Digging for Britain

*Digging for Britain*
Digging for Britain
	Title card
Genre	Documentary
Presented by	Alice Roberts
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	9
No. of episodes	39 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	59 minutes
Production companies	Rare TV (formerly known as 360 Production (series 1-7)[1]) for BBC; (in association with Northern Ireland Screen)
Release
Original network	BBC Two
Original release	19 August 2010 –; present

Digging For Britain is a British television series focused on last and current year archaeology. It is made by 360 Production (now Rare TV) for the BBC and is presented by Alice Roberts.[2][3] It was first aired in August 2010.

The series focuses on archaeological excavations and research in the United Kingdom, both at new sites and those already well known to science. Filming has taken place in many parts of the country.

The first series consisted of four episodes, initially broadcast on BBC Two in August and September 2010. A second series of four episodes was broadcast in September 2011. Each episodes of first two series had covered archaeology of specific period. The programme returned as a series of three episodes on BBC Four in February 2015, covering the previous summer's investigations in specific geographical region of the United Kingdom in each episode. Each episode of this series was hosted in regional museum. The same format as in series 3 was adopted for series 4 and 5, which first aired in March and December 2016 respectively. There was also a programme Digging for Ireland linked to the series [4] which had the same format and presenters as series 5, it was broadcast in February 2015. A sixth series of the programme began airing in November 2017, returning to the four-episode format (covering three geographical regions plus one special theme). This structure was retained for series 7 and 8, which aired in November 2018 and 2019 respectively. Four episodes titled The Greatest Discoveries aired in 2020. It returned for its 9th series in January 2022.[5]

Since series 3, with exception of series 5, the programme was co-presented in various form. Some presenters are former members of Time Team crew (as did Roberts). The series 3 and 4 by archaeologist Matt Williams (who also presented some Time Team episodes). (Roberts and Williams also presented Digging for Ireland.) Raksha Dave (archaeologist in Time Team) series 7.[6] The archaeologist and academic Naoíse Mac Sweeney was a presenter in series 8.[7] Series 9 features historian Onyeka Nubia and archaeologists Cat Jarman, and Stuart Prior in some episodes as presenters.[8]

The song Coins for Eyes was written for series 9 by Johnny Flynn and Robert Macfarlane.[9]

