Rupert Hague-Holmes tells the story of Lt Gen Sir George Lea — the man who kept the SAS alive as an institution by proving its worth in Malayan counterinsurgency and then Borneo. The episode traces Lea from wartime parachute battalion command through the jungle campaigns that defined British COIN doctrine for a generation. Ferguson's veteran perspective keeps the conversation grounded in the practical realities of small-unit leadership in dense terrain.

Tony Dobbie — former RAF V-Force pilot — recounts training on Meteors and Vampires, transitioning to the Victor bomber, and the reality of sitting on nuclear alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The first-person detail on what it actually meant to be at readiness for a one-way nuclear mission is gripping and specific. At nearly 80 minutes, Dobbie has time to cover both the technical side of V-Force operations and the psychological weight of the deterrent mission.

Holland and Murray continue the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry series, now into the fight for Point 103 — a key piece of Normandy terrain that keeps the D-Day anniversary coverage grounded in what happened after the beaches. Good detail on British armoured tactics post-D-Day, including Firefly and Churchill AVRE employment, and the high churn rate among tank crews that rarely gets the attention it deserves. The series is building well; this instalment has more tactical meat than Part 2.

DeVries and Livingston — two proper medieval military historians — break down Hattin: Saladin's strategic orchestration, the Crusader army's catastrophic march to the Horns, and the command failures that handed him the Kingdom of Jerusalem. They also assess Kingdom of Heaven's depiction, which is a useful way to address popular misconceptions. The academic credentials here are strong, and the episode gives the battle the full hour it deserves.

Rummage delivers a full hour on Napoleonic artillery — organisation, logistics, doctrinal innovation, and the arm's internal culture that shaped Napoleon himself. This is the kind of weapons-and-doctrine episode that Age of Napoleon does better than almost anyone: technically specific without losing the narrative thread. Essential context for understanding why Napoleon thought like an artillerist, not just a general.

McManus and Hymel use the new film Pressure as a springboard to examine the meteorological crisis behind Overlord — Stagg vs. the American forecasters, Eisenhower's decision window, and what a 24-hour delay actually meant for the invasion force. McManus brings the academic weight to separate what the film gets right from what it dramatises, landing strong on an aspect of D-Day that's often reduced to a single anecdote. Well-timed for the anniversary and genuinely informative.

Angus Wallace covers Operation Catapult — the Royal Navy's attack on the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir in July 1940, one of the war's most agonising decisions. The episode gets into the strategic logic (Churchill's need to demonstrate resolve, the genuine risk of the French fleet falling to Germany) and the human cost — nearly 1,300 French sailors killed by their former allies. At 43 minutes it's tighter than some treatments but well-structured, and the guest Edward Abel Smith adds texture.

Tristan Hughes and novelist Ben Kane cover the Third Servile War — the breakout at Capua, Spartacus's transformation of escaped gladiators into a field army, and the Roman campaigns to crush the revolt. Kane's a historical novelist rather than an academic, but the episode stays on the military narrative and the battles get proper attention.