Season 1, Episode 02 – “Xerxes vs Themistocles, Part Two: Athens Rising” In 480 BCE, Xerxes’ army invades Greece as Themistocles leads the Greek fleet at Artemisium. Leonidas and 300 Spartans hold Thermopylae until a defector reveals a path, allowing Xerxes’ Immortals to outflank them. As Persia attacks Athens, Themistocles urges evacuation, trusting an oracle’s promise of salvation through his fleet. With Greek unity faltering, he must outwit Xerxes at sea. This war will decide the fate of empires as tradition clashes with ambition.

Fatal Conflicts: the Rise and Fall of Civilisations is a two-part documentary exploring two defining ancient rivalries: Xerxes vs Themistocles in the Second Greco-Persian War, and Hannibal vs Scipio in the Second Punic War. In each, a dominant empire, Persia or Carthage, faces a rising force, Greece or Rome.

Season 1, Episode 01 – Episode one follows Xerxes’s invasion of Greece and Themistocles’s bold naval resistance. Episode two sees Hannibal’s daring campaign in Italy and Scipio’s rise to challenge him. Told through cinematic recreations, stylised graphics and expert insights, this series reveals how ambition and ideology shaped the ancient world. Through the eyes of four extraordinary leaders, Fatal Conflicts traces the razor’s edge between triumph and ruin.