When King Phillip II of Spain launched the greatest naval armada in history, Britain was woefully under prepared. Staring defeat in the face, Plymouth's shipbuilders got to work modernising the ragtag British navy. Professor Alice Roberts explores Britain's rich and varied past through the stories of individual towns. In each programme Alice studies key periods in British history by delving into the secrets of historic towns. Alice combines the bigger national picture with local detail to give an accurate impression of what life was really like at key moments in Britain's turbulent past. Alice visits historic sites and meets local historians to understand how each town was shaped by the dominant forces of the age.