Episodes

Episode	Episode title	Director	Producer(s)	Series Producer	Airdate	Viewers
Series 1
1	"The Romans"	John Hayes-Fisher	John Hayes-Fisher	Not listed	19 August 2010 (2010-08-19)	2.75m
Sites and archaeology featured: Fort of Vindolanda Vicus outsite Vindolanda Sudbury lantern Revaluation of 1912 dig near Hambleden Isle of Thanet (East Kent Access Road): 1st/2nd century roman burial, potencial iron age village Iron Age excavation near Bere Regis Frome roman coins Hoard St Peter Port harbour, Guernsey, roman shipwreck Temple in Vindolanda
2	"Prehistory"	Serena Davies	Serena Davies	Not listed	26 August 2010 (2010-08-26)	2.34m
Sites and archaeology featured: Almost million years old flint tools near Happisburgh Creswell Crags Cave Art Links of Noltland, Westray, Orkney Culduthel Man Coast near Salcombe Grave of the chieftain from Forteviot
3	"Anglo-Saxons"	Sarah Jobling	Sarah Jobling	Not listed	2 September 2010 (2010-09-02)	42.45m
Sites and archaeology featured: Dorchester 19th century excavated burials Staffordshire Hoard Anglo-Saxon settlement near Bamburgh castle Lanton Quarry village Saxon graves on East Kent Access Road Cemetery at the Meads and Conservation Science Invastigations : Sittingbourne 2000 cemetery excavation at Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon nunnary at berkeley castle Bamburgh burial ground excavated between 1998 and 2007 Eadgyth's tomb Anglo-Saxon swords from Bamburgh
4	"The Tudors"	James Gray	James Gray	Not listed	10 September 2010 (2010-09-10)	TBA
Sites and archaeology featured: Foundations of The Theater at Shoreditch Palace at Placentia at Greenwich Mary Rose shipwreck Strata Florida Abbey ruins The Gresham Ship New Place residence in Stratford-upon-Avon Artifacts of Elizabethan theaters and bearbaiting arenas
Series 2
1	"Britannia"	Tim Robinson	Tim Robinson	Not listed	9 September 2011 (2011-09-09)	TBA
Sites and archaeology featured: Roman villa of Classis Britannica commander near Folkestone Mystery roman 97 babes near Hambleden Roman settlement near exeter Caerleon amphitheatre's warehause Bere Regis romanized building and burial Helmet found near Crosby Garrett Vinovia, Binchester Roman Fort along roman road of Dere Street between Durham and York
2	"Invaders"	Sarah Jobling	Sarah Jobling	Not listed	16 September 2011 (2011-09-16)	TBA
Sites and archaeology featured: Excavation at the site of Horgabost on Harris island Lewis Chessmen Monastery on Harris Hungate, York Possible victims of St. Brice's day massacre Vale of York Hoard Udal excavation Viking settlement Brough of Deerness
3	"Age of Bronze and Iron"	Emma Parkins	Emma Parkins	Not listed	23 September 2011 (2011-09-23)	TBA
Sites and archaeology featured: Cladh Hallan project's burials, South Uist Cambridgeshire quarry Excavation along river Waveney Fort near Burrough Fin Cop fort Chiseldon cauldrons Excavation at Calleva Atrebatum
4	"Ice and Stone"	James Gray	James Gray	Not listed	30 September 2011 (2011-09-30)	TBA
Sites and archaeology featured: Stonehenge's bluestones origin site Neolithic tomb at Banks, South Ronaldsay Daer valley mesolithic-neolithic transition flint tools Star Carr mesolithic village Paleolithic tools Les Varines, Jersey Gough's Cave human remains Neanderthal tools from La Cotte
Series 3
1	"East"	Edward Hart[lower-alpha 1]	Alex Rowson	Catherine Ross, Sarah Jobling	3 February 2015 (2015-02-03)	TBA
Hosted at Norwich Castle Museum Sites and archaeology featured: Must Farm bronze age fishing industry Colchester roman house Oakington anglo-saxon cemetry Lyminge anglo-saxon royal hall Basing House new house fort Silchester roman town
2	"West"	Edward Hart[lower-alpha 1]	Bernadette Ross	Catherine Ross, Sarah Jobling	10 February 2015 (2015-02-10)	TBA
Hosted at Dorset County Museum Sites and archaeology featured: Barrow Clamp burial ground Durotriges big dig project, Winterborne Kingston Chedworth roman villa The leper hospital of Saint Mary Magdalen near Winchester Forest of Dean bronze age child bracelets Ipplepen roman cemetery
3	"North"	Edward Hart[lower-alpha 1]	Denis Minihan, Chris Nikkel	Catherine Ross	17 February 2015 (2015-02-17)	TBA
Hosted at National Museum of Scotland Sites and archeology featured: Neolithic site of Ness of Brodgar Roman Barracks at Binchester Roman altar monument at Maryport Mesolithic butchery place at Flixton Island Sanday bronze age well site, carvings from Jonathan's Cave, East Wemyss, and iron age site on North Uist rescue Viking boat burial at Ardnamurchan John Conyers' feasting hall at Boroughbridge Potencial Pictish Royal place at Rhynie
Series 4
1	"West"	Edward Hart	Gemma Hagen, Alex Rowson	Edward Hart	10 March 2016
2	"East"	Edward Hart	Gemma Hagen, Alex Rowson	Edward Hart	17 March 2016
3	"North"	Edward Hart	Gemma Hagen, Alex Rowson	Edward Hart	24 March 2016
Special Episode
1	Digging For Ireland				February 2015
Series 5
1	"West"	Graham Cooper	Gemma Hagen, Alex Rowson	Graham Cooper [lower-alpha 2]	6 December 2016
2	"North"	Gemma Hagen	Gemma Hagen	Graham Cooper	13 December 2016
3	"East"	Alex Rowson	Alex Rowson	Graham Cooper	20 December 2016
Series 6
1	"West"	Nick Gillam-Smith	Not listed	Nick Gillam-Smith [lower-alpha 2]	22 November 2017
2	"East"	Alex Rowson	Alex Rowson	Nick Gillam-Smith	29 November 2017
3	"North"	Fiona Cushley	Fiona Cushley	Nick Gillam-Smith	6 December 2017
4	"The Horsemen of Hadrian's Wall"	James Gray	James Gray	Nick Gillam-Smith	13 December 2017
Series 7
1	"North"	Karen Kirk	Karen Kirk	Nick Gillam-Smith	28 November 2018
2	"West"	Not listed [lower-alpha 3]	Not listed	Nick Gillam-Smith	5 December 2018
3	"East"	Louise Ord	Louise Ord	Nick Gillam-Smith	12 December 2018
4	"Iron Age Revealed"	Tom Ranson	Tom Ranson	Nick Gillam-Smith	19 December 2018
Series 8
1	"West"	Sophie Smith	Sophie Smith	Paul Olding	20 November 2019
2	"North"	Gareth Sacala	Gareth Sacala	Paul Olding	27 November 2019
3	"South"	Sophie Smith, Gareth Sacala	Sophie Smith, Gareth Sacala	Paul Olding	4 December 2019
4	"WWII Special"	Sophie Smith	Sophie Smith	Paul Olding	11 December 2019
Special Series [lower-alpha 4][lower-alpha 5]
1	"The Greatest Discoveries: The Early Settlers"		Denis Minihan		17 March 2020
2	"The Greatest Discoveries: A Land of Tribes"		Denis Minihan		24 March 2020
3	"The Greatest Discoveries: Roman Conquest"		Denis Minihan		31 March 2020
4	"The Greatest Discoveries: Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms"		Denis Minihan		7 April 2020
Series 9
1	"East"		Edward Hart, Rory Wheeler	Theo Williams	4 January 2022
2	"South"		Edward Hart, Rory Wheeler	Theo Williams	5 January 2022
3	"North"		Edward Hart, Rory Wheeler	Theo Williams	6 January 2022
4	"Midlands"		Edward Hart, Rory Wheeler	Theo Williams	11 January 2022
5	"West"		Edward Hart, Rory Wheeler	Theo Williams	12 January 2022
6	"North"		Edward Hart, Rory Wheeler	Theo Williams	13 January 2022

