0:00:03 > 0:00:07Britain at the time of Queen Elizabeth I was divided,
0:00:07 > 0:00:09unstable and violent.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17Despite this, Elizabeth stayed in power for over 40 years.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20The secret of her incredible reign...
0:00:21 > 0:00:23..is hidden in this portrait.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Detailed in the folds of her dress,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33these eyes and ears represent a spy network.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38The world's first secret service...
0:00:39 > 0:00:41..run by a father-and-son team.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Both exceptionally intelligent,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47and given the job of protecting Queen and country.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52This series tells their story over five decades,
0:00:52 > 0:00:54and reveals how the secret state was born...
0:00:56 > 0:00:58..Elizabethan England as it really was,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01with a network of spies battling a terrorist threat.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05And both sides will stop at nothing.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10The Elizabethan state is mirrors within mirrors,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13the double-crossings, the conspiracies.
0:01:13 > 0:01:14It's an endless labyrinth.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Leading historians have researched these events
0:01:19 > 0:01:21from different individual perspectives.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29Elizabeth was ineffably different.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33She was exceptional, she was holy,
0:01:33 > 0:01:34she was magical.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38They'll take us inside the mind of each of the key players...
0:01:40 > 0:01:42..dissecting their motives and actions,
0:01:42 > 0:01:45while the course of British history hangs in the balance.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51You have to wonder what personal cost comes with that.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54That there must be some kind of damage to somebody's soul
0:01:54 > 0:01:56to commit that kind of crime.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59We'll see how history is really made,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02in the corridors of power from just behind the throne.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12In this episode, a new king, a Catholic extremist on the loose,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15and the most infamous terrorist conspiracy in British history,
0:02:15 > 0:02:16the Gunpowder Plot.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32It's the dawn of the 17th century.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35For hundreds of years,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37England has been a separate country from Scotland.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47But on the 23rd of March, 1603, when Queen Elizabeth dies,
0:02:47 > 0:02:51her crown passes to her cousin, King James VI of Scotland.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58The task of installing him as James I of England
0:02:58 > 0:03:02falls to this man, England's spy master, Robert Cecil.
0:03:04 > 0:03:10Robert Cecil has an exceptional combination of talent and drive
0:03:10 > 0:03:13and intelligence and cunning,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15and a willingness
0:03:15 > 0:03:19to go to any length in order to succeed.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22But he now has to get the unknown quantity...
0:03:24 > 0:03:27..of a foreign king,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30king of a country which has usually been an enemy country.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32He has to get him down from Scotland,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35down to London, get him crowned,
0:03:35 > 0:03:40get him installed, and see if he can get the King in harness.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44And he doesn't really know who James is by this point.
0:03:46 > 0:03:47James is a mystery to him.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59James has a reputation for being obsessed with the occult,
0:03:59 > 0:04:01for promiscuity and extravagance.
0:04:02 > 0:04:10James believes that the king's authority comes directly from God.
0:04:11 > 0:04:17He is not to be legitimately challenged by any earthly authority.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23God had particularly smiled upon and blessed him,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25and he intends to enjoy this.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30James has been King of Scotland since he was a year old
0:04:30 > 0:04:31and he's rather spoilt.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37In a favourite phrase of James's, "Kings are little gods,
0:04:37 > 0:04:41"they exercise a manner of divine power."
0:04:45 > 0:04:48So, in early 1603, Cecil has a lot on his plate.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54It's not just that he has to deal with a boss who thinks he's God...
0:05:02 > 0:05:04..Cecil is also trying to capture someone he regards
0:05:04 > 0:05:06as the most dangerous man in England.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13Catholic priest John Gerard is Cecil's archenemy.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22Gerard was not like other priests, he was a maverick, he was brazen,
0:05:22 > 0:05:24he was flamboyant.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29You've got this cockiness, this swagger to him,
0:05:29 > 0:05:33but also this absolute certainty that what he's doing
0:05:33 > 0:05:34is the right thing.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40Cecil and Gerard are more than just opponents in a bitter religious war,
0:05:40 > 0:05:41this has become personal.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49SHOUTING
0:05:49 > 0:05:53Ten years ago, Cecil had Gerard in his grasp,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56threw him in the Tower of London, and tortured him...
0:05:58 > 0:05:59..only for the priest to escape.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04Getting Gerard back behind bars is a top priority.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08Cecil sincerely believed...
0:06:09 > 0:06:14..that the defence of Protestant England, it was a sacred cause.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19And, with that belief, there came, in this age of religious warfare,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22the equally sincere conviction
0:06:22 > 0:06:26that Catholicism was a perfidious doctrine,
0:06:26 > 0:06:31and that English Catholic priests were agents of a hostile
0:06:31 > 0:06:33and dangerous foreign power.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40I think Robert Cecil would have said that Gerard was a traitor
0:06:40 > 0:06:44and he was a plotter and he was a risk to national security.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46But Gerard would say that the terror is coming from the state,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48not the other way around.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Cecil puts his spy network on to finding Gerard.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01He has agents in every port and market town...
0:07:03 > 0:07:06..in the prisons and inside every suspect household.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Despite their efforts, Cecil can't find the priest.
0:07:23 > 0:07:24Four weeks into the new reign,
0:07:24 > 0:07:27King James is still travelling south.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32Cecil needs to get some control over him,
0:07:32 > 0:07:34so he travels north to meet James.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Cecil is England's Principal Secretary,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44effectively Prime Minister,
0:07:44 > 0:07:46and he's used to getting his way.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49But from James's point of view,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52it would have been unthinkable...
0:07:53 > 0:07:56..that Cecil should dominate.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02He's not an equal. No, he's not an equal.
