Time Commanders

In episode one, Time Commanders heads back to 202 BCE, where Rome has had enough of the upstart Carthaginian, Hannibal. Desperate to end his 16-year campaign of war against the Republic, one of Rome's greatest generals, Scipio, is charged with freeing Italy from this menace. Scipio elects to fight Hannibal in his homeland, forcing him to return to Africa and protect the city of Carthage.

This time, a team of wrestlers will attempt to rewrite history by defeating Scipio and preventing him from taking the city. Playing Hannibal and his Carthaginians, they'll be defending their home town. Up against them, will be a team of historical board game enthusiasts taking on the role of the Romans, in a fight that will set the course of European history for centuries to come.

On 18 June 1815, 200,000 men fought in what would be the most important land battle Europe had ever seen, the Battle of Waterloo. This was a showdown between two of history's military giants, the Duke of Wellington with his British and Allied army, and Napoleon Bonaparte with his French Imperial Guard.

This time, a team of aquarium workers will be fighting as Napoleon and his French forces as they attempt to march across Europe and dominate the continent once more. Standing in their way, a team of competitive archers representing the Iron Duke himself at the head of a coalition force of British and Allied armies intent on stopping Napoleon in his tracks, on the border of Belgium.

Who will emerge victorious, and can history be rewritten?

In June of 451, the forces of the crumbling Roman Empire battled the whirlwind military might of the Huns in a field in France.

This time, a team of karate veterans will attempt to defend the Roman Empire against attacks by Attila and his Hunnish hordes. Can they stop a team of kickboxers from rewriting history and over running Europe? Will the legendary horsemen of Attila or the Roman military machine emerge victorious?

Hosted by Gregg Wallace, Time Commanders is the show that lets ordinary members of the public go toe-to-toe with the world's greatest generals. Using cutting-edge simulations, they refight some of the most significant battles from history – offering an innovative mix of genuine history and game show competition.

More military guile on display as tonight's contestants find themselves in 60 AD controlling a Roman army facing Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni, leading a revolt by 60,000 tribesmen. Will the ancient Britons again be defeated?

More military guile on display as tonight's contestants find themselves in 69 BC on the desert battlefield of Tigranocerta. In charge of an Armenian army, they attempt to drive out invading Romans and reverse history.

It's 48 BC, and mighty Julius Caesar marshals his army in the civil war for control of the Roman state. Tonight's team of modern-day commanders attempt to defeat the military genius, thus saving the Republic.

In 216 BC, Cannae in southern Italy is the setting for a meeting between a young African general with big ideas and more than 70,000 Roman soldiers assembled to crush his invasion. Can a team of Bedfordshire police officers inflict a humiliating defeat on Rome by re-creating the tactical genius of Hannibal?

The Battle of Raphia in 217 BC saw two nearly identical armies led by heirs of Alexander the Great clash for control of the border territories that separated their rival kingdoms. Will tonight's team of modern-day commanders (Al Murray , Kate Silverton , Ricky Groves and Raji James ) match the winning tactics of Egypt's Ptolemy IV, or will the might of Seleucid kingAntiochos III prevail?

A team of students from Lord Wandsworth College in Hertfordshire and their history teacher take virtual command of the Hittite army against a young and aggressive Ramses II of Egypt.

An all-female netball team take virtual command of the Thebes army in a face-off with the mighty Spartans in a re-creation of the battle to claim ancient Greece in 371BC.

A team of Milton Keynes councillors take virtual command of the Eastern Roman Empire forces in AD 378 as they prepare to repel a throng of Gothic refugees, who have risen in armed revolt in what is now western Turkey.

331 BC: in a virtual Gaugamela - present day northern Iraq - a team of childhood friends from London and Sheffield take command of the Macedonian forces of Alexander the Great as they try to conquer a vast army from the Persian Empire. But will close-knit ties prove a hindrance?

AD 451: having pushed the Roman Empire to the brink of collapse, Attila the Hun and his warriors face the forces of their beleaguered enemy at Chalons in France.