Documentary / Drama
A major presentation of the life and deeds of the Vikings - seafaring Scandinavians that raided and traded from today's Iran, along the Russian rivers, all over Europe and over the oceans to Greenland and America, five hundred years before Columbus. Here scientists from around…


Narrator

Narrator

Scandinavia, 1,000 AD. For years, One Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the Norse chieftain Barde. Aided by Are, a boy slave, One Eye slays his captor and together he and Are escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness. On their flight, One Eye and Are board a Viking vessel, but the ship is soon engulfed by an endless fog that clears only as the crew sights an unknown land. As the new world reveals its secrets and the Vikings confront their terrible and bloody fate, One Eye discovers his true self.

Boys' college in eastern Quebec at the end of the 1940s. Brother Jean is not a teacher like the others. He wants to interest his students in the subject and to achieve this, he conducts archaeological excavations with his students aimed at proving the establishment of a Viking colony (Vinland) on the coast of the Saint Lawrence. The superiors of his congregation do not appreciate his unconventional ways of teaching. Without knowing it, Brother Jean will have a significant impact on the lives of his students, particularly in that of Émile, a young man who is having difficulty at school and who would prefer to abandon his studies to go work in a factory.

Dr Janina Ramirez travels across glaciers and through the lava fields of Iceland to find out about one of the most compelling of the great Viking stories - the Laxdaela Saga. This hour-long film explores how the unique literary achievements of the Saga writers were possible at a time of such immense cultural, political and religious upheaval.

Trausti returns to Iceland just in time to be entangled in a family feud over a stranded whale-cadaver. His mother (the family head) is mortally wounded and Grim kills Erikur; the other clan leader. Isold, daughter of Erikur now takes his place. Isold and Trausti are attracted to each other, but Isold was promised to Hjoerleifur - the son of the Bishop (of Iceland) and his powerful wife. However, Isold has a plan...
The tale had been kept alive for generations but the intriguing story of Vinland seemed more legendary than true. But a landmark discovery rewrote the history of human exploration and showed he had indeed visited North America. Five hundred years before Christopher Columbus Leif Ericson and the Vikings sailed from Greenland to a new land sighted further west. For centuries their story was shrouded in mystery. But a remarkable discovery by archeologist Anne Ingstad uncovered the site of the legendary Vinland a Viking settlement in Newfoundland. BIOGRAPHY journeys to the Dark Ages to tell the story of one of the greatest explorers of all time and the extraordinary journey that made him a legend. Tour the site where Ericson set foot on the New World and learn what is known of his life from the world's leading scholars. Set sail for history in this unique program which re-creates one of the most important journeys in human history and introduces the legendary explorer at its heart.