Notes

Credited as Studio Director
Listed in end credits as Series Producer/Director.
Judging from the place in the credits might be Nick Gillam-Smith for this episode, mistitled as Series Producer only.
Each episode is about 30 minutes in length.[10]
Each episode is a compilation of material from previews series.

References

"360 Production, Screencut join and rebrand as Rare TV - Televisual". 25 January 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
"Digging For Britain". BBC press office. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
"Digging for Britain". BBC Programmes. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
"Digging for Ireland". BBC Programmes. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
Digging for Britain (Documentary), 360 Production, Northern Ireland Screen, Rare-TV, 19 August 2010, retrieved 12 January 2022
"Raksha Dave". Pitt Rivers Museum. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
Olding, Paul (20 November 2019), West, Digging for Britain, retrieved 12 January 2022
"BBC Two - Digging for Britain". BBC. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
Flynn, Johnny [@JohnnyFlynnHQ] (4 January 2022). "Hello all and Happy New Year. The song @RobGMacfarlane and I have written for @theAliceRoberts's fantastic new series of Digging For Britain is released in two versions today, to celebrate the first episode on @BBCTwo - listen to Coins for the Eyes here: t.co/dHBYmRTsZW" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2022 – via Twitter.
"BBC Two - Digging for Britain, the Greatest Discoveries, Episode 1".

External links

Digging for Britain at BBC Online
Digging for Britain at IMDb

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[StudioDirector-10] Credited as Studio Director

[SeriesProducer-11] Listed in end credits as Series Producer/Director.

[Director-12] Judging from the place in the credits might be Nick Gillam-Smith for this episode, mistitled as Series Producer only.

[SpecialEpisodeLength-14] Each episode is about 30 minutes in length.[10]

[SpecialEpisodeCharacteristic-15] Each episode is a compilation of material from previews series.

[1] "360 Production, Screencut join and rebrand as Rare TV - Televisual". 25 January 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2022.

[bbcpo-2] "Digging For Britain". BBC press office. Retrieved 9 July 2010.

[3] "Digging for Britain". BBC Programmes. Retrieved 14 September 2016.

[4] "Digging for Ireland". BBC Programmes. Retrieved 7 February 2022.

[5] Digging for Britain (Documentary), 360 Production, Northern Ireland Screen, Rare-TV, 19 August 2010, retrieved 12 January 2022

[6] "Raksha Dave". Pitt Rivers Museum. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2020.

[7] Olding, Paul (20 November 2019), West, Digging for Britain, retrieved 12 January 2022

[8] "BBC Two - Digging for Britain". BBC. Retrieved 12 January 2022.

[9] Flynn, Johnny [@JohnnyFlynnHQ] (4 January 2022). "Hello all and Happy New Year. The song @RobGMacfarlane and I have written for @theAliceRoberts's fantastic new series of Digging For Britain is released in two versions today, to celebrate the first episode on @BBCTwo - listen to Coins for the Eyes here: t.co/dHBYmRTsZW" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2022 – via Twitter.

[13] "BBC Two - Digging for Britain, the Greatest Discoveries, Episode 1".