Devastated when Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, the ill-fated Roman seaport of Pompeii has, over the centuries since, become a byword for natural disaster. Caught at the moment when tragedy struck, many of the volcano’s unfortunate victims remained perfectly preserved, offering a stark snapshot of life as it was lived during that distant era. Yet the history of Pompeii was not brought to an end by that eruption, ferocious though it was, as absorbing documentary Eternal Pompeii (Monday 2^nd. 7.50pm) explains.

Learn how disaster on such a scale was dealt with by people whose resources were, by modern-day standards, very limited; how the Roman emperor Titus intervened to help relieve the suffering; and how the seeds of the region’s economic revival were eventually sown.