0:08:03 > 0:08:09What James wants is for the two to slot into
0:08:09 > 0:08:15an appropriate relationship between master and servant.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Cecil comes out of this intense meeting with James
0:08:21 > 0:08:24and sends a letter saying, "I've made a discovery of his
0:08:24 > 0:08:30"royal perfections and I see the greatest felicity for the nation."
0:08:32 > 0:08:33But Cecil must be thinking...
0:08:35 > 0:08:42..that in English terms, James is not a perfect king at all
0:08:42 > 0:08:46and that the coming years will be full of panics and surprises.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54One of James's first acts as King rocks Cecil badly.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58Although James himself is Protestant,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01while still en route to London, he knights a Catholic.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07And not just any Catholic, but Thomas Gerard,
0:09:07 > 0:09:10the brother of Cecil's old enemy, John Gerard.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13So, for Gerard, this is hope.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17This King, you know, he must be their friend, and augur in
0:09:17 > 0:09:21a golden age. Finally, a golden age for the Catholics in England.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27Though himself a Protestant, James is the son of a Catholic.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29He's married to a Catholic.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32Now, he's sending a blatant signal that his reign
0:09:32 > 0:09:34will be friendly to Catholics.
0:09:36 > 0:09:37But to Robert Cecil...
0:09:39 > 0:09:43..to normalise the situation of English Catholics
0:09:43 > 0:09:48runs the risk of creating a bridgehead for foreign influence.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51He sees them as an enemy within,
0:09:51 > 0:09:55and therefore he won't do anything to allow them to fortify themselves.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Two days later, Cecil's situation gets even worse.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06A source in his network tells him they've finally tracked down
0:10:06 > 0:10:07John Gerard.
0:10:07 > 0:10:08He's on his way to meet James.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15This raises the nightmare scenario that James may be going behind
0:10:15 > 0:10:19Cecil's back to strike a deal with Gerard and the Catholics.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Everything that Cecil has spent his life working for,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25everything that Cecil's father,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27and his father before him spent his life working for,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30building up the English state with the Tudors,
0:10:30 > 0:10:32everything is now in the balance,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34because the real danger is that Cecil...
0:10:36 > 0:10:40..will be caught on the wrong side of that kind of change.
0:10:41 > 0:10:47And so it is in Cecil's interest to polarise the whole issue of religion
0:10:47 > 0:10:50into the good and the bad, into loyal Protestants
0:10:50 > 0:10:51and disloyal Catholics
0:10:51 > 0:10:56and a picture of us-versus-them conflict.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02Cecil knows the surest way to stop the King befriending the Catholics
0:11:02 > 0:11:05is to show James the Catholics are plotting against him.
0:11:16 > 0:11:22One of Cecil's agents passes on some chatter in the Catholic underground
0:11:22 > 0:11:24that someone is recruiting desperados for an
0:11:24 > 0:11:26extraordinary mission.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29They're plotting an armed raid on a royal palace,
0:11:29 > 0:11:30with the aim of kidnapping the King.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38A captured priest is tricked into giving up the location
0:11:38 > 0:11:40of the snatch
0:11:40 > 0:11:42and the leader of the kidnap gang,
0:11:42 > 0:11:44an ex-soldier on the fringes of the royal household.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51Cecil can even identify the secretive ringleader,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54a Catholic priest with the belief that if he can get him alone,
0:11:54 > 0:11:56he can convert James to Catholicism.
0:11:58 > 0:11:59That's why he wants to kidnap the King.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05For Cecil, this is manna from heaven.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12We don't know how much of the intelligence Cecil believed,
0:12:12 > 0:12:17but we do know that he reacted as if all of it and more was true.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20And this is seen in the way that he uses every asset
0:12:20 > 0:12:28at his personal disposal to maximise the intelligence value
0:12:28 > 0:12:31and also the political value of his response.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42Two months after inheriting the English crown,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45James finally reaches London.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47He installs himself at Greenwich,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51just one of the dozen vast palaces at his disposal now he's King here.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57But James has barely begun to enjoy himself
0:12:57 > 0:12:59when Cecil drops his bombshell.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06Cecil tells the King some Catholics are plotting to raid the palace
0:13:06 > 0:13:08and kidnap him.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10And any deal between the King and the Catholics
0:13:10 > 0:13:11is stopped dead in its tracks.
0:13:15 > 0:13:21The discovery that he was going to be abducted helps to shape his views
0:13:21 > 0:13:23on religion and kingship.
0:13:23 > 0:13:29That is that Catholic extremists are wasps, vipers,
0:13:29 > 0:13:31firebrands of sedition.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34DOG BARKS
0:13:34 > 0:13:38The priest behind the kidnap plot is hunted down by Cecil's men.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Within a fortnight of his arrest, he's executed.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Another Catholic priest, convicted of being his accomplice,
0:13:51 > 0:13:53follows him to the scaffold.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01Then James signs a bill reaffirming all of Protestant England's laws
0:14:01 > 0:14:02against Catholicism.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06Their rights remain banned.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10Priests like Gerard are ordered out of the country on pain of death.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15When the law banning Catholic priests is renewed,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18this is a victory for Cecil.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20You have to admire
0:14:20 > 0:14:25the coldness and the skill with which he does all this.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29It makes me think that Cecil is the supreme political operator
0:14:29 > 0:14:31of his day,
0:14:31 > 0:14:34but it is chilling as much as cold.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Gerard's brief glimpse of a golden future is snuffed out.
