Episode 2

This is the city of endless reinvention; it's had more makeovers than a Hollywood starlet. In 200 years it's had the lot - one minute it's the richest place in Britain and possibly the world, and the next it's the ultimate sink city, crippled by strikes and unemployment.

It is now European Capital of Culture. So is this, its latest incarnation, going to be any more long lasting than the others that preceded it? Alexei Sayle charts the chequered history of Liverpool from the shame of slavery to the bold new city shaking off the troubles of its recent past.