Show overview
The History Podcast has been publishing since 2024, and across the 2 years since has built a catalogue of 120 episodes. That works out to roughly 40 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence, with the show now in its 12th season.
Episodes typically run ten to twenty minutes — most land between 14 min and 29 min — though episode length varies meaningfully from one episode to the next. It is catalogued as a EN-language History show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed yesterday, with 18 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2025, with 58 episodes published. Published by BBC.
From the publisher
NEW In The History Podcast - Two Nottingham Lads: How two British men from Nottingham end up on opposite sides of the war in Ukraine.
Latest Episodes
View all 120 episodesInvisible Hands: The American Century: 5. Wolfie
Invisible Hands: The American Century: 4. Rolling Thunder
Invisible Hands: The American Century: 3. Operation Ajax
Invisible Hands: The American Century: 2. The Prophet
Invisible Hands: The American Century: 1. Mr Nobody
Invisible Hands: The American Century: Trailer
Why do the British love tea? (from Here For The History)
Sixty Years of Hurt: Bonus Episode: David Baddiel live at Crossed Wires Podcast Festival Fringe
Sixty Years of Hurt: 6. England v Hope
Sixty Years of Hurt: 5. England v Penalties
Sixty Years of Hurt: 4. England v The Culture
Sixty Years of Hurt: 3. England v Hooligans
Sixty Years of Hurt: 2. England v Mavericks
Sixty Years of Hurt: 1. England v The World
Sixty Years of Hurt: Trailer
S9 Ep 16Introducing Everything Is Fake (And Nobody Cares)
Jamie Bartlett asks why, in so many parts of modern life, fakery is no longer punished - it's rewarded. And why so many of us seem strangely unbothered by it.
S9 Ep 15Two Nottingham Lads: 4. Last Days in the Donbas
After a show trial in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Aiden Aslin has been sentenced to death. He endures months on death row, where his days are filled with further propaganda videos and psychological torment. But in September 2022, his life takes an abrupt and unexpected turn: he is hooded, and led onto a truck, awaiting what his captors term a ‘Russian Surprise’.After making his video with Aiden, Graham Phillips faces his own reckoning. Their story becomes big news in the UK, and possible legal consequences of Graham’s actions become all too real. Will he be able to go back to a normal life outside war reporting, or is this the point of no return?Our series concludes by exploring the lasting cost of war for both men. How did the encounter between our two Nottingham lads fundamentally change their lives, and cement their status as symbols of a fracturing world?Presenter: Paul KenyonA Message Heard production for BBC Radio 4
S9 Ep 14Two Nottingham Lads: 3. Six Weeks in Mariupol
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine begins in February 2022, and Aiden Aslin finds himself fighting on the frontline. After a desperate retreat towards the port city of Mariupol, Aiden spends six harrowing weeks defending the massive steelworks, the final sanctuary for Ukrainian forces. As food and ammunition ran out, Aiden is forced to make an agonizing choice.Graham Philips was in the UK when the full-scale invasion began, but quickly makes it back to the Donbas to continue his reporting. And it is not long before he makes his biggest scoop to date: the interview with Aiden Aslin. We return to this haunting video to understand what was going on behind the scenes, and discover why it was such a sliding doors moment for both men.Presenter: Paul KenyonA Message Heard production for BBC Radio 4
S9 Ep 13Two Nottingham Lads: 2. Damascus to Donetsk
Aiden Aslin and Graham Philips take very different routes to get to that prison in Donetsk in 2022 – but their journeys cemented their destinies in Ukraine.For Aiden, his evolution from young truant to soldier takes place in the crucible of war in Syria – volunteering for the free Kurdish forces fighting against ISIS. But after trouble with the British state on his return, another conflict called: Ukraine. Aiden’s time fighting in the Donbas war confirms his commitment to the country, and leads to him being at the heart of some terrifying events.Meanwhile, Graham is becoming ever more entrenched in his views. In the mid 2010s, his dispatches from the frontline of the Donbas war are becoming more vitriolic, but also more ambitious. He is going further down the rabbit hole, and finding more and more followers in the process – people eager to see the war up close from his unique perspective. This former stand-up comedian is finding his calling – and it will ultimately change his life entirely.As 2022 draws near, the soldier and the independent journalist are operating just miles apart, both sensing that the regional trench war is about to erupt into all out conflict.Presenter: Paul KenyonA Message Heard production for BBC Radio 4
S9 Ep 12Two Nottingham Lads: 1. From One Nottingham Man to Another
Donetsk, April 2022. Two men find themselves face to face in a prison building. One is a prisoner of war, captured fighting for Ukraine. The other is a self-styled independent journalist, filming an interview for his online audience. But these two men are not Ukrainian. They’re British – and they were both born in Nottingham.Graham Philips had been documenting the growing war in the East of Ukraine since 2014, amassing thousands of followers keen to see the war from what appears to be a pro-Russian viewpoint. Aiden Aslin had been fighting for Ukraine since 2018, but was captured not long after the full scale invasion. This episode begins with a disturbing video - a peculiar, chilling episode which will change the lives of both men forever - and introduces our two protagonists, charting their backstories to understand how they found themselves on opposite sides of a foreign war. What motivated them to go to Ukraine in the first place? And how did their worldviews change so dramatically, when they were born in the same city?Presenter: Paul KenyonA Message Heard production for BBC Radio 4