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.
