The accepted history of the Vikings is of a band of blood-thirsty pirates raiding the peaceful monasteries of Christendom and all of it is completely true. The Vikings took no prisoners, relished cruel retribution and prided themselves as warriors But this is only a small part of the story. The Vikings themselves did not write their history so we have to discover it. Presented by Neil Oliver we see the Vikings from their point of view, which reveals an extraordinary story of a people who came back from the brink of destruction and in the course of 200 years reached around a quarter of the globe and built an empire.