0:14:42 > 0:14:43It's worse than ever. They'd had this hope,
0:14:43 > 0:14:46and it's the hope that kills you.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49And Gerard likened it to being in a dark room for a very,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53very long time and then there's a flash of lightning
0:14:53 > 0:14:57and then there's a pale light and then it goes out.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00And then that room feels darker than it's ever been before.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05But, even now, Cecil isn't finished.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08He uses the kidnap plot's ringleader as a pawn in a move against rivals
0:15:08 > 0:15:09at James's court.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14Under interrogation, the ringleader was forced to implicate
0:15:14 > 0:15:15one of the King's courtiers.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20The man is Cecil's own brother-in-law,
0:15:20 > 0:15:22but he's thrown in the Tower.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25He gives up Sir Walter Raleigh, Cecil's real target.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31Raleigh's poetry and exploration have made him a national treasure,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34but he's made the mistake of trading on his fame
0:15:34 > 0:15:36to compete for power with Cecil.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42It takes just one dodgy confession for Cecil to get Raleigh convicted
0:15:42 > 0:15:45of treason, and thrown in the Tower to await execution.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53Cecil is utterly merciless.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57You cannot help but admire his skill,
0:15:57 > 0:16:01you cannot wish that you'd had the chance to meet him
0:16:01 > 0:16:04and find out what made him tick.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06But you wouldn't want to cross him.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09And by meeting Robert Cecil,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12you have the feeling that you would have somehow compromised yourself,
0:16:12 > 0:16:17you'd have exposed yourself to his intelligence, to his sharp eye.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20And it's because of that that he is a terrifying figure.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30Father John Gerard is forced to go on the run again
0:16:30 > 0:16:32when the law against priests is renewed.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38He disguises himself as a country gentleman.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42Though hidden in his luggage is all he needs
0:16:42 > 0:16:44to practise Catholic ceremonies.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49For Gerard, this fight will never be over.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59John Gerard sees himself as a soldier of Christ.
0:16:59 > 0:17:00This is a holy war for him.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04That is Gerard's vision,
0:17:04 > 0:17:08and he is utterly single-minded and ruthless in his pursuit of it.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13Gerard becomes an expert at living undercover.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15He has many false names.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Gerard knew that Cecil was after him and after him specifically.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25He probably saw it as a vendetta.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28You know, for Cecil, it's always Gerard first.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38What Gerard needs is a base where he can hide out safely,
0:17:38 > 0:17:40somewhere beyond the spy master's grasp.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48And that brings him here to Harrowden Hall in Northamptonshire,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51the home of a wealthy Catholic widow, Eliza Vaux.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59Eliza Vaux was 29 when she was widowed, left with a large family,
0:17:59 > 0:18:00and was devastated...
0:18:01 > 0:18:03..refusing even to go into the part of the house
0:18:03 > 0:18:07where her husband had died, and engulfed completely in misery.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12In her sorrow, she turns to John Gerard.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17He helped Eliza out of her grief,
0:18:17 > 0:18:19he helped her out of that period of mourning.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Gerard comes along and it kind of seems God sent to her
0:18:26 > 0:18:29and he becomes her spiritual confessor.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32They're incredibly close.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36A well-connected aristocrat,
0:18:36 > 0:18:38Eliza Vaux is potentially very useful to Gerard.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45The Catholic women were vital to the success of the mission,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49and Gerard never underestimated their worth.
0:18:49 > 0:18:5316th-century women were perceived to be inferior to men in this period,
0:18:53 > 0:18:55they just weren't as important.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00But what it did mean is that they could fly under the radar in a way
0:19:00 > 0:19:02that men just couldn't.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06And women, especially widows who had money, they're absolutely vital.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Eliza Vaux was previously a friend of Robert Cecil,
0:19:12 > 0:19:14but now it's Gerard she wants to help.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19Eliza seems to have got along fairly well with being a Catholic,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22but wasn't a particularly fervent one.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27But it was the death of her husband and her introduction to John Gerard,
0:19:27 > 0:19:35who helped to turn her grief into a real burning passion for her faith
0:19:35 > 0:19:37and replace the grief with a sense of purpose.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45Though it's an offence punishable by death to shelter Gerard,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Eliza Vaux invites him to make Harrowden his base of operations.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54He takes complete control over her house...
0:19:56 > 0:19:58..installs secret passageways
0:19:58 > 0:20:01and gets rid of any servant he considers not Catholic enough.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06But John Gerard is only just getting started.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09Via Eliza Vaux's friends and neighbours,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13he replicates Harrowden in other grand households nearby.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Soon, much of the Catholic gentry across the English Midlands
0:20:16 > 0:20:17is secretly assisting Gerard.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21All the ladies want to be converted by him,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24all the men want to be friends with him.
0:20:24 > 0:20:25And so it goes on and on,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28almost like he's a sort of octopus with tentacles.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33He was so effective, and he had so many friends and followers latterly,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37that he said that he could travel 150 miles or so
0:20:37 > 0:20:39without ever once having to stop in a tavern.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45Gerard even gives some of those in his network code names.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49Through trusted couriers, he can communicate with
0:20:49 > 0:20:50other Catholic networks.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04Cecil is receiving fragments of intelligence about Gerard -
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Gerard is moving from house to house amongst the Catholic gentry of the
0:21:08 > 0:21:13Midlands, and Cecil is watching these houses, he knows
0:21:13 > 0:21:15that they're against him.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18He doesn't know how it's going to fall into a shape.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22He has, in other words, a known unknown.
