I think what's neat about choosing Byron and Boadicea and Nelson is that they actually come from very different backgrounds - they all have really unique personalities and a unique history.

It's kind of neat that Byron was a slightly heroic figure but wildly artistic and poetic, whereas Boadicea [was] a woman and really gung-ho. There's a statue outside the Houses of Parliament in London, a tribute to her with the knives on the wheels of her chariot and so on. Then you had Nelson, who around the corner is right up this big pole in Trafalgar Square, and drives the French nuts, because it's all to do with them losing the Battle of Trafalgar.

There is something about Nelson - first the arm goes, then the eye goes. You wonder how much had to be shot and cut away before he went, 'I give in.' So they're pretty ballsy characters, all three of them.

Which other historical figures might work well in the series?

Alfred the Great? William the Conqueror wasn't English of course, but he ended up running the place. England's been bashed about by quite a few people, and it's kind of neat to keep them slightly back in history so they have a sense of the exotic rather than being too modern. Churchill would be great but he was modern day. We don't want any of that.