade. Meanwhile, the business of researching the Tower's history goes on for Chief Curator, Tracy Borman, as she digs into the tragic story of Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

Raven chicks are born in the tower for the first time in 30 years - but only one of the newborn birds can stay, and ravenmaster Chris faces the tough decision of choosing one to keep and finding suitable homes for all the others. The tower director prepares to retire after 15 years, and takes a moment to enjoy his final gun salute, while AJ Clarke, only the second woman to join the Yeoman warders, embarks on a fitness regime that soon leaves her in need of a new uniform. Plus, a look at the story of the time the future Queen Elizabeth I was imprisoned in the tower for plotting to overthrow her sister, Queen Mary.

In episode six, Tracy Borman goes on the hunt for the lost royal palace of Henry VIII. Tracy investigates the changes that Henry made at the Tower for Anne Boleyn, his second Queen. To discover what this lost palace would have been like, Tracy visits Henry's kitchens at Hampton Court Palace to find one of the last tantalising surviving fragments of Henry's great passion for Anne.

It's May 2023 and the Tower is preparing for the crowning of a new monarch. Among those featured is AJ, the first female Yeoman Warder to take part in a royal coronation. Plus, curator Charles Farris examines one of the most famous events in Tudor history - the coronation of Queen Anne Boleyn.

In episode seven we follow the Tower's Deputy Governor Deborah Whittingham as she leads the preparations for the Constable's Dues. Meanwhile, Tracy Borman investigates the Duke of Wellington and discovers how he reinvented the Tower during his time as Constable. Wellington reformed the Yeoman Body and strengthened the Tower's military stronghold with the Waterloo Block.

The stories behind some of the most dramatic escape attempts from the tower, including Henry Howard, who tried to avoid execution by making his way through the sewage system. In the present day, curator Sally Dixon-Smith deciphers some graffiti by a Tudor mystic who mysteriously disappeared, while Yeoman warder Chris Clawson reveals why the tower is still a spooky place to work in after dark.

As the UK's lockdown relaxes in July, visitors finally return to the Tower as it reopens it gates to the public, and staff have to adjust to a new normal. The new one-way system is up and running, and new yeoman warders Barry Stringer and Darren Hardy have to get back up to speed with their historical facts.

Two baby ravens have joined the Tower's resident colony. One of them, Edgar, is called after the horror writer Edgar Allan Poe, but his sister still needs a name. It will be chosen by public vote and Ravenmaster Chris is on tenterhooks waiting to find out the result. Cameras also focus on Tower Governor Brigadier Andrew Jackson and Chief Yeoman Warder Pete McGowran. They are rehearsing a new ceremony celebrating the Tower re-opening its gates to visitors after the covid lockdown.

Today, the Tower of London is kept pristinely clean, but it has a dirty past. For centuries, all its rubbish was chucked into the River Thames, but, as chief curator Tracy Borman discovers, yesterday's trash is today's treasure. She joins a team of archaeologists on the foreshore for a once-in-a-decade survey, and makes some remarkable finds, from thousand-year-old pottery to ancient armour

Love is in the air as Yeoman Warder Matt Pryme prepares to marry his sweetheart Jo at the Tower of London. The whole community is getting ready for the big day. While Matt prepares the chapel, Canon Roger Hall chooses his most celebratory vestments

Historic Royal Palaces interpretation officer Emma Bell has a bold plan to transform the fortress into a spectacular winter wonderland, inspired by the Tower's famous menagerie. Chief curator Tracy Borman uncovers how a grumpy Henry VIII rejected his wife Catherine of Aragon's Christmas gifts, Beefeater Darren Hardy takes the Yeoman Warders carol-singing around their homes in the Casemates cottages, and the Tower community comes together for a special service in the Chapel Royal

Return of the documentary going behind the scenes at the castle. As autumn arrives, the royal bodyguard of Yeoman Warders come together to commemorate one of the saddest moments in the Tower's history, the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, before announcing the formal proclamation of King Charles III.

The Tower is continuing work on its most ambitious installation ever, the transformation of the moat into a huge floral display to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.