0:21:23 > 0:21:29And it is his task now to try and identify the extent of that unknown,
0:21:29 > 0:21:34what kind of threat it represents, and how,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38as he brings it to the light, he can turn it to his advantage.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49A year into his reign,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52King James begins to reveal the scale of his ambitions.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57With the dream of bringing Christians together,
0:21:57 > 0:21:59he commissions the King James Bible.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03It'll become the most widely read book in the history
0:22:03 > 0:22:04of the English language.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10And he has a bold thought about how he will rule his joint kingdoms
0:22:10 > 0:22:13of England and Scotland.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17His big idea began when English crowds cheered his coronation.
0:22:20 > 0:22:28James mistakes such celebrations for a popular appetite,
0:22:28 > 0:22:34and a political appetite for union beyond their having a king,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38who happened to be King of Scotland, as well.
0:22:38 > 0:22:45The idea of a union of England and Scotland into another entity,
0:22:45 > 0:22:50Britain, I think then starts to gain shape in James's mind.
0:22:53 > 0:22:59Cecil feels a union could actually create deep instability in a country
0:22:59 > 0:23:02which, as he knows, under a new king, under a new royal house,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05is not on a stable footing to start with.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16Cecil fears that if James unites England and Scotland against
0:23:16 > 0:23:19the wishes of the people, there's a risk of a popular revolt.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27But though the King has come to appreciate Cecil the spy master,
0:23:27 > 0:23:29he's much less respectful of Cecil the politician.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38James refers to Cecil quite often as "my little beagle".
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Sometimes there are other nicknames that feature, "parrot-monger",
0:23:42 > 0:23:46"monkey-monger", but the most common one is "my little beagle".
0:23:49 > 0:23:53His little beagle in Cecil is loyal and good at sniffing out
0:23:53 > 0:23:55what he has to sniff out.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01It's probably better than being called a lapdog,
0:24:01 > 0:24:06but it's still a mocking reference to his dependency
0:24:06 > 0:24:09and the fact that he survives by serving.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16But Cecil's doubts about union are shared by the English Parliament.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21They turn down James's request to be called King of Great Britain.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36James ignores Parliament.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40He issues a coin called the Unite.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54It describes James as King of Great Britain,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57a title he has now adopted in open defiance of Parliament.
0:25:00 > 0:25:01There's also a declaration.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04"I shall make them one people."
0:25:06 > 0:25:11From Robert Cecil's point of view, this is making trouble.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15It is putting James's ambitions...
0:25:16 > 0:25:18..literally on show, in circulation.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25Cecil's greatest successes have come when he has been able to watch from
0:25:25 > 0:25:28the side of events as the forces have clashed,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31and been able to steer the conflict one way or another.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35He is now in the middle
0:25:35 > 0:25:40and the great force of the will of the Scottish King
0:25:40 > 0:25:44versus the resistance of the English Parliament
0:25:44 > 0:25:46threatens to crush him.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53James makes Cecil even more vulnerable by diluting his power.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Cecil becomes just one voice in a council
0:25:58 > 0:26:00of the King's closest advisers.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05These men form the nucleus of a new court
0:26:05 > 0:26:08that will do whatever James wants.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11It's not possible for Cecil to have a final victory
0:26:11 > 0:26:16in which he is the most powerful individual at the court.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20He'll never be supreme, in that sense,
0:26:20 > 0:26:22but there is no way out now for Robert Cecil.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26He's been someone who's been born in this game,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29has risen to the top of it, so he can only carry on playing.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33And his willingness to stop at nothing...
0:26:34 > 0:26:37..is his last and greatest asset in this game.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Meanwhile, Father John Gerard arrives in London.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57He stays in a Catholic safe house next-door to a pub.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05Here, he meets up with a splinter cell in the Catholic underground.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10It contains five young men.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Among them, a mercenary called Guy Fawkes.
0:27:16 > 0:27:17Guy Fawkes is a Yorkshireman.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21He's got a Protestant father and a Catholic mother.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25And, for some reason, he decided early to go for the Catholicism.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27He's become a fanatic.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30And what he wants to do is to destroy the English government.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35All the men with Fawkes are of the same desperate mould.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40They are wild by temperament, they're young,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43quite a few of them have had careers of violence,
0:27:43 > 0:27:48either as soldiers or notable for their use of arms.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52Second thing is that most of them have had a conversion experience
0:27:52 > 0:27:56in the recent past, having either been Protestant for a bit,
0:27:56 > 0:27:58or being lukewarm Catholics.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03They're burning with a new sense of the importance of their religion.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05So, they're people who've suddenly found God
0:28:05 > 0:28:07and they're letting rip.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11They've got faith for the first time and now they want to show it.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15Minutes before they meet with Gerard,
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Fawkes and his friends agreed a plan
0:28:17 > 0:28:20to get rid of the entire Protestant state in one moment.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24They will blow up the Houses of Parliament with the King inside.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30But they want their lethal violence to have God's blessing
0:28:30 > 0:28:33and that's why they've come to Gerard.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37It's important to the conspirators that the priest who administers the
0:28:37 > 0:28:40sacrament to them is John Gerard,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42because he's a man in the same mould.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45He's relatively young, he's incredibly daring,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48he's forever escaping from the authorities
0:28:48 > 0:28:50and he's one of them.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56John Gerard has just set in motion the Gunpowder Plot.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02The May meeting is the key meeting.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06This is the moment when the Gunpowder Plot becomes a real thing
0:29:06 > 0:29:10and this is the moment when, from the plotters' point of view,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14the mass seals the Gunpowder Plot in the blood of Christ.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26It's late autumn, 1605.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30Tensions that have been building for almost half a century,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33since Queen Elizabeth came to the throne, are about to come to a head.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40Parliament has been asked to meet
0:29:40 > 0:29:43to discuss the huge challenges that lie ahead.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45King James will attend the State Opening
0:29:45 > 0:29:47on the fifth of November.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57But just ten days before Parliament is due to open,
0:29:57 > 0:29:59something catches the eye of Robert Cecil.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07This is the actual piece of paper that crosses Cecil's desk that day.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11It comes from one of his Catholic informants,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13who has been given an anonymous tip-off.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19Cecil picks up on one crucial phrase...
