Journalist Michael Portillo presents colour footage of the Spanish Civil War. This never-before-seen footage vividly recounts a war previously seen in black and white. A Country Divided focuses on the background to the war, from the turn of the century to the beginning of the war in 1936.

This episode focuses on the years 1936 to 1939; the official years of the Spanish Civil War, between the Nationalist uprising movement under Franco, and the Republican government.