Warrior Women with Lucy Lawless

Convinced by the voices of saints to step forth and serve her deposed king, Joan of Arc became an unlikely war hero. With 10,000 beaten men and very long odds against the advancing English army, she scored a miraculous string of victories over the rather surprised English battalions by leading the charge into their front lines. She even returned the throne to Charles VII, but it all went horribly wrong when she was finally captured, tried for witchcraft and heresy, and burned at the stake.

200 years ago a young woman brought the greatest empire in Asia to its knees. She was a master of kung fu and held the respect of 60,000 warriors who followed her unquestioningly into battle. Their enemy was the brutal and corrupt Qing dynasty — a dynasty they were determined to overthrow. The fate of China was in one womans hands. Her name was Wang Conger. Is she the real Mulan? Well, there is much debate about whether Mulan ever really existed but there is no doubt that the tradition of women warriors is woven into the fabric of Chinese history. And the most remarkable of them all was Wang Conger.

In 62 BC, most of England was under the thumb of the Romans. Queen Boudica was married to King Prasutagus of the semi-autonomous Iceni tribe in the east. When the king died, he bequeathed half his kingdom to his young wife and her two daughters, and half to Emperor Nero to appease Rome. Thinking they could intimidate the young woman into complete submission, the Romans promptly flogged Queen Boudica, raped her daughters and stole her lands. Boudica took up the sword, rallied her Iceni warriors and went on a rampage.