0:30:27 > 0:30:31What does it mean? That there shall be a terrible blow delivered to the
0:30:31 > 0:30:33Parliament from some unseen hand?
0:30:35 > 0:30:38This is a piece of paper saying something quite worrying.
0:30:40 > 0:30:45So Cecil has to find out the extent and the reality
0:30:45 > 0:30:47at what might lie behind it.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52With so little time before the State Opening of Parliament,
0:30:52 > 0:30:55Cecil knows he must act fast.
0:30:55 > 0:30:57But there's a problem.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00The Privy Council is the official body for dealing with threats
0:31:00 > 0:31:03against Parliament and the King,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06but it's dominated by men who've learnt to be wary
0:31:06 > 0:31:08when Cecil cries wolf.
0:31:08 > 0:31:14Everybody knows that Cecil is a man perfectly happy to take the whiff of
0:31:14 > 0:31:19a plot and produce a great cloud of supposition from this
0:31:19 > 0:31:22and to exploit it to his advantage,
0:31:22 > 0:31:26even putting Walter Raleigh in the Tower.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28So the Privy Council is not going to give
0:31:28 > 0:31:31Cecil a free hand to run with this,
0:31:31 > 0:31:36to increase his power by producing the full plot.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42The threat is as serious as it could possibly be...
0:31:43 > 0:31:46..but Cecil's investigation appears to be making no progress at all.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56Meanwhile, the plotters are at work.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01One of them, Thomas Percy,
0:32:01 > 0:32:04is a minor aristocrat with a position at court.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09He gets them access to the Palace of Westminster
0:32:09 > 0:32:13and rents them a cellar beneath it, in what's known as the undercroft.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17They store 36 barrels here,
0:32:17 > 0:32:19all of which Guy Fawkes has filled with gunpowder.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27And if they go off at once, they're going to have the impact of,
0:32:27 > 0:32:30in modern terms, a small-scale nuclear bomb.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33EXPLOSION
0:32:33 > 0:32:35It's going to be a hell of a bang.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39The blast range will spread across almost a mile of Central London.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42Everything within 40 metres will be razed to the ground
0:32:42 > 0:32:44and anybody inside those buildings killed.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49And the cellar is right underneath the House of Lords,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52which, on the fifth of November, will be packed with
0:32:52 > 0:32:55the 300 most important people in the British state,
0:32:55 > 0:33:00including all of Parliament, the King and both his young sons.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03There's no way of killing like overkill
0:33:03 > 0:33:05and to make the biggest possible bang
0:33:05 > 0:33:07ensures the greatest possible number
0:33:07 > 0:33:10of deaths among the people at whom you're aiming.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12Guy knows exactly what he's up to.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18The bomb will create a power vacuum that will most likely lead
0:33:18 > 0:33:21to a civil war, in which both Protestant and Catholic
0:33:21 > 0:33:23will die in their tens of thousands.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29At no point do I find any evidence that the conspirators worried
0:33:29 > 0:33:33unduly about innocent deaths in the whole process.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35After all, it's a glorious cause,
0:33:35 > 0:33:38and this life is a short vale of tears
0:33:38 > 0:33:41and the real point is the everlasting glory
0:33:41 > 0:33:43to which a good Catholic is going to go.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55With just four days left to prevent catastrophe,
0:33:55 > 0:33:57Cecil goes to Whitehall Palace to see James.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04He plans to bypass the Privy Council by getting the King
0:34:04 > 0:34:06to kick-start his investigation.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12And we have James's account of what happened.
0:34:12 > 0:34:18James is given the letter without a word from Cecil, he reads it,
0:34:18 > 0:34:22pauses, presumably for thought, and reads it again.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24And at this point, according to James, Cecil says,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27"The letter must've been written by a fool."
0:34:29 > 0:34:33Cecil understands that the King will only become involved if he thinks
0:34:33 > 0:34:35he has ownership of the investigation.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39So Cecil lets James work out for himself that this is a tip-off
0:34:39 > 0:34:43about a terrorist attack on the State Opening of Parliament.
0:34:46 > 0:34:52James himself interprets the wording as the use of gunpowder.
0:34:54 > 0:35:00He revels in how clever he has been in working this out.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03He says, "I did upon the instant interpret
0:35:03 > 0:35:06"some dark phrases therein."
0:35:06 > 0:35:09You know, he talks about how he worked this out in a means
0:35:09 > 0:35:10that couldn't have been worked out
0:35:10 > 0:35:15by any theologian or lawyer in any university.
0:35:15 > 0:35:23So, he's ever so clever to have worked it out and...
0:35:23 > 0:35:24..James is like that.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30So, he leaves this meeting with James with the King's endorsement,
0:35:30 > 0:35:33effectively, to set to work.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37And also, as he always tries to do,
0:35:37 > 0:35:39to take charge of events,
0:35:39 > 0:35:46to start planning for the triumph that he hopes will produce itself,
0:35:46 > 0:35:48magically, like a rabbit from the hat,
0:35:48 > 0:35:52out of a threat to the state, a victory for the King,
0:35:52 > 0:35:54and also for Cecil.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58Cecil's network is put on the case.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02A double agent in the Catholic underground comes up with a name,
0:36:02 > 0:36:06Guy Fawkes, and connects him with a leading Catholic conspirator,
0:36:06 > 0:36:07Robert Catesby.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11But where are these men?
