The format was one whereby a time travelling girl from the future, Maud, is seen compiling a school project on Invaders with the help of her virtual reality tutor. Along the way she falls in with Rory, a boy from the present. After looking at the lives of the Saxons, they progressed to the Viking age.

This programme was excellent, and presented a very well balanced view of the Vikings, starting with the raids in the 8th century, but then moving on to tell the history of the Norse and Danish settlement, and of the creation of the Danelaw.

We were told how Viking seafarers were "clever" and "skilful", and how they used the stars, the sun-compass and natural phenomena such as the flight of birds to accomplish their "great journeys" as far afield as Russia, Greenland and America.

As with the other histories of the earlier peoples the virtual reality tutor used archaeological evidence to recreate the day to day lives of a fictitious family. Rory and Maud saw the story of how Olaf the Dane and his family coped when their son Eric returned to raiding, hitting Norse cargo ships, and how an agent of the new Norse Overlords of Jorvik was hunting him down as an outlaw.

The detail here was superb, from the clothes the Vikings wore right down to the way Olaf braided his hair at the side of his face to keep it out of his eyes.

We particularly liked the way all the Danes spoke with a Scottish twang and the Norseman spoke with a noticeably Geordie accent!

It really was refreshing to see a programme on the Viking age strike the right balance, i.e. not leaning too far towards either the "evil pagan barbarian" or the "romantic warrior poet" camps. It is a real bonus when such a well researched and presented piece of television is also part of an educational series, it gives you real hope that the children watching it will take on board a balanced view of the Vikings and their world rather than the run of the mill stereotypes normally seen offered up. "The Invaders" scores an impressive Raven and the Rose 9 out of 10. Viking in my Bed, take note!