Christopher Fraylings The Face of Tutankhamun

Of all the TV historians Christopher Frayling's work has always felt the most indepth and best researched. Here Roadshow bring us his mammoth early 1990's documentary about the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by famed archaeologist Howard Carter and how that has affected our understanding of Egyptian culture since.

Frayling's style is excellent, he pulls you in - mounting the suspense of the story and setting the scene nicely in the first episode, which is almost wholly devoted to Howard Carter and the political and beurocratic nightmare that was the relationship between England and France in the 1920's.

It's all fascinating stuff though as we learn of how Carter's love of all things Egyptian was in part down to his friendship as a boy with Lord and Lady Amherst who were the holders of the largest collection of Egyptology in England.

The production also manages to shed light on the ruinations of tomb raiders, both ancient and modern, the older robbers were mmore interested in the precious metals found in the tombs whilst modern day raiders have a huge market waiting for the artifacts themselves.

All in all a great release for anyone interested in ancient Egypt and history in general.