Seven Wonders Of The World with Bettany Hughes | Preview (5)

Bettany Hughes begins her awe-inspiring adventure at one of the greatest wonders of the ancient world - The Great Pyramid of Giza - built as the eternal resting place for the pharaoh King Khufu. Arriving by sunset aboard a picturesque felucca, she steps onto the iconic Giza Plateau, a site trodden by pharaohs, emperors, and countless tourists across millennia. Using cutting-edge graphics, viewers are transported back to witness the pyramid in its original, glistening glory.

Bettany is keen to know what is left to discover about this iconic tomb and meets world leading ground penetrating expert Jan Francke for answers. Jan reveals his insights into the hidden areas inside the pyramid beyond the King’s Chamber. With exclusive access, Bettany ventures into the pyramid’s inner tunnels and chambers, searching for clues about its ancient secrets.

Seeking answers about the tomb's enigmatic occupant and builder - King Khufu - Bettany winds her way through Cairo’s bustling streets to meet Sahar Saleem, a leading expert in mummy scanning, responsible for examining Egypt's royal mummies.

King Khufu may have commissioned the pyramid as his final resting place, but it was built by tens of thousands of labourers. To understand the manpower behind the monument, Bettany meets the acclaimed archaeologist, Mark Lehner. For over 40 years, Mark has uncovered evidence of the lost city of the pyramid's workers and their lives.

Keen to understand the Ancient Egyptians’ excellent engineering skills Bettany heads to Saqqara’s Djoser Pyramid, where exclusive access to a labyrinth of underground tunnels reveals a massive shaft that may once have been used as a water chute to lift great blocks of stone and aid in pyramid building. With her head full of revelations about Giza, Bettany sails up the Nile to Alexandria, a city where the past meets the present. Her next wonder is the legendary Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria.

Touring the medieval Islamic fort that now neighbours the lighthouse’s watery remains, Bettany introduces this ancient skyscraper. Bettany dives deeper with underwater archaeologist Thomas Faucher, who shares discoveries from beneath the waves where an excavation of the lighthouse’s remains has revealed evidence of this architectural marvel. Among the thousands of submerged blocks, Bettany learns of a monumental 13-meter-tall doorway.

In ode to Alexandria’s Greek heritage, Bettany stops off for lunch at the gorgeous Greek Nautical Club on Alexandria’s eastern harbour. Sampling the culinary delights the original settlers of this sea city, and Bettany muses on the original commissioner of the lighthouse, Alexander the Great’s general and closest friend, and later Egyptian pharaoh, Ptolemy I.

In the buzzing streets of the modern metropolis she explores one of the great mysteries surrounding the lighthouse: how its legendary beam, said to be visible over 30 miles away, guided seafarers to safety.

Conducting her own experiment, Bettany demonstrates the ingenious technology used by early Alexandrians – who employed enormous, polished mirrors and a blazing fire - to create a beacon of light unlike any other. Reflecting on the ingenuity of this wonder, Bettany marvels that no lighthouse in history has ever surpassed its brilliance.

Seven Wonders Of The World begins Saturday 2nd August at 6:30pm on 5.