Industrial and Victorian Britain

John Smith | Learning Zone

John has been accused of forging letters from his employer to allow him to get clothes on credit from local shops, but John insists that he couldn...

Jane Angus | Learning Zone

Jane Angus, aged just 12, tells us how she was caught stealing a basket from a passenger at Greenock railway station. Jane was sentenced to 10 day...

James Fleming | Learning Zone

13 year old James Fleming from Perth explains the background that lead him to be sent to an Industrial school.

James Dunn Barr | Learning Zone

James Dunn Barr tells how he was sentenced to 9 months in prison in 1889 for housebreaking. Two historians guide us through what life would h...

S3E2 | A House Through Time

David Olusoga traces the house's fortunes from the late 18th to the mid-19th century, discovering tales of scandal, domestic violence and the asy...

Crime and Punishment | What the Victorians Did For Us

Adam Hart-Davis investigates the Victorian innovations that left a lasting impression on British society. In this progr...

S10E9: Crime and Punishment: The Story of Capital Punishment | Timeshift

Documentary tracing the story of the ultimate sanction, examining such matters as the protocols of t...

S10E8: Crime and Punishment: The Story of Corporal Punishment | Timeshift

Documentary lifting the veil on the taboo that is corporal punishment, revealing a history spanning...

British emigration to America | A House Through Time

In the late 1880's, thousands of people were passing through Liverpool and emigrating to America. David Olusoga investig...

Neil Kenlock - Photographing the black British experience | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga talks to Neil Kenlock about his photographs of the experienc...

The Windrush Generation | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga discusses the Windrush Generation.

Charles Wootton | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga discusses racial violence in Liverpool.

Bechuanaland Chiefs | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga investigates the Bechuanaland Chiefs.

Morant Bay Rebellion | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga discusses the legacy of the slave trade in Jamaica in the decades after abolition.

Lancashire cotton famine | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga explains how the American civil war caused a cotton famine in Lancashire.

Mississippi cotton | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga discusses the cotton industry in Mississippi and how it fuelled Britain's industrial revolution.

Frederick Douglass | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga discusses the life and work of Frederick Douglas.

Sara Forbes Bonetta | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga discusses the remarkable life of Sara Forbes Bonetta.

West Africa Squadron | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga discusses the West Africa Squadron, which attempted to intercept slave ships and free the African...

Freetown | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga investigates the passenger list to Freetown in Africa.

Bill Richmond | Black and British: A Forgotten History

Davis Olusoga investigates the Bill Richmond black boxer who took Georgian Britain by storm.

Revolution of African-American slaves | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga investigates American Independence and the revolution of the African slaves.

Granville Sharp | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga discusses Granville Sharpe and Jonathan Strong's roles in the abolition of slavery.

Slave Codes | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga discusses the slave codes that stripped black people of all their rights.

Bunce Island | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga visits Bunce Island, where the first slave fortress was built in the 17th century.

Independent slave traders in Britain | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga investigates the British independent slave owners.

First English traders in West Africa | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga investigates the first English traders in West Africa.

John Blanke | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga discusses Catherine of Aragon's black servants.

Cholera | A House Through Time

David Olusoga investigates the 1850's Cholera epidemic in Liverpool.

10: A Year to Remember | 1900s House

The Bowlers reflect on the highs, lows and unforgettable moments of their three month living-history experiment.

9: Back to the Future | 1900s House

After three months of living in the past, the Bowlers' Victorian odyssey is coming to an end. Before they leave, they decide to throw a p...

6: Upstairs / Downstairs | 1900s House

A newcomer arrives at the house as Elizabeth, their new "maid of all work' starts domestic service. Scrubbing,washing,ironing,carpet b...

3: A Rude Awakening | 1900s House

The Bowlers wake up to their first morning in the 1900 house. There is no water, potties need emptying and the milk has gone off. The dream...

1: The Time Machine | 1900s House

We go behind-the scenes to find out how an ordinary terraced house in the shadow of the Millennium Dome was transformed into a time machine...

Episode 4 | 24 Hours in the Past

Six celebrities work in four Victorian workplaces. The six celebrities spend their final 24 hours in the workhouse.

