Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
10 Episodes 2022 - 2022
Episode 1
Archaeologist Ben Robinson discovers how the Cornish of Botallack was the centre of the Cornish tin and copper mining industry and supplied a deadly poison to the world.
Episode 2
The quiet village of Ravenglass in the Lake District's National Park played a strategic role in the Roman empire, as archaeologist Ben Robinson finds out.
Episode 3
Archaeologist Ben Robinson uncovers evidence of the German occupation of the Jersey village of Gorey and the role it played in defending the UK.
Episode 4
Archaeologist, Ben Robinson visits the Yorkshire coastal village of Flamborough and discovers its historic chalk buildings.
Episode 5
Archaeologist Ben Robinson discovers how Dutch settlers in the 1500s transformed the Norfolk village of Cley next the Sea.
Episode 6
BBC documentary series. Archaeologist Ben Robinson uncovers the secrets of Cornwall's Tintagel, famed as the legendary birthplace of King Arthur. Ben discovers Tintagel was potentially more important than London a thousand years ago, based on recent evidence unearthed at an archaeological dig overseen by English Heritage. It was found that over 2,000 people were living here which, at the time, which would have made it the largest settlement anywhere of its kind in Britain. In a 14th century house, Ben discovers the origins of a saying that's still in use today with the help of Joanne McGillivray of the National Trust. Joanne explains unmarried woman would sleep on a platform accessed by a ladder, which would be drawn up at night to keep the woman away from men. But if they stayed up there and never married, they would be 'left on the shelf'. No visit to Tintagel would be complete without finding out more about the myth and legend of King Arthur. Insight into his presence in popular culture is provided by historian Dr Onyeka Nubia, who tells Ben how the story of King Arthur was championed by the Victorians as he was seen as the epitome of Victorian values and Britishness.
Episode 7
Ben Robinson visits Northumberland's Craster to find out how a family who shares the name have had their lives and fortunes intertwined with the village for over 800 years.
Episode 8
BBC documentary series. Lying off the North Sea is the unassuming Suffolk village of Orford. It's behind a large shingle spit called Orford Ness. But as archaeologist Ben Robinson unearths, it's been at the forefront of defending the British Isles for over 800 years. Today, its imposing castle built by Henry II is being conserved by English Heritage. Curator Dr Shelley Garland explains the process to Ben and how they've devised the best way to preserve its crumbling stonework. The village also has its fair share of myths and legends. One of them involves the local pub, where it is rumoured smugglers used to share out their booty. Ben meets the current landlord, Ian Ballantine, who shares some of the tricks the smugglers would use to avoid getting caught red-handed. The remoteness of the shingle spit also caught the attention of the Ministry of Defence, who for over 70 years used the Ness as a top-secret weapons and ammunitions testing site.
Episode 9
BBC documentary series. Archaeologist Ben Robinson explores Parkgate, a village on the estuary of the River Dee in Cheshire. Today, the village is landlocked, cut off from the Dee and the Irish Sea due to the estuary's shifting silt. But 250 years ago, it was a bustling harbour, and as Ben finds out from Dr Gillian O'Brian, a gateway for thousands of Irish immigrants from the 1620s onwards. Local resident Anthony Annakin-Smith, who has been researching Parkgate's past, explains to Ben it was the estuary's ever-shifting silt that first established the village as an important trading port in the 18th century. Up to then, the Port of Chester had handled most of the trade along the Dee, but by the 1600s, its harbour was starting to silt up, allowing Parkgate to expand. By the middle of the 18th century, the village also developed into a tourist hotspot almost by accident, due to the latest health fad prescribed by doctors - sea bathing. This new trend caught on quickly, and local women, called dippers, were soon employed to dispense the treatment of dunking visitors under the sea water, as Ben discovers from historian Dr Kathryn Ferry.
Episode 10
Ben Robinson visits Laxey on the Isle of Man to discover what drew Victorians to the tourist destination.