Original release 12 avril 1998
Previous episode S00E19 - John Wayne: American Legend
Number S00E20
Episode runtime 90 minutes
Country United States
Original language English
Genres Documentary, History
External links TheTVDB page
IMDB page
TheMovieDB page
Last update 12 novembre 2026 - 08:27
on 11 databases

S Video : Diana: The True Story

Diana, the teenage princess who matured into a symbol of grace and strength before dying tragically in 1997, is a figure of awe and mystery to much of the world. A&E's Biography: Diana looks into her life and work with an eye toward the forces that moved her. Interviews with family and friends provide insight into her early life and her private feelings during and after her courtship with Prince Charles. Even more enlightening is the documentary footage that shows her almost continuously under surveillance by the international press, which continued until the very moment of her death. She was clearly a passionate, committed, and deeply troubled woman, and Biography: Diana gives us a dramatic portrait of one of the 20th century's most inspiring heroines.

BetaSeries' opinion

Secrets d'histoire Season 20 Finale: Stéphane Bern's Messalina Episode Ends a Season About Reputations on Trial

Twenty seasons in, "Secrets d'histoire" can still surprise its audience. The Season 20 finale aired on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 9:10 p.m. on France 3, and Stéphane Bern closed the season with one of the most notorious women of antiquity: Messalina, the third wife of Emperor Claudius. If you watched it, you already know it was more than a parade of Roman scandal. It was a careful re-examination of a woman whose name has been shorthand for depravity for almost two thousand years. If you haven't caught up yet, this debrief shows why the episode, and the whole season, deserves a place in your watchlist.

A finale that puts history's verdict on trial

The question at the centre of the finale was simple: does Messalina deserve the brutal nickname history gave her? Roman writers handed down a woman driven by insatiable desire and a hunger for power. Bern's team took that portrait apart piece by piece. They asked who wrote the story, why they wrote it, and what they gained from it. This is the series at its best. It doesn't simply retell a legend. It looks into how the legend was made. Messalina's world gave the episode plenty of drama: Caligula, Nero, Agrippina and the freedman Narcissus all appear, each with their own agenda in the deadly politics of the Julio-Claudian court. Without spoiling anything for latecomers, the finale's real emotional pull comes from the gap between the caricature and the young woman caught up in a machine much bigger than she was.

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