The Liverpool docks | A House Through Time

05: 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...

Why the Industrial Revolution Happened Here

Professor Jeremy Black explains the unique economic, social and political factors that helped Britain transform itself almost ent...

01: Profit and Loss | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

In 1834 Britain abolished slavery, a defining and celebrated moment in our national history. What has been largely for...

S02E03: The Worst Industrial Jobs in History | The Worst Jobs In History

Among the Worst Industrial Jobs in History are: Bridge builders, Canal leggers, bone cleaner to make...

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...

04: 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 p...

Episode 1 | Back in Time for School

Fifteen pupils and three teachers embark on a time-travelling adventure to discover how much life at school has changed. The class start ...

The Children Who Built Victorian Britain

Using animation and actual recorded testimony, historian Jane Humphries tells the story of the child workers whose exploitation was ...

S10E09: Crime and Punishment: The Story of Capital Punishment | Timeshift

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

Children in the Industrial Revolution | The Children Who Built Victorian Britain

How children were treated and how this began to change.

Episode 1 | Empire with David Olusoga

David Olusoga tells the story of the British Empire, from its origins under Elizabeth I to the establishment of colonies in America, th...

The Windrush Generation | Black and British: A Forgotten History

David Olusoga discusses the Windrush Generation.

Treatment of Aboriginals in Australia | Empire with David Olusoga

David explains the horrendous treatment of the Aboriginal peoples of Tasmania by the British.

03: The Jewel in the Crown | British History's Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley

Lucy explores how British history is a concoction of fibs. She debunks the fibs that surround t...

Episode 2 | Empire with David Olusoga

David Olusoga reveals how the loss of the American colonies led to the colonisation of Australia and how the Indian indenture system wa...

S01E06: Victorians | The Worst Jobs In History

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

Shifting historical opinions on the British Empire | A Timewatch Guide

David Olusoga explains how historical perspectives of the British Empire have shifted through time.

01: Why Britain? | Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

In this programme we learn about the origins of the British empire in the 17th century and how its foundations w...

Industry and factories | Learning Zone

Today we take factories for granted but in the 1700s they represented a completely new way of working. Until this time most work was d...

Bunce Island | Black and British: A Forgotten History

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