Time and Chance

"Time and Chance" opens two years into the reign of Henry II. Having subdued his warring barons, he must now bring order to a land long-torn by banditry and bloodshed. Astute and charismatic, Henry will exercise uncommon skills of statecraft to consolidate his kingdom. The legacy he leaves is clear. He is one of England's great kings. Hoping to subdue the Church - and against the advice of his Queen - he raises his closest confidant, Thomas Becket, to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury. But when the once worldly Becket discovers faith, their alliance withers. What Becket believes is his holy mission Henry sees as arrant treachery - and the way is paved for a murder that still echoes down to us more than eight centuries later.