Victorian Pharmacy Season 1 Episodes

Episode 1

Episode #1.1

Episode 2

Episode #1.2

The pharmacy team make the transition from early 19th century hit and miss cure-alls to new remedies produced by scientific advances. In the 1850s and 1860s overcrowding and insanitary housing conditions led to outbreaks of diseases like cholera and tuberculosis and pharmacies made use of scientific advances, including the discovery of antiseptics and disinfectant, to produce medical products and herbal cures which changed peoples lives for the better.

Episode 3

Episode #1.3

The team are about to face up to their biggest challenge yet - adapting to new laws which, in 1868, regulated their trade for the very first time, and Ruth, Tom and Nick face a sample of the tough six part examinations pharmacists went through to become legally qualified. They also explore the world of poisons and hazards that were completely unregulated prior to new legislation - from arsenic and opium to explosives - when chemists experimented on products ranging from matches to coloured fireworks. The team learn the processes involved in each, and lay on a Victorian style firework display to promote Ruth's new food products - jelly and custard - to their customers.

Episode 4

Episode #1.4

Ruth, Tom and Nick continue with Barber and Goodman's Pharmacy through to the end of the Victorian era. Tom branches out into photography and dentistry using the latest technology, such as the foot-pedal dental drill. Ruth makes condoms out of sheep intestines and Nick produces his own brand of toothpaste as well as an herbal painkiller from Willow bark (salicylic acid - a precursor to aspirin), and an anti-inflammatory from Meadowsweet. For customers who liked a little pampering, the team diversify into making their very own brand of perfume. As they shut up shop for the last time, the team reflected on a revolution in public health care that put a chemist's shop in every town in the country.