In this special episode of Rock, Paper, Swords, Matthew Harffy and Justin Hill take you behind the scenes of the Herne’s Arrow event at Chepstow, celebrating 42 years of Robin of Sherwood.

Invited to host the cast and crew panels, Matthew and Justin spent a full weekend interviewing stars including Jason Connery, Michael Praed, Nicholas Grace, Rula Lenska, and many more. They share stories from backstage, unexpected moments with the cast, what it was like moderating panels in front of hundreds of devoted fans, and why the Robin of Sherwood community remains so special four decades on.

This episode also features a montage of recordings from around the event grounds, conversations with attendees, and reflections on one of Britain’s most beloved cult television series.

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Rock, Paper, Swords! — Episode: The Crusader Storm with Nicholas Morton Released 12th June 2026

Matthew Harffy and Justin Hill are joined by historian Nicholas Morton, associate professor at Nottingham Trent University and author of the new book The Crusader Storm: A Global History of the Wars for the Middle East (out 4th June 2026).

The Crusades are one of history's most argued-over subjects — and Nicholas Morton thinks most people have got them wrong. In this wide-ranging conversation, he makes the case that the wars for the Holy Land were never a simple clash between Christianity and Islam, but a messy, many-sided contest between rival empires, dynasties and cultures.

Along the way we talk about the extraordinary cast of individuals who populate his book — from a remarkably long-lived Arab nobleman who witnessed nearly the entire era, to Syriac Christians playing the long game between warring powers. We explore how Muslim Bedouin groups allied with the Crusaders, why Islamic medicine was flowing back to Western Europe, and how the demands of supplying the Crusader States drove a dramatic leap forward in medieval shipbuilding. We also get into the evolution of Crusader castles, the trade routes that made the Middle East the most strategically valuable region on earth, and what — if anything — the medieval period can tell us about the modern one.

Plus: how do you write popular history without guessing? Can AI translate ancient Syriac? And is Nicholas Morton already thinking about an Ottoman Storm?

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He's one of the most successful historical fiction writers of his generation — the first author ever to top the UK fiction and non-fiction bestseller charts simultaneously, and the man behind sweeping epics on Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, and the Wars of the Roses. After a long time trying to get him on the show, Matthew and Justin finally sit down with the brilliant Conn Iggulden.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Conn talks about what drew him to Nero as a subject — a figure loved by the Roman people despite his cruelties, shaped by one of history's most fascinating and ruthless women, Agrippina. He reflects on the challenges of working with unreliable ancient sources, the missing texts he'd give anything to read (Agrippina's autobiography, the lost end of Tacitus), and how he navigates the gaps that historical fiction always has to fill.

The conversation takes in Roman slavery, suicide and honour, why visiting a battlefield in person changes everything (including a story about the six-foot-wide exit ramp at Sandal Castle that explains a medieval defeat), and his upcoming novel about the Battle of Arnhem — a project with a deeply personal dimension, since his own father was there.

There's also a joyful digression into Dungeons & Dragons, David Gemmell, the famous photo with Bernard Cornwell and George MacDonald Fraser, why fantasy is actually harder to write than historical fiction, and the title dispute between Conn and his brother that's been going on for decades.

If you love historical fiction, this one is essential listening.

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