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Reference source of past TV programmes |
Time Flyers
(Aerial archaeology)
An eight-part Series II
Last in series shown on BBC 2, Tuesday 9 December 2003 at 7.30pm
Repeat of series on Tuesday's in 2004 at 7.30pm
 Archaeologists
Dave MacLeod, Jo Caruth and Mark Horton each week set out to solve
historical mysteries from their unique aerial perspective. Aerial
archaeology combines high-flying excitement with a fair amount of
discomfort. But the highs definitely make up for the lows, as the
outlines of hidden Druid avenues, unexpected pre-Roman habitations
or even secret wartime tunnels appear on photographs taken from the
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Fooling Hitler (14.10.03): (30.03.04) The team investigate a secret British
department operating in World War Two which enlisted special effects technicians from the movie industry to try
fooling German bombers into attacking fake targets.
Super-Rich Roman Britain (21.10.03): (6.04.04) Inches below the surface of a
school playing field in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, lies one of the largest and most sumptuous Roman mosaics
ever to be found in Britain, hidden for 1,500 years. The mosaic reveals much about the opulent Roman landscape
of south west England.
Clash of the Clans (28.10.03): (13.04.04) They find out about 16th-century
feud between Clan Morrisons and Clan MacLeods, who lived independent of crown control on the Western Isles. A
team from Glasgow University excavate a site on Lewis that might be the location of the ancient sea fort of Dun
Eisdean, once the stronghold of the Clan Morrison.
Stonehenge of the North (4.11.03): (20.04.04) The team travels to North
Yorkshire to check out what's being called the `Stonehenge of the North', investigating the arrangement of giant
earthworks, banks and ditches which dominates a wide swathe of the landscape and stretches for over a mile.
Millionaire Monks (11.11.03): (4.05.04) A visit to the elegant remains of the
medieval Cistercian abbeys of Rievaulx and Fountains in Yorkshire reveals the monks had more than God on their
mind, with their churches hives of industrial activity and home to some of the most astute and wealthiest
businessmen of their day.
Scotland's Exodus ( ): (11.05.04) The team travel to the far North
of Scotland to discover the dark truth behind Scotland's empty wilderness. The hills and glens are littered with
abandoned homes; their inhabitants driven from the land to seek their fortunes in Britain's cities and the new
world.
From Sheffield to the Somme (2.12.03): (18.05.04) The team look at a network
of lines and zigzags on the moors near Sheffield, which were dug during the First World War as preparation for
digging the trenches during the Battle of the Somme, examining the site of the Somme battlefields and talking to
those who witnessed the vital role of those involved and the bloody fate many of them met.
Villages of the Damned (9.12.03): (25.05.04) The team focuses on the Derwent
Dams in the Peak District. Beneath the surface of one of Britain's largest reservoirs lie two villages, and
beside the dam the earthwork remains of a town that existed for only 14 years.
An eight-part Series I
(Note: Shown Tuesday's in Scotland)
Started BBC 2, Thursday 31 October 2002 at 7.30pm
A repeat of the Series in 2003 on Sunday's
Reading Between The Lines (17.08.03 at
1.00pm): They investigated the
mysterious network of lines across the Yorkshire Wold.
The Village That Disappeared (14.09.03 at 1.00pm): The team travelled to
Somerset to investigate a long-forgotten medieval village. Local records suggest that it could have been
the Black Death that killed off the community.
The Missing Castle (21.09.03 at 12.30pm): The intrepid Time Flyers team turn
the clock back to the age of chivalry and knights on horseback, in search of a medieval castle in
Herefordshire.
In Search Of Offa's Dyke (5.10.03 at 12.40pm): Using their helicopter
and an ambitious reconstruction of Offa's Dyke, the Time Flyers set out to solve the
mystery of the dyke's missing section at Welshpool.
