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The Best Episodes of Civilisation Season 1

Every episode of Civilisation Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Civilisation Season 1!

Binge this in 10h 50m•Peaking at 8.3/10

Sir Kenneth Clark guides us through the ages exploring the glorious rise of civilisation in western man. Beginning with the bleakness of the dark ages to the present day, we consider civilisation's articulations and expressions

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Civilisation Season 1 Episode 13 - Heroic Materialism
    8.3/10(52 votes)

    S1:E13

    Clark concludes the series with his discussion of materialism and humanitarianism of the past century. This takes us from the industrial landscape of nineteenth century England to the skyscrapers of twentieth century New York. The achievements of the engineers and scientists - such as Brunel and Rutherford - having been matched by the great reformers like Wilberforce and Shaftsbury.

    Director:Michael Gill
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Civilisation Season 1 Episode 2 - The Great Thaw
    8.2/10(93 votes)

    S1:E2

    In the second episode Clark tells of the sudden reawakening of European civilisation in the twelfth century . He traces it from its first manifestations in the Abbey of Cluny to its high point, the building of the Chartres cathedral.

    Director:Peter Montagnon
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Civilisation Season 1 Episode 12 - The Fallacies of Hope
    8.2/10(53 votes)

    S1:E12

    Here Clark argues that the French Revolution led to the dictatorship of Napoleon and the dreary bureaucracies of the nineteenth century and traces the disillusionment of the Romanticism artists is traced from Beethoven's, Byron's poetry, Delacroix's paintings to Rodin's sculpture.

    Director:Michael Gill
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Civilisation Season 1 Episode 3 - Romance and Reality
    8.1/10(81 votes)

    S1:E3

    Beginning at a castle in the Loire, then travelling through the hills of Tuscany and Umbria to the cathedral baptistry at Pisa as he examines both the aspirations and achievements of the later Middle Ages in France and Italy.

    Director:Michael Gill
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Civilisation Season 1 Episode 4 - Man: The Measure of all Things
    8.1/10(71 votes)

    S1:E4

    Visiting Florence, where, Clark argues, European thought gained a new impetus from its rediscovery of its classical past. He also visits the palaces at Urbino and Mantua, other centres of (Renaissance) civilisation.

    Director:Ann Turner
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Civilisation Season 1 Episode 5 - The Hero as Artist
    8.1/10(66 votes)

    S1:E5

    Here Clark takes us back to 16th century Papal Rome noting the convergence of Christianity and antiquity. He discusses Michelangelo, Raphael, and da Vinci, the courtyards of the Vatican, the rooms decorated for the Pope by Raphael, and the Sistine Chapel.

    Director:Michael Gill
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Civilisation Season 1 Episode 10 - The Smile of Reason
    8.0/10(56 votes)

    S1:E10

    Here Clark discusses the Age of Enlightenment tracing it from the polite conversations in the elegant Parisian salons of eighteenth-century, through the subsequent revolutionary politics to the great European palaces of Blenheim and Versailles finally to Jefferson's Monticello.

    Director:Michael Gill
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Civilisation Season 1 Episode 11 - The Worship of Nature
    8.0/10(54 votes)

    S1:E11

    Belief in the divinity of nature, Clark argues, usurped Christianity's position as the chief creative force in Western civilisation and ushered in the Romantic movement. Here Clark visits Tintern Abbey, the Alps, and there discusses the landscapes of Turner and Constable.

    Directors:Ann Turner, Peter Montagnon
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Civilisation Season 1 Episode 1 - The Skin of Our Teeth
    7.9/10(134 votes)

    S1:E1

    In this the first episode Clark travels from Byzantine Ravenna to the Celtic Hebrides, from the Norway of the Vikings to Charlemagne's chapel at Aachen, telling his story of the Dark Ages; the six centuries following the collapse of the Roman Empire.

    Director:Michael Gill
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Civilisation Season 1 Episode 6 - Protest and Communication
    7.9/10(64 votes)

    S1:E6

    Here Clark takes us back to the Reformation. That is to the Germany of Albrecht Duerer and Martin Luther, the world of the humanitarians Erasmus, Montaigne, and Shakespeare.

    Director:Peter Montagnon
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Civilisation Season 1 Episode 7 - Grandeur and Obedience
    7.9/10(58 votes)

    S1:E7

    Again in Rome of Michelangelo and Bernini, Clark tells of the Catholic Church's fight against the Protestant north, the Counter-Reformation and the Church's new splendour symbolized by the glory of St. Peter's.

    Director:Peter Montagnon
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Civilisation Season 1 Episode 8 - The Light of Experience
    7.9/10(60 votes)

    S1:E8

    Here Clark tells of new worlds in space and in a drop of water that the telescope and microscope revealed, and the new realism in the Dutch paintings which took the observation of human character to a higher stage of development.

    Director:Michael Gill
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Civilisation Season 1 Episode 9 - The Pursuit of Happiness
    7.6/10(58 votes)

    S1:E9

    Here Clark talks of the harmonious flow and complex symmetries of the works of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart — and the reflection of these in the Rococo churches and palaces of Bavaria.

    Director:Peter Montagnon
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Heroic Materialism" is the best rated episode of "Civilisation" season 1. It scored 8.3/10 based on 52 votes. Directed by Michael Gill and written by Unknown, it aired on 5/18/1969. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "The Great Thaw".