Episode 1 | Britain’s Biggest Dig

Duration: 59'16''

Synopsis

In advance of the construction of HS2, the biggest ever cemetery excavation in Britain reveals the forgotten stories of rich and poor in Georgian London.

Further Information

More clips from Britain's Biggest Dig

Episode 2 | Britain's Biggest Dig

Episode 2 | Britain's Biggest Dig

BBC Two | 2020 | 59'07''

Professor Alice Roberts and Dr Yasmin Khan dig deeper through the excavations at St James's burial ground on the hunt for the lost explorer...

Episode 3 | Britain's Biggest Dig

Episode 3 | Britain's Biggest Dig

BBC Two | 2020 | 58'58''

How working-class Victorians made Birmingham one of the most important industrial cities on the planet, why some skeletons have mysterious ...

Victorian living conditions | Britain's Biggest Dig

Victorian living conditions | Britain's Biggest Dig

BBC Two | 2020 | 8'04''

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

Episode 2 | Britain's Biggest Dig

Episode 2 | Britain's Biggest Dig

BBC Two | 2020 | 59'07''

Professor Alice Roberts and Dr Yasmin Khan dig deeper through the excavations at St James's burial ground on the hunt for the lost explorer...

Episode 3 | Britain's Biggest Dig

Episode 3 | Britain's Biggest Dig

BBC Two | 2020 | 58'58''

How working-class Victorians made Birmingham one of the most important industrial cities on the planet, why some skeletons have mysterious ...

Victorian living conditions | Britain's Biggest Dig

Victorian living conditions | Britain's Biggest Dig

BBC Two | 2020 | 8'04''

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

More resources about The Industrial Revolution

The Children Who Built Victorian Britain

The Children Who Built Victorian Britain

BBC Four | 2011 | 59'13''

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

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

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

Channel 4 | 2006 | 48'51''

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

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

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

BBC Four | 2011 | 9'52''

How children were treated and how this began to change.

Why the Industrial Revolution Happened Here

Why the Industrial Revolution Happened Here

BBC HD | 2013 | 57'55''

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

Britain 1750-1900: 03: Health and Housing | History File

Britain 1750-1900: 03: Health and Housing | History File

BBC Two | 2000 | 19'01''

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

07: Age of Industry | Andrew Marr's History of the World

07: Age of Industry | Andrew Marr's History of the World

BBC One | 2012 | 59'14''

In this episode, Andrew Marr tells how Britain's Industrial Revolution created the modern world.

Britain 1750-1900: 01: Migration and Emigration | History File

Britain 1750-1900: 01: Migration and Emigration | History File

BBC Two | 2000 | 18'54''

Compilation of secondary schools programme on British History 1750-1900. Looks at how industrialisation change...

04: Mine (Black Country) | How Britain Worked

04: Mine (Black Country) | How Britain Worked

Channel 4 | 2012 | 46'22''

Guy Martin's project is the first piston engine ever built - The Newcomen Beam Engine - which the team set out to return to ful...

Cotton mill | Pubs, Ponds and Power: The Story of the Village

Cotton mill | Pubs, Ponds and Power: The Story of the Village

BBC Four | 2018 | 5'53''

The creation of one of the first cotton mills in Cromford.

Industry and factories | Learning Zone

Industry and factories | Learning Zone

BBC Two | 2013 | 3'49''

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...

02: Brunel | Great Britons (2002)

02: Brunel | Great Britons (2002)

BBC Two | 2002 | 57'50''

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

Britain 1750-1900: 02: Crime and Punishment | History File

Britain 1750-1900: 02: Crime and Punishment | History File

BBC Two | 2000 | 18'51''

Compilation of secondary schools programme on British History 1750-1900. Looks at how industrialisation changed th...

S01E01: Victorian | Turn Back Time

S01E01: Victorian | Turn Back Time

BBC One | 2010 | 59'05''

A group of modern shopkeepers and their families live and trade through six key eras of history. They begin their journey in the 1870s, wh...