Visit BBC
History
and the
Time Flyers website for more information |
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Time Tales
LWT only
Series "First" shown on LWT (ITV) in Autumn 2000
| Anna
Richardson, presenter of Love Bites and Big
Screen, teamed up with Animal Tales' Daniel Read,
to present Time Tales, an eight-part
series. Every week Anna and Daniel, accompanied
by different groups of young people, unearthed
the stories behind various sites and landmarks in
and around London, and helped discover the
region's hidden past. For
more information visit the Time Tales
web site
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Time Team
On Channel 4
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Eleventh series (2004); 13 programmes
Completed Sunday 28 March 2003 at 5.05pm
Tenth series (2003); 13 programmes
Completed Sunday 30 March 2003 at 5.35pm
Ninth series (2002); 13 programmes
Completed Sunday 31 March 2002 at 5.05pm
(The story of
Live 2001)
Time Team Digs
An eight programme series (in time sequence)
looking back at the previous ten years of digs
Shown on Friday's November - December 2002
Time Team Xmas 2002
Programme Listings for
20,
27 &
29
December 2002
Time Team 10th Anniversary Special
Shown Friday 27
December 2002 at 5.55pm
2001 Time Team Specials
The Bone Cave
- Thursday 1 March, 2001 at 9.00 pm
Coventry's Lost Cathedral - Thursday
8 March, 2001 at 9.00 pm
The Island of the Eels - Thursday 17 May, 2001 at 9.00 pm
The Mystery of Mine Howe - Thursday
12 July 2001 at 8.00 pm
Dinosaurs in Montana, USA - Sunday
30 December 2001 at 8.00pm
The History of Britain
First shown Xmas 2000, repeated in July 2001and May 2002
A chance to see the team
take a trip from the Palaeolithic to the present,
plotting the nation's past through the finds and
revelations made during the previous seven
series.
They paid new visits to classic UK
archaeological sites like Grimes Graves and
Bede's World, and examine key digs from the
programme's past to look at how archaeologists
have interpreted the nation's history.
Tony Robinson and resident experts Mick Aston,
Carenza Lewis and Phil Harding also examined archaeology's
future, asking if holes in the ground will be
needed when the historians of tomorrow examine
our well-documented world.
Go to the
The History of Britain page for access to VR and location information
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Tony Robinson's Romans
Nero
Last in a four-part Series
Shown
on Channel 4, Saturday 11 October
2003 at 8.00pm
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A four-part series in which Tony Robinson chronicles the lives of three
legendary Romans - Caesar, Caligula and Nero.
Julius Caesar - part 1 & 2
(20.09.03): In part one, he looks at Julius Caesar, one
of the most monumental figures in history. When in 44BC he was stabbed to death
by 23 assassins, it changed the face of western civilisation. Sifting
through
the fact from the fiction, Robinson reveals that Caesar was in fact enormously
popular in Rome.
(27.09.03): In part two, he continues his analysis of Julius Caesar covering Caesar's
greatest military victories including his five-year battle with his rival
Pompey and his meeting with Cleopatra. Caesar had became so powerful, he was
responsible for deconstructing Rome's centuries-old system of democracy.
Caligula
(4.10.03): In part three, he looks at Caligula and tries to get beyond the popular
perception of the power-mad, sadistic tyrant. He commanded respect, but never
loyalty, and it took the defeat of the Barbarians for him to win the hearts and
minds of his army. But plans to invade Britain signalled the beginning of the
end for his reign.
Nero
(11.10.03): In part four, he looks at Nero who is the final Roman to be scrutinised. He came to power via a
well-connected childhood at the age of 16, cutting quite a dash in the court. But behind his
glamorous appearance and mass adulation, his private life read like a soap opera.
His gravest mistake was to upset his military leaders, culminating in his downfall.
Visit Channel 4
History and the
Time Traveller's Guide to the Roman Empire
websites for further information |
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Trains with Pete Waterman
A four-part Series
High Speed Revolution (4)
Shown on Channel 4, Sunday 17 October at 5.30pm
 Pete Waterman's day job might be as a pop impresario,
but the real love of his life is trains. He presents this new four-part series that tells the fascinating
history of Britain's railway system - from the lows to the highs, from the great
capitalist driven Victorian expansion to today's high-speed trains.
Rocket Science (26.9.04 at 5.30pm): Pete opens the series with a look at the birth
of the railways.
The Golden Age (3.10.04 at 5.30pm): In this second programme, Pete
investigates the development of famous locomotives such as the Flying Scotsman
and Mallard. He also considers the changing economic and political factors to
which the rail companies had to respond prior to the Second World War.
How Trains Won the War (10.10.04 at 5.30pm):
Here Pete reflects upon the important role of the railways during the Second World
War as trains moved troops, coal and munitions around the country to help
Britain's war effort. Some of the rail workers who helped sustain services
between 1939 and 1945 discuss their contribution during this perilous time.
High Speed Revolution (17.10.04 at 5.30pm):
In the final programme of the series Pete recalls his own job as a fireman on a
steam train and analyses the impact of the Beeching plan upon the nation's
railways. He concludes with a look at the new generation of high-speed trains
and the effect of privatisation on the system.
