Specials

The Ten Million Pound House - Ightham Mote, Kent

Hidden away in Kent is an architectural gem. A house that has some how survived with a little bit of every fashion imposed on it over seven centuries. This is Ightham Mote near Sevenoaks, bits of it date back to 1320 and officially it’s the most complete moated medieval manor house in the UK. At least it was until the National Trust started it’s most ambitious and expensive restoration project to date. Since 1989 this building has been literally taken apart brick by brick and beam by beam revealing the hidden history of the house for the first time. In this special Time Team documentary you will discover along with me that this is a totally different kind of archaeology. You’ll learn something about the twenty generations who lived here and see some of the things they deliberately hid away.

D-Day - Normandy

60 years ago on D-Day, the allies invaded Nazi occupied France. The invasion force made up of a 150,000 US, British and Canadian troops, was the