T.E. Lawrence — Lawrence of Arabia — became one of the most famous men in the British Empire after leading an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks in World War I. But behind the legend of the desert warrior lay a man consumed by guilt, haunted by the promises Britain had broken to his Arab allies, and desperate to escape the fame that had turned him into a living myth.

This episode explores the contradictions of a man who fought brilliantly for an empire he came to despise, examining his guerrilla campaigns, his failed advocacy for Arab independence at the Paris Peace Conference, and his retreat into anonymity under assumed names.

• Lawrence’s unconventional intelligence background and his arrival in the Arabian desert
• The guerrilla campaign against Ottoman rail lines that changed the course of the war
• Britain’s betrayal of Arab independence promises at the Paris Peace Conference
• Lawrence’s tortured fame, his enlistment under false names, and his mysterious death