Digging for Britain
Dr Alice Roberts visits archaeological excavations around the UK, linking together the results of digs and investigations the length and breadth of the country to build up a picture of the year in British archaeology.
Genre: Documentary
Cast:Alice Roberts , Stuart Prior , Cat Jarman , Onyeka Nubia , Matt Williams , NaoÃse Mac Sweeney , Raksha Dave , Miles Russell , Jill Eyers , Andrew Richardson , Kevin Colls , Brett Thorn , Simon Mays , Clive Waddington , Mark Horton , Simon Parfitt , Hazel Moore , Alison Sheridan
S1.E1 ∙ The Romans
Prof. Alice Roberts explores finds from Britain's Roman past, examining a huge coin hoard unearthed from a Somerset field, the tragic mystery of a Roman villa site where archaeologists are reevaluating the excavated remains of 97 murdered infants, and a man who was for some reason buried face-down on a bed of meat at a fort near Hadrian's Wall.
S1.E2 ∙ Prehistory
Journeying much farther back in time, Roberts heads to Norfolk to see flint tools that push the earliest human occupation in the area back by 200,000 years, to around a million years ago. Far up north in the Orkney Islands, an ancient farm provides glimpses of early religious beliefs and customs. Back down south in Devon lies one of the oldest-known shipwrecks as well as a Bronze Age burial site.
S1.E3 ∙ The Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons divided Britain and heralded the arrival of the Dark Ages, but were they really just barbarians? Prof. Roberts visits key sites that throw light on this most mysterious of periods, including the royal seat of power at Bamburgh, Northumbria, where skeletons tell tales of violent death but also of tenderness.
S1.E4 ∙ The Tudors
The Tudor period brought momentous changes to Britain. Prof. Roberts views excavations at Shakespeare's first theatre and at his home, finding clues about his frugality. She also uncovers the brutal realities of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in Wales, learns the rich history of a forgotten palace on the muddy banks of the Thames, and explores a shipwreck from this age of discovery.
S2.E1 ∙ Britannia
Roman Britain gives up some of its mysteries as Professor Roberts investigates the remains of 97 babies found near the Thames River, visits a newly discovered town in rural Devon, and examines a cult figure that has been buried for more than one and a half millennia beneath a Roman fort.
S2.E2 ∙ Invaders
The Norse Vikings have arrived and taken control northeast Britain centered around York. Anglo-Saxon supremacy finally came after a major massacre. The archaeology sessions are a intriguing as always.
S2.E4 ∙ Ice and Stone
Alice Roberts learns more about mankind's Stone Age ancestors, and travels to Jersey to meet a team hoping to shed new light on the Neanderthals.
S3.E1 ∙ East
The team gather at Norwich Castle Museum to look at some of the finds from a range of exciting excavations across the East of England. Including Colchester, Silchester and the remarkable Must Farm site in Cambridgeshire.
S3.E2 ∙ West
A huge Roman settlement in an area the Romans were not thought to have conquered, a leper hospital, a Bronze Age hoard and the Durotrigues Big Dig are discussed as the team meet at Dorset County Museum.
S4.E1 ∙ West
The year's most outstanding archaeology. Alice Roberts and Matt Williams visit sites in the west of Britain, while archaeologists in the Salisbury Museum look at the finds.
S4.E2 ∙ East
Professor Alice Roberts looks at some of the year's most exciting archaeological discoveries from across Eastern Britain. Including a mass grave and the find of a lifetime for a metal detectorist.
S4.E3 ∙ North
The team gather to look at some of the most interesting sites across northern Britain. Including a graveyard of Iron Age warriors, a hoard of Viking treasure and clues to Scotland's first kingdoms.
S9.E1 ∙ East
The discovery of a mosaic has art historians, archaeologists and Alice very excited as they slowly reveal its full beauty.
S9.E2 ∙ South
The South of England reveals the earliest money made in Britain and a massive haul of Roman treasure that brings to life the fall of the empire in Britain.
S9.E6 ∙ North
A Roman fort in Hadrian's Wall, evidence of early writing by the Picts in Scotland and a 3,000-year-old Bronze Age coffin buried under a golf course.
S10.E1 ∙ Roman Towns and Tudor Shipwrecks
Digs in southern England reveal a previously unknown Roman town, a Tudor ship buried beneath a quarry and evidence of Henry VIII's financial forgery under the Tower of London.
S10.E2 ∙ Arthur's Stone and a Georgian Mine
In the west of the UK, a spectacular monument older than Stonehenge, a 200-year-old mine trapped in time and a lost medieval friary.
S10.E3 ∙ Headless Romans and Anglo Saxon Gold
A gatehouse riddled with Civil War bullets, a unique Iron Age shield made from bark and Roman burials with pots where the heads should be.
S10.E4 ∙ Mystery Shipwreck and a Roman Army Camp
Alice Roberts reveals a Dutch ship sunk by the English, a Cornish Roman fort and a 5,000-year-old Neolithic monument.
S10.E5 ∙ Roman Mosaics and Ancient Weapons
Travelling east, Alice discovers a Roman barn conversion, unearths a Tudor fort and finds intricately carved 10,000-year-old weapons.
S10.E6 ∙ Ice Age Camp and a Saint with Syphilis
In Scotland and the north of England, Alice investigates an Ice Age camp, the mystery of a medieval skeleton and the earliest evidence of salt making in Britain.