01: Speed Merchants | What the Victorians Did For Us

01: Speed Merchants | What the Victorians Did For Us

BBC Two | 2001 | 29'10''

Adam Hart-Davis investigates the Victorian innovations that left a lasting impression on British society. This edition f...

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

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

BBC Four | 2010 | 59'05''

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

Britain 1750-1900: 04: Work and Wages | History File

Britain 1750-1900: 04: Work and Wages | History File

BBC Two | 2000 | 18'11''

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

Britain 1750-1900: 05: Reform and Recreation | History File

Britain 1750-1900: 05: Reform and Recreation | History File

BBC Two | 2000 | 18'25''

Compilation of secondary schools programme on British History 1750-1900. Looks at how industrialisation changed t...

Britain 1750-1900: 06: 1900-1909 - Britain at its peak? | History File

Britain 1750-1900: 06: 1900-1909 - Britain at its peak? | History File

BBC Two | 2000 | 23'35''

Compilation of secondary schools programme on British History 1750-1900. Looks at how industrialisatio...

Canals | Learning Zone

Canals | Learning Zone

BBC Two | 2013 | 3'40''

In the 1770s canals linked the country, carrying goods cheaply and efficiently. Without them it is hard to see how the Industrial Revolution could hav...

01: The Great Ship | Seven Wonders of the Industrial World

01: The Great Ship | Seven Wonders of the Industrial World

BBC Two | 2003 | 49'07''

Following the story of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's struggle to build the world's largest ship, The Great Eastern.

More from Alice Roberts

Archaeology | Digging for Britain

Archaeology | Digging for Britain

BBC Two | 2026 | 9'57''

Alice Roberts shows how archaeology works and how it can try to solve the mysteries of the past.

The perfect human? | Can Science Make Me Perfect? with Alice Roberts

The perfect human? | Can Science Make Me Perfect? with Alice Roberts

BBC Four | 2020 | 5'29''

What evolution has provided us with is a human body that works as a whole package: you can't replace ind...

Victorian living conditions | Britain's Biggest Dig

Victorian living conditions | Britain's Biggest Dig

BBC Two | 2020 | 8'04''

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

The Day the Dinosaurs Died

The Day the Dinosaurs Died

BBC Two | 2017 | 58'13''

Ben Garrod and Alice Roberts investigate the greatest vanishing act in the history of our planet - the sudden disappearance of the dinosaurs 66 mi...

Episode 3 | The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver

Episode 3 | The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver

BBC Two | 2015 | 58'33''

The Roman army turns its attention to an island of rich resources, powerful tribes and dr...

Bread and salt | Britain's Favourite Foods - Are They Good for You?

Bread and salt | Britain's Favourite Foods - Are They Good for You?

BBC Two | 2015 | 1'13''

Alice reveals how much bread we eat as a nation and a worrying statistic about its salt levels.

The Roman domination of the known world | A Timewatch Guide

The Roman domination of the known world | A Timewatch Guide

BBC Four | 2015 | 3'44''

Using years of BBC history archive film, Alice Roberts investigates how the domination of the Romans has been rep...

Is Your Brain Male or Female? | Horizon

Is Your Brain Male or Female? | Horizon

BBC Two | 2014 | 59'00''

Dr Michael Mosley and Professor Alice Roberts investigate whether male and female brains really are wired differently.

Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice

Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice

BBC Two | 2012 | 59'07''

Professor Alice Roberts on the natural history of the woolly mammoth, revealing adaptations that helped the species evolve from their or...

MRI of the Female Reproductive Organs | Dr Alice Roberts: Don't Die Young

MRI of the Female Reproductive Organs | Dr Alice Roberts: Don't Die Young

BBC Two | 2008 | 2'05''

Alice examines an MRI of her own female reproductive anatomy.