Russia 1917: Countdown to Revolution

BBC TWO, 9.00PM

 Juliet Stevenson narrates this insightful documentary made to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution. Novelist Martin Amis, historian Orlando Figes and author Helen Rappaport are among those discussing and recounting how Russia transitioned from a tsarist autocracy to become the first communist state – and the roles played by Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin, all of whom emerged from obscurity to forge a new political system in just a few months. Catherine Gee