Episode list

Timeline is a 1989 American/British/Spanish/Turkish educational television series that aired on PBS, presenting historical events from the Middle Ages in the style of newscasts. Six episodes of the series were produced. The series was created, written, and directed by Leo Eaton through Maryland Public Television (MPT). Producers were Diane Holmes of Holmes Associates in London, UK, Fernando de Castro Lopez of TVE (Televisión Española), and Altug Savasal of TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation). It was filmed on location during summer 1988 on the Isle of Man in the UK and in Spain and Turkey, with the anchor newsroom created at Maryland Public TV in the United States. Timeline evolved from a series of similar television shorts for children created by Gary Witt and produced by Leo Eaton earlier in the 1980s, called Newscast from the Past. Gary Witt was also a co-producer on Timeline. In Timeline, news anchor Steve Bell (a real-life news anchor, playing himself) and four ethnically diverse field reporters - "Siboletto of Zimbabwe" (Fran Dorn), "Owen of Canarfon" (Robert Bathurst), "Luis de Jaen" (Iñaki Aierra) and "Selim Karasi" (Engin Cezzar) - report from six watershed events in human history between 1066 and 1492. The series owed some of its inspiration to Walter Cronkite's You Are There, which aired on CBS from 1953 to 1957. Timeline also included faux commercials for products and services first available at that time in history. While the premier episode "The Crusades" aired to good ratings and received extensive press coverage, PBS's decision to broadcast each half-hour episode only on a bi-monthly basis (paired with comedian Mark Russell's half-hour satirical TV specials) provided no audience continuity and the series soon disappeared from public view.

CRUSADES was the first of the six TIMELINE 'history as news' episodes to be shown by PBS in 1989, focusing on the conquest of the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem by Sultan Saladin, and giving the back story of the Crusades up to that point. Reporters Owen of Canarfon (Robert Bathurst), Siboletto of Zimbabwe (Fran Dorn), Louis de Jaen (Inaqui Aierra) and Selim Karasi (Engin Cezzar) report from both sides of the conflict, moderated by anchorman Steve Bell (himself). Later episodes were THE BLACK DEATH, THE VIKINGS, THE MONGOLS, THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE and GRANADA. The series was filmed in the Isle of Mann (UK), Turkey and Spain.

THE MONGOLS was the fifth of the six TIMELINE 'history as news' episodes to be shown by PBS in 1989, focusing on the threat that the Mongols would invade Western Europe in 1247AD after overrunning much of Asia and creating one of the greatest empires ever to exist, stretching from China through Russia to the borders of Europe itself. Although Genghis Khan is now dead, his successors are continuing to expand the empire as European leaders struggle to understand this deadly threat from the east. Reporters Owen of Canarfon (Robert Bathurst), Siboletto of Zimbabwe (Fran Dorn), Louis de Jaen (Inaqui Aierra) and Selim Karasi (Engin Cezzar) report from both sides of the conflict, moderated by anchorman Steve Bell who explains the secrets of Mongol military success. The final episode was GRANADA and THE MONGOLS was filmed in the Isle of Mann (UK), Turkey and Spain like the rest of the TIMELINE series.