Historian Lucy Worsley investigates the tensions and turning points that led to America's declaration of independence from Britain in 1776. With access to expert insights and original evidence, she asks whether this explosive split could have been avoided.

Lucy travels to New York's City Hall Park, where Washington's troops heard the Declaration of Independence read aloud, and rebels melted a statue of King George III into musket balls. She crosses to London to see the war through British eyes — King George's maps, Benjamin Franklin's home, and the punishing taxes that made revolution inevitable. From the Boston Massacre to the Tea Party, from John Wilkes to Thomas Paine, she traces the radical ideas that lit the fuse.

At Portsmouth Royal Dockyard, Lucy uncovers a shocking arson plot to cripple the Royal Navy. She follows Franklin's secret mission to Paris, exposes the British spy at the heart of it, and examines Britain's mounting fears as France and Spain entered the conflict. In London, riots. In Ireland, resistance. In Yorktown, defeat. In 1783, Britain formally recognized American independence. This free public screening runs 110 minutes, not rated, and is made possible through PBS.