"Black Death" was the second of the six 'history as news' episodes to be shown by PBS in 1989, focusing on the second pandemic of the Black Death, the plague that first decimated populations around the world in 1346–53. In 1361 it has returned again and reporters Owen of Canarfon (Robert Bathurst), Siboletto of Zimbabwe (Fran Dorn), Louis de Jaen (Inaqui Aierra) & Selim Karasi (Engin Cezzar) are following the path of contagion as it sweeps west from Asia to devastate Europe for the second time in a generation. As usual, anchorman Steve Bell reports from the Timeline studios.