0:36:11 > 0:36:14And what is their plan?
0:36:14 > 0:36:15Cecil is running out of time.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23It is a test of Cecil. It's a test of his intelligence,
0:36:23 > 0:36:25the fact that he's ready for this.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27The situation is so advanced and so desperate,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30it's also a test of his nerve.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41The evening before the State Opening of Parliament,
0:36:41 > 0:36:45Fawkes enters the cellar beneath it to lay the fuse for his bomb.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48This is not a suicide mission
0:36:48 > 0:36:51and Fawkes's fuse will be long enough to allow his escape.
0:36:57 > 0:36:58But a search party approaches.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16The game should be up, but Fawkes proves quick-witted.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21He acts the innocent, he gives a fake name, John Johnson,
0:37:21 > 0:37:23and they then go away.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27Fawkes can barely believe his luck, to have had so simple an escape.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33So, it must look to him as though God is blessing his venture.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37The place has been searched, it's been given the all clear,
0:37:37 > 0:37:39and all he has to do is just wait to light the fuse.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47But he doesn't realise he's dealing with Robert Cecil.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53The search party go back to Whitehall Palace to make their
0:37:53 > 0:37:56report direct to the King.
0:37:56 > 0:37:57Cecil is there, too.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01The search party describes stumbling on someone
0:38:01 > 0:38:05calling himself John Johnson.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07They've also found out who is renting the cellar he's in.
0:38:09 > 0:38:10Thomas Percy.
0:38:12 > 0:38:13Thomas Percy.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18That the tenant of the undercroft is Thomas Percy.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22The name Percy probably doesn't mean much to James,
0:38:22 > 0:38:24but Cecil has a file on Percy.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29Because Percy is part of this network of Catholic families,
0:38:29 > 0:38:34of gentry who are unwilling to accommodate to a Protestant state,
0:38:34 > 0:38:36who are hiding priests and who are,
0:38:36 > 0:38:40according to the chatter that Cecil's agents are picking up,
0:38:40 > 0:38:42discussing a change of regime.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48Cecil can connect Percy to the men he thinks are behind the plot,
0:38:48 > 0:38:50Catesby and Fawkes.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53It's midnight in the Palace of Whitehall by now.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56Parliament will open in a matter of hours, just after dawn.
0:39:06 > 0:39:07There are just hours to go.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11On Cecil's advice, a second search is ordered into the undercroft.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23SHOUTING
0:39:26 > 0:39:30Fawkes is found beside his barrels, with matches to hand.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33The Gunpowder Plot has been foiled just in time.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38And, at this point, he throws the disguise aside, and says,
0:39:38 > 0:39:39yes, there is a plot.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43Yes, I was about to blow you all to smithereens,
0:39:43 > 0:39:46and, hey, you know what? I'm still proud of this.
0:39:50 > 0:39:56As soon as Fawkes is arrested, his fellow plotters run for the hills,
0:39:56 > 0:39:57chased by Cecil's men.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10The plotters get as far as the remote Holbeche House
0:40:10 > 0:40:11in Staffordshire.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16This will be their last stand,
0:40:16 > 0:40:19because this is where Cecil's men catch up with them.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33The plotters only have a small amount of gunpowder left
0:40:33 > 0:40:36for their muskets, but it's got wet on the road.
0:40:37 > 0:40:38So they dry it out by the fire.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43That's the first no-no with gunpowder -
0:40:43 > 0:40:44you don't put it near a fire.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50It blows up and seriously injures a couple of them.
0:40:50 > 0:40:55And then, when they actually are surrounded, there is no shoot-out.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59They take up swords, they put themselves on full view
0:40:59 > 0:41:01at the entrance, and prepare to go hand-to-hand.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22And, of course, they're shot down.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25So they don't even make a decent job of a last stand.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27It has that essential silliness,
0:41:27 > 0:41:29combined with tragedy which is the keynote of the plot.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41The day after the plotters' last stand,
0:41:41 > 0:41:44the State Opening of Parliament finally takes place.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50The arguments about James's plan for union of England and Scotland
0:41:50 > 0:41:55are set aside and the King receives a hero's welcome for having saved
0:41:55 > 0:41:58the entire ruling elite from being blown to smithereens.
0:42:00 > 0:42:01From this point on,
0:42:01 > 0:42:06James doesn't fear the threat of a violent overturning of his right
0:42:06 > 0:42:10or of a diverting of his claim to the English throne.
0:42:10 > 0:42:17And to that extent, James can feel more secure.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22James will begin designs for a flag for his new kingdom
0:42:22 > 0:42:25of Great Britain, the Union Jack.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31Cecil is also sitting pretty.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35James rewards him for breaking the Gunpowder Plot by ennobling him
0:42:35 > 0:42:38as Viscount Cranborne.
0:42:38 > 0:42:43The uncovering of the Gunpowder Plot and Cecil's handling of it
0:42:43 > 0:42:47certainly doesn't do Cecil a disservice in James's eyes.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53So, it confirms...
0:42:53 > 0:42:56I think it's one of those many things that confirms
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Cecil's utility to James.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04But not everyone believes it's safe to relax.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07Something is niggling away at the spy master.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15Parliament is safe, the King is safe,
0:43:15 > 0:43:18but Cecil doesn't know the extent of this conspiracy.
0:43:20 > 0:43:25Robert Cecil does not like loose ends, he doesn't like mess.