Episode 3 | 24 Hours in the Past

Six celebrities work in four Victorian workplaces. Their third 24 hours finds them amid the bottle kilns of the Staffordshire potteries.

Episode 2 | 24 Hours in the Past

Six celebrities work in four Victorian workplaces. Their second 24 hours finds them in a rural coaching inn.

Episode 1 | 24 Hours in the Past

Six celebrities work for food and shelter in four Victorian workplaces, starting with 24 hours in the filth and grime of the city dump.

3: Happy Families: Hanoverians to Windsors | Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History

Lucy Worsley explores how the health of monarchs has shaped the nation. She explo...

2: A Nice Hot Shower | The Boat That Guy Built

Guy decides to make a steam engine power the shower on board his aptly-named narrowboat, Reckless. He also visits the factory ...

2: Crime and Punishment | History File

Compilation of secondary schools programme on British History 1750-1900. Looks at how industrialisation changed the day-to-day lives o...

5: Sewer King | Seven Wonders of the Industrial World

As 19th century London's sewage problem reached crisis point and cholera was rife, Joseph Bazalgette proposed a scheme ...

S1E6: Victorians | The Worst Jobs In History

Tony tries his hand at some of the most difficult and disgusting jobs from Victorian England's history.

S2E1: The Worst Urban Jobs in History | The Worst Jobs In History

Among the worst jobs in the city are hunch backed water caddy, daring fire fighter, dangerous docker, deal ...

S4E2 | A House Through Time

A ruthless factory owner is hit by an arson attack, a pacifist couple make a stand and one man sets sail for a life on the glamourous Atlantic li...

Series 4 | A House Through Time

David Olusoga discovers a scandalous poisoning, a reversal of fortune for a Victorian factory girl and a building dynasty that helped create ...

S2E2 | A House Through Time

Tracing the residents from the 1880s to 1900s, David discovers a family torn apart by catastrophe. The house becomes a refuge for destitute stree...

Series 2 | A House Through Time

David Olusoga pays his first visit to Ravensworth Terrace and investigates a vengeful lawyer, a scientist faced with financial ruin and a doc...

Victorian living conditions | Britain's Biggest Dig

Dr Yasmin Khan discovers the awful living conditions the workers during the Industrial Revolution had put up with.

British railway | A House Through Time

A 19th century resident of 62 Falkner Street earns his living from the steam train industry.

Liverpool cotton trade | A House Through Time

David Olusoga investigates the role Liverpool played in the cotton trade.

Unlocking the Midlands | A History of the World

Chris Tarrant discovers how one simple invention revolutionised the industrial heart of Britain. He travels by narrow boat to...

The Man Who Shrank the Globe | A History of the World

Jem Stansfield uncovers the story behind the invention of the jet engine. Frank Whittle turned our world into a global ...

The Clock That Changed the World | A History of the World

Adam Hart-Davis tells the story of the amazing 280-year-old wooden clock, made in Lincolnshire, that changed timeke...

The Birth of Steam | A History of the World

Adam Hart-Davis tells the remarkable story of Thomas Newcomen, the Devon man who invented the world's first working steam-powered...

S2E4: This Land Is Our Land | A History of Scotland

Neil Oliver looks at how, in the early 19th century, rural workers fled from Scotland's countryside into the industrial t...

2: Brunel | Great Britons (2002)

In a series of programs about the chief candidates for greatness, Jeremy Clarkson argues the case for Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the great 19t...

2: The Age of Invention | Howard Goodall's Story of Music

Howard Goodall looks at the fertile musical period between 1650 and 1750, in which many of the musical innovations ...

6: The Homecoming | The Boat That Guy Built

Guy Martin examines inventions of the Industrial Revolution. Guy and Mave show off their renovated boat and all its historic inve...

5: Make a Boat a Home | The Boat That Guy Built

Guy and his best mate Mave decide to give their narrowboat a makeover. They learn about the most influential British interior...

4: Beans on Toast | The Boat That Guy Built

Motorcycle racer and engineering enthusiast Guy Martin makes a tin can using a 200-year-old technique, bakes his own traditional ...

