Episode list

London, 1666:- Thomas Farriner, a widower with two young daughters, runs a bakery in Pudding Lane and turns to administrator Samuel Pepys when naval clerk Sheridan withholds payment for the bread he has supplied to the navy. Pepys cannot help though he does inform him that his brother seems to have been lost in a sea battle against the Dutch. Profligate king Charles II, in pursuit of comely Frances Stuart, holds lavish banquets he cannot afford due to the war and is rebuked by both his brother, James the duke of York, and Pepys. Lord Denton, the king's spy-master, arrests an assassin about to murder Charles and links him to the Catholic sympathizer the Duke of Hanford. Thomas's sister-in-law Sarah works for Hanford and Denton persuades her to - reluctantly - spy for him. At the same time a spark from Thomas's oven sets alight the straw on the floor and the Great Fire of London begins.

On the second day of the fire, Thomas joins the mass exodus to the comparative safety of Moorfields, leaving the girls there while he returns to find Sarah, unaware that Denton has imprisoned her as a possible Catholic sympathizer. She is saved from being raped by Vincent, a murderer who sailed with her husband, who he is certain is dead, before Denton releases her to steal an incriminating red box from Hanford, keeping her son David as hostage. Alarmed by the speed and growing danger of the fire, Samuel Pepys persuades King Charles to defy his fawning ministers and demolish blocks of houses to halt the fire's progress while Elizabeth Pepys discovers her husband's infidelity.

The king is angry upon learning that his ministers have not demolished houses to stem the fire and promises compensation to the householders. Sarah is caught by the Duke of Hanford trying to steal the box but on hearing that she is being blackmailed by Denton, who has her son held hostage in Newgate, lets her escape. However, Denton breaks into the house and kills the duke, acquiring the document that names the king's brother James as part of the conspiracy. James explains that all he wants is for the king to convert to Catholicism and also encourages him to be seen to take an active part in the fire-fighting. Thomas learns that David is in Newgate and, just as the fire reaches the jail, rescues him and Vincent, who takes the child to Moorfields. He also catches up with Sarah and they go on the run after Denton has issued an arrest warrant, claiming that they started the fire as part of the plot to kill the king.

Queen Catherine confronts her wayward husband with the news that if the fire reaches the Tower of London it will ignite powder kegs stored there and blow up the whole city. As a result he joins James and the fire-fighters and makes sure that houses are demolished to stop the spread of the blaze, assuring compensation. Hysteria breaks out as Catholics and foreigners are accused of arson and lynched, despite Samuel Pepys's efforts to intervene. Denton rearrests Sarah, planning to use her as a scapegoat to appease the mob and the Farriners approach Pepys, whose wife persuades him to take Thomas to see the king and explain how the fire really started. Told that the fire has been halted the king urges the citizens to look forward to rebuilding London, rather than putting the blame on outsiders and Sarah is released.