Rise of the Clans

Neil Oliver travels back in time to reveal the real life Game of Thrones - the story of Scotlands ancient clans. A blood-soaked saga of battles and feuds, loyalty and betrayal, love and death set against the countrys wild mountains and glens. In this first episode, Neil follows the clans as they rallied behind Robert the Bruce in his against-all-odds bid to win Scotlands crown. After their crucial role in crushing the English at Bannockburn in 1314, Bruce rewarded the loyal chiefs with land and titles. They rise to shape the fate of kingdom in the centuries to come.

Neil Oliver reveals how the clans plotted against Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots, ultimately leading to the beheading of the most charismatic queen in Scottish history. The tale turns on a brothers plot to overthrow his sister in a ruthless bid for power. James Stewart, Earl of Moray, uses clan power to first control and then rid Scotland of his sister Mary. As she battles conspiracies, plots and counterplots, Mary is trapped in the cruel and tumultuous world of clan blood feuds. After they murder her husband Lord Darnley and Mary flees into the arms of the Earl of Bothwell, the most ruthless of Scotlands clan chiefs, civil war breaks out. Mary escapes to England, never to return again.