3: A Good Night's Sleep | The Boat That Guy Built

Guy Martin visits an Industrial Revolution cotton mill to weave his own sheets on 19th-century looms, then builds a mattres...

2: A Nice Hot Shower | The Boat That Guy Built

Guy decides to make a steam engine power the shower on board his aptly-named narrowboat, Reckless. He also visits the factory ...

1: A Cup of Tea | The Boat That Guy Built

Guy Martin renovates a neglected narrowboat with inventions from the Industrial Revolution. He begins by building an 18th-century b...

3: Having It All | The Victorians

Continuing his exploration of the Victorian world, Jeremy Paxman tells how railways, factories and military might made Britain the richest ...

5: Henry VIII to the Industrial Revolution | Michael Wood's Story of England

A portrait of one village through the whole of English history sees 17th-century dissenters, an ...

Episode 6 | Full Steam Ahead

The team find out how more leisure time and cheap rail transport meant more freedom for working-class Victorians.

Episode 5 | Full Steam Ahead

The team visit the South Devon Railway to explore the life of the branch line before the Beeching cuts of the 60s.

The 1900s | The Victorian Slum

A group of people move into a recreated Victorian slum. In the final episode the slum dwellers have moved into the 20th century and social cha...

The 1890s | The Victorian Slum

A group of people move into a recreated Victorian slum. The slum dwellers have moved into the 1890s, when Britain was slowly recovering from a...

The 1870s | The Victorian Slum

A group of 21st-century people move into a recreated Victorian slum. The slum dwellers live through a dire economic depression that blighted t...

The 1880s | The Victorian Slum

A group of people move into a recreated Victorian slum. The slum dwellers have moved into the turbulent 1880s: unemployment was sky high, livi...

The 1860s | The Victorian Slum

A group of 21st-century people move into a recreated Victorian slum. In this episode, the slum dwellers move into the 1860s, when London was t...

Divorce in Victorian Britain | A House Through Time

David Olusoga investigates divorce in Victorian Britain, through the case of a resident of 62 Falkner Street who tried to...

S2E2: Power to the People | The Battle for Britain's Soul

The Rev Peter Owen-Jones explains how Victorian Britain marked a real turning point in religion, as a growing numbe...

S2E1: The Church in Danger | The Battle for Britain's Soul

The 18th century was a time of great upheaval, with forces old and new poised to attack the established Protestant...

8: The Good Old Days | 1900s House

A night out at a Music Hall is a great success but proves a rude introduction to the seedy world of Victorian London.

5: How to be a Victorian | 1900s House

After four weeks of the drudgery of a Victorian level of housework, Joyce comes up with a 1900 solution: finding a servant to do the d...

4: Cleanliness is Next to Godliness | 1900s House

It is a week since the Bowlers began their time travel experience. But no-one has had a decent bath. The range cooker, whic...

2: Time Travellers | 1900s House

In Somerset, the Bowlers indulge in a last supper of junk food before saying goodbye to the 20th Century and hello to life in the year 1900.

5: Fire at York | Cathedral

Documentary drama series that reconstructs momentous events that shaped the building of Britain's cathedrals. Today, the story of York Minster Ca...

Episode 4 | 24 Hours in the Past

Six celebrities work in four Victorian workplaces. The six celebrities spend their final 24 hours in the workhouse.

3: The Circus | Britain's Best Buildings

This edition visits the Circus, a perfect circle of palatial terraced houses in the centre of Regency Bath.

4: Dreams and Nightmares | The Victorians

Jeremy Paxman discovers how, during the dying years of Victoria's reign, artists led a revolt against Victorian values of money and...

2: Home Sweet Home | The Victorians

Jeremy Paxman continues his exploration of the Victorian world by entering the Victorian home, a haven of order. But he soon discovers al...

1: Painting the Town | The Victorians

Jeremy Paxman begins his exploration into Victorian Britain by investigating the most dramatic event of the age - the explosion of grea...

Episode 2 | Full Steam Ahead

This episode looks at how railways began to move people, rather than just goods, around the country.

Episode 3 | Full Steam Ahead

Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn find out how railways transformed the British diet.