0:43:25 > 0:43:30He needs a storyline for a plot, if he is to make something of this.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39Cecil now knows all of the five original gunpowder plotters.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48Only Fawkes and Thomas Wintour, who has somehow survived the last stand,
0:43:48 > 0:43:50are still alive.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54Both are interrogated in the Tower of London.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00Though they don't give Cecil a mastermind behind the plot,
0:44:00 > 0:44:02they do give him something he can use.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07They confess to knowing certain priests
0:44:07 > 0:44:10and that these men of God are part of the Catholic underground.
0:44:15 > 0:44:20Cecil has confessions which say that there are priests involved
0:44:20 > 0:44:22in the plot.
0:44:22 > 0:44:28He then spins this information in the direction of his preferred
0:44:28 > 0:44:34narrative of events, which is, as there were priests in the plot,
0:44:34 > 0:44:36the plot is made by priests.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43Fawkes even admits the name of the priest who gave them God's blessing.
0:44:47 > 0:44:48And the name which comes up...
0:44:50 > 0:44:56..early in the narrative of the plot is that of Cecil's old enemy,
0:44:56 > 0:44:57John Gerard.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06For Cecil, the story behind the Gunpowder Plot
0:45:06 > 0:45:08now becomes starkly clear.
0:45:10 > 0:45:15This unparalleled act of terror was part of a holy war led by priests.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18These are men he sees as the greatest danger
0:45:18 > 0:45:20to peace and security
0:45:20 > 0:45:22and the worst of them is Gerard.
0:45:25 > 0:45:30You have to wonder, by this point, why Cecil is pursuing
0:45:30 > 0:45:32the old enemies?
0:45:32 > 0:45:36You have to wonder how much of this is rooted in Cecil's background,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39and how much of this is confirmed by his political experience.
0:45:40 > 0:45:42That you should treat everybody as an enemy,
0:45:42 > 0:45:46that sooner or later it'll come to bloodshed.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50And it is better to be giving it out than receiving it.
0:45:50 > 0:45:51The need to prove oneself,
0:45:51 > 0:45:56to always assume that you start in a position of weakness,
0:45:56 > 0:46:00but he's actually now in a position of unparalleled power.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04Cecil is like a man who has a shovel
0:46:04 > 0:46:06and believes he's digging himself out,
0:46:06 > 0:46:08but he's actually getting deeper and deeper in.
0:46:25 > 0:46:26In the Tower of London,
0:46:26 > 0:46:29in the chamber where Fawkes and Wintour were interrogated,
0:46:29 > 0:46:33is a trophy board commemorating Cecil's unravelling of
0:46:33 > 0:46:34the Gunpowder Plot.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40It lists the conspirators he's brought to justice...
0:46:44 > 0:46:46..but one key figure remains at large.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52Cecil needs to find John Gerard
0:46:52 > 0:46:55and he's using every resource that he has.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Gerard is the most wanted man in England at the moment.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03You know, if you think about the manhunt for bin Laden after 9/11,
0:47:03 > 0:47:05it's a bit like that.
0:47:05 > 0:47:06He's a dead man walking.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14During the week after the plot has failed,
0:47:14 > 0:47:19Gerard remains at Harrowden Hall with Eliza Vaux,
0:47:19 > 0:47:21but both know there is no way out.
0:47:21 > 0:47:26Gerard stays put. He knows he's comparatively safe
0:47:26 > 0:47:28in Harrowden Hall
0:47:28 > 0:47:31and he knows that there will be watchers everywhere.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36Eliza would have known that they would come for her.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39It was well known in Catholic circles that John Gerard
0:47:39 > 0:47:40was staying with her.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43So she would have known that they were coming for him
0:47:43 > 0:47:45and that they would come for her also.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57It was Tuesday the 12th of November, it was midday,
0:47:57 > 0:48:01and about 100 armed men surrounded Harrowden Hall.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07This is huge. This is probably the biggest raid that's happened
0:48:07 > 0:48:10to date. The cordon stretched for three miles.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21Gerard has prepared for this by having a hideout installed
0:48:21 > 0:48:23at Harrowden, called a priest-hole.
0:48:30 > 0:48:35Gerard hears the hooves, he gets into his priest-hole
0:48:35 > 0:48:38and the door is opened.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41They fan out all the searches, they interrogate Eliza Vaux,
0:48:41 > 0:48:45they interrogate her family, her children, her servants.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47They go through everything.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52She must have been terrified, but she was very sensible
0:48:52 > 0:48:56and level-headed, and she decided to take to her bed.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01And act the, "Oh, my goodness me. Poor sick woman. I'm only a widow
0:49:01 > 0:49:03"and all you gentlemen are in my house
0:49:03 > 0:49:05"and of course I'll help and cooperate,
0:49:05 > 0:49:08"but I'm having a fit of the vapours and I'll have to go and lie down."
0:49:12 > 0:49:14The search goes on for nine days.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21And Gerard, all this time, is in his priest-hole.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24It's cold, it's dark, he's cramped, he can't stand up,
0:49:24 > 0:49:25he can't stretch his legs.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32This intense meditative focus on Christ's suffering
0:49:32 > 0:49:35helped him get through, he said,
0:49:35 > 0:49:38those dark moments when he feared for his soul and his body.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48Cecil's men are unable to find Gerard.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55Instead, they take Eliza Vaux back to London,
0:49:55 > 0:49:57accused of sheltering a Catholic priest.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03The only way she can save her skin is to give up Gerard.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09She had his life in her hands,
0:50:09 > 0:50:13but Gerard absolutely trusts Eliza Vaux.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22Eliza Vaux arrives in a London gripped by an atmosphere of terror.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33The only two of the original five plotters still alive,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37Wintour and Fawkes, endure a brutally violent public punishment.