Visit Channel 4 History and
the Beginners Guide
to Britain's trains and railways.
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Two Men in a Trench
A six-part Series 1
Shown on BBC 2, starting from Tuesday 3 September 2002 at 8.00pm
A six-part Series II
Shown on BBC 2, starting from Thursday 26 February 2004 at 7.00pm
 This
series follows young historians and military archaeologists Neil
Oliver and Tony Pollard, who share a passion for
Battlefield Archaeology.
They describe the array of techniques employed to reveal the past.
Battlefields are rich seams filled with clues to the past - skeletal
remains, weaponry, artefacts and ammunition - which enable us to
recreate vivid stories of human struggle.
In the First Series Flodden,
Culloden and the Siege of Newark were just a few of the sites where
Tony and Neil pitched their ex-army tent as close to the action as
possible. In Series II (first shown on
BBC 4)
they unlock the secrets of Bannockburn, Sedgemoor, Edgehill, Hornchurch, Dover and Killiekrankie.
Read the live chat
with Tony Pollard and Neil Oliver following the Tuesday 1 October
2002 programme. Glean all the gossip behind the series and join in the
debate on the message board?
Series II
The Battle of Britain: (26.02.04) Tony and Neil visit the site of the former RAF base at
Hornchurch, Essex, which played a pivotal role during the Battle of Britain in 1940.
The Battle of Sedgemoor: (4.03.04) Tony and Neil visit the Somerset levels to investigate the
site of the Battle of Sedgemoor of 1685, where James II's forces, led by Lord Feversham, defeated the
rebellion led by his nephew, the Duke of Monmouth.
The Battle of Edgehill: (11.03.04) Tony and Neil visit the site of the Battle of Edgehill of 1642,
the first major engagement of the Civil War. Nearly 30,000 Roundheads and Cavaliers clashed in deadly combat,
and at the end of the fighting around 2,000 lay dead. The carnage that took place on this day genuinely shocked
those involved, but it was only the beginning. A long and terrible war lay ahead.
The Battle of Killiecrankie: (18.03.04) Tony and Neil visit the site of the Battle of Killiecrankie of
1689, where the charismatic Jacobite commander 'Bonnie' Dundee defeated a much larger English (Government) force.
Tony and Neil try to find out how he achieved this amazing victory.
The Battle of Bannockburn: (25.03.04) Tony and Neil visit the site of the Battle of Bannockburn of 1314,
where Robert the Bruce's outnumbered forces routed Edward II's
English army outside Stirling. Finding the battlefield proves no
easy task. Scotland's most famous battlefield has gone missing! Tony and Neil
use all the weapons in their armoury to try to find the spot where it happened.
The Battle of the Big Guns: (1.04.04) Tony and Neil visit the giant gun emplacements built on either side
of the Channel during World War II.
Visit BBC History
and the Two Men in a Trench website
Also BBC
Archaeology for more information |
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Walking with Cavemen
A four-part Series
Shown on BBC 1, Thursday's at 8.00pm
| A Series recreating the
lives of our evolutionary ancestors, presented by Professor Robert
Winston and using specially coached actors, state-of-the-art
prosthetics and the latest scientific discoveries. The series begins in east Africa 3.5
million years ago, when a new species of ape began to walk on two
legs.
First Ancestors
(27.03.03): A troop of Afarensis are followed as they endure a
harsh life sleeping in trees and foraging for food.
Blood Brothers (3.04.03): Two very different ape species,
Paranthropus boisei and Homo habilis, compete for survival in the
Africa of two million years ago.
Savage Family (17.04.03): Professor Robert Winston discusses homo ergaster, who lived on the salt pans of Southern Africa and possessed advanced self-awareness and understanding of the world.
The Survivors (24.04.03 at 8.30pm): A
focus on a group of Homo heidelbergensis, advanced tool users who
lived in family units but who were incapable of imagination, and their
descendents the Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, who came to conquer the world.
Visit BBC
Science and the
Walking with Cavemen
website for further information |
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Walking with Dinosaurs
While not archaeology a well loved documentary Series
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The latest computer animation
technology was used to convey the story of the dinosaurs
Narrated by Kenneth Branagh
Shown in 1999 and 2000
From this original series a number of Specials have originated
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Walking with Dinosaurs - Specials
Repeats shown in 2001 & 2003
The Ballard of Big Al -
BBC 1, Christmas
Day, 2000 at 4.35pm (Repeat in 2001)
In 1991 a fossil allosaurus, nicknamed Big Al, was found in the
USA. The first of two films looks at his life 145
million years ago.
