DOCUMENTARY

BBC2, 9pm

Historian Simon Schama is at home in the past, he says. Never happier than when wandering around ruins. “For what is the present, except an endless chain of memories?” he asks.

Yes, this documentary series, which history fans will find fascinating, does make you think. And you will marvel at the art history from civilisations across the world. Schama presents this first episode (later ones see Mary Beard and David Olusoga take the reins), and he is passionate in his investigation of the origins of human creativity.

Marvel at the oldest known cave paintings, marks made some 80,000 years ago in South Africa, as well as Stone Age carvings. Schama also takes in the civilisations of Petra in the Middle East and the Maya in Central America. He ponders big questions, asking how cultures rise and fall, how they connect to their environment, and asking what civilisation really means. SCARY Is Olivia going bad