0:50:40 > 0:50:42Tied to wooden boards,
0:50:42 > 0:50:45they're dragged through the crowded streets to a scaffold that has been
0:50:45 > 0:50:47specially erected in the heart of the city.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59The two main surviving conspirators, that's Guy and Thomas Wintour,
0:50:59 > 0:51:04die together and they get the grandstand executions.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15Their fates are rather different.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19The hangman cuts Wintour down while he's still very much alive,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23so he can experience the full, appalling experience of being
0:51:23 > 0:51:25cut to pieces while still living.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32Wintour is castrated, disembowelled, and then cut into quarters.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39Guy is different,
0:51:39 > 0:51:44he's in such bad shape after torture that the executioner actually has to
0:51:44 > 0:51:45push him up the ladder.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48But, like the efficient ex-soldier he is,
0:51:48 > 0:51:51Guy throws himself off with such violence,
0:51:51 > 0:51:53he breaks his neck immediately.
0:51:53 > 0:51:54He has a much easier death.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06Eliza Vaux is brought before
0:52:06 > 0:52:08a council of Gunpowder Plot investigators
0:52:08 > 0:52:11and asked to reveal the whereabouts of John Gerard.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22I think that the interrogation before the council must have been
0:52:22 > 0:52:27one of the most terrifying moments of Eliza's life.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33Her old friend Cecil is on the council.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39He demands she give up Gerard or die in agony on the scaffold.
0:52:42 > 0:52:47Cecil is using these uncompromising, merciless methods
0:52:47 > 0:52:51in trying to extract information from Elizabeth Vaux,
0:52:51 > 0:52:52who is meant to be a friend.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59We have a sudden flash, as it were, where we see
0:52:59 > 0:53:04the willingness of Robert Cecil to go to any extent
0:53:04 > 0:53:10in order to defeat his enemies, to achieve his objectives.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14Because you could argue that by this point,
0:53:14 > 0:53:19James is secure, the plot is broken, the country is secure.
0:53:19 > 0:53:24And Robert Cecil is still driving forward to try and tie up
0:53:24 > 0:53:26every last detail.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31So Eliza Vaux has a choice -
0:53:31 > 0:53:33to save her own life or Gerard's.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39And she said, "Well, then, I will die.
0:53:43 > 0:53:44"Then I will go to the scaffold.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53"Nothing worse can happen, other than death."
0:53:56 > 0:54:00And in that death, although the act of being executed is...
0:54:02 > 0:54:05..awful and vile and dreadful, but through that,
0:54:05 > 0:54:07if she manages to hold her nerve through that,
0:54:07 > 0:54:10she would gain the crown of martyrdom, a place in heaven.
0:54:10 > 0:54:12So, in a way,
0:54:12 > 0:54:15she had already accepted that the worst that could happen to her
0:54:15 > 0:54:21would be a great, a great crowning of somebody of her faith
0:54:21 > 0:54:22and that would have strengthened her.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27For once, Cecil relents.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29He lets Eliza Vaux go home.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38In the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot,
0:54:38 > 0:54:41the Protestant-Catholic divide calms somewhat.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50Britain even signs a peace treaty with Spain,
0:54:50 > 0:54:51Europe's Catholic superpower.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56The turbulence that began when Elizabeth came to the throne
0:54:56 > 0:55:0045 years earlier has given way to a kind of peace.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06And the English Parliament agrees to let James pursue his designs
0:55:06 > 0:55:07for a flag of Great Britain.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19It's at this time that Shakespeare writes of England,
0:55:19 > 0:55:24"This sceptred isle, this other Eden, demi-paradise,
0:55:24 > 0:55:28"this happy breed of men, this little world, this precious stone
0:55:28 > 0:55:30"set in the silver sea."
0:55:37 > 0:55:41But the somewhat shameful truth is that our modern world was partly
0:55:41 > 0:55:44formed and kept alive by men like Robert Cecil.
0:55:50 > 0:55:55It's in Robert Cecil's lifetime that Great Britain comes into focus.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57He's not a poet like Shakespeare,
0:55:57 > 0:56:00who can say, "This is who we are and who we've always been."
0:56:02 > 0:56:06But this is because Cecil, by what he does,
0:56:06 > 0:56:09is actually making this sceptred isle.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22And the final chapter of the story,
0:56:22 > 0:56:24James is congratulated for foiling the Gunpowder Plot.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30Among those who come to pay their respects is a Spanish diplomat.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35He arrives with a golden cup for James and jewels for Cecil.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39And he departs with the King's best wishes.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45But, as he leaves, the Spaniard's retinue of attendants
0:56:45 > 0:56:46has grown by one.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54This is how Father John Gerard escapes Cecil's clutches once again.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02It's a really interesting dynamic between Gerard and Cecil, in a way.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06There's this sense for both of them that they are absolutely
0:57:06 > 0:57:08on the right side. You know, there's good and evil,
0:57:08 > 0:57:10there's Christ and Antichrist,
0:57:10 > 0:57:13there's freedom and tyranny, there's truth and falsehood.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17And one will be hubris, one will be Nemesis.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19So, in a way, they are the perfect foil to each other.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30Nobody knows just how embarrassing it is for Cecil that Gerard escapes
0:57:30 > 0:57:33as Gerard.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36Cecil and Gerard are tied together in this conflict.
0:57:38 > 0:57:44And Gerard, by escaping, delivers a humiliating private injury to Cecil.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50And it is a failure, ultimately,
0:57:50 > 0:57:54to capture and execute one of his greatest enemies.
0:57:56 > 0:58:01In other words, however strong he is, he's not safe...
0:58:02 > 0:58:04..and he can never be certain.