Big Al Uncovered -
BBC 1, Wednesday
27 December, 2000 at 8.00pm (Repeat in 2001)
This programme told the story of the scientific detective work
that went into the reconstruction of the life of
the eponymous allosaurus.
The Giant Claw
-
BBC 1, Monday 30
December 2002 at 8.30pm
(Repeat 13.08.03)
What manner
of creature living in the Gobi Desert some 75 million years ago
weighed in at five tons and possessed metre-long claws? Zoologist
Nigel Marven travels back to the Mesozoic era to meet the fearsome
therizinosaurus.
Land of Giants
- BBC 1, Wednesday 1
January 2003 at 6.50pm
(Repeat 14.08.03)
In this
special edition, zoologist Nigel Marven travels back in time 100
million years to witness the spectacle of the fearsome predator
giganotosaurus hunting the largest dinosaur ever, the near 100-tonne
argentinosaurus.
Also visit
BBC Horizon
and
Extreme Dinosaurs
- This is possibly the inspiration for the above programme !
(Repeat showing on BBC 2, Saturday 4 January 2003
and First shown 9.00pm Thursday 23 November 2000) |
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Visit the Walking
with Dinosaurs
web site for lots more information ...
also the BBC "Nature"
and "Science"
web sites
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Weapons that made Britain
A five-part Series
Armour (5)
Shown on Channel 4, Saturday 7 August at 7.05pm
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Medieval Britain could be a grim and bloody place, not least because of the weapons that were developed
during those centuries with the aim of causing the greatest mutilation and mortality for the least amount of
effort. At the same time, clever artisans strove to create items that would protect warriors from the mayhem of
others.
In this five-part ripping piece of experimental history Mike Loades, an arms historian and fight choreographer,
tries to work out how ancient weapons were designed, made and used in anger.
The five programmes are:
Weapons:
Sword
(10.07.04): In this programme Mike looks at the different swords that soldiers in the
Middle Ages fought with - longswords, broadswords and so on. Loades is a gutsy sort of presenter and his favourite
trick is to deliver a piece to camera while swishing a blade around at us.
Longbow
(17.07.04): In this programme Mike considers the medieval longbow, travelling to Crecy to
illustrate how British archers, armed with such a weapon, decimated the French and helped create the reputations
of England's most warlike kings.
Lance
(24.07.04): In this programme the lance is this week's featured killer, and our excitable
host assesses its impact and evolution over 300 years. While visiting a medieval battlefield near Lewes in Sussex,
Mike considers the use of the lance by knights on horseback, and the counter measures taken by the armies of the
time to combat their tactical power. Behind the bloodthirsty title, there is a valid and vivid history lesson.
Mike imparts his arms knowhow with breathless glee, and unlocks the tactics of key conflicts with persuasive
precision.
Protection:
Shield
(31.07.04): This programme concentrates on the defensive qualities of the medieval shield,
Recalling the conflicts of Anglo Saxon England, Mike demonstrates the battlefield
effectiveness of the shield wall, a tactical weapon used by King Alfred to fight
off the Vikings. He also tests examples of the duelling shields used in medieval Europe to settle disputes.
Armour
(7.08.04): The enduring image of the medieval knight is one of a warrior restricted in his
movement by the cumbersome protective qualities of his suit of armour. In this programme Mike tests this perception
and also assesses the effectiveness of chain mail and `arrow-proof' Italian designs.
Visit the Weapons
that made Britain website for further information
Here you will find a Glossary and
Links to further your
interest
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What
Sank the Mary Rose
First
shown on Channel 4, Monday 21 August, 2000 at 9.00pm
| Repeats:
on Channel 4; Thursday 24 May 2001 at 8.00 pm and
Saturday 22 December 2001 at 8.00pm The Mary
Rose, named after the favourite sister of Henry
VIII, was a forerunner of today's battleships.
She was defending England against a massive
French invasion force in 1545 when, without
warning, she capsized and slid under the waves
taking over 400 men with her. This was a tragedy
as big in scale as the Titanic disaster, but what
sank the Mary Rose?
A team of experts from the fields of
shipbuilding, science, history and archaeology
gather to study the evidence and try to pin down
the reason for the disaster. Using a scaled-down
model of the Mary Rose, forensic scientists
reconstruct the ship's last voyage and a tragic
picture emerges of her final moments. First shown
in the Secrets of
the Dead strand.
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