In this opening episode Cunk travels the world, heading down caves and up mountains in her search for Mankind’s first moments, and with the help of a variety of experts she explains how the earliest societies were formed: from the easier ones to spell like Rome and Greece, to the ones that are harder to spell, like Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Cunk tells the story of the birth of two of the world’s great religions and learns what came next: the fall of the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages, the Crusades, and Genghis Khan. So a bit of a rough patch for Mankind, if we’re honest.

Philomena Cunk explores the Renaissance and revolutions, including but not limited to the American one.

Cunk sees how science and industry ushered in an age of convenience but also threatened all life on earth. So swings and roundabouts really.

Cunk concludes her profound and accurate history of humanity, bringing us up to the present day - which at the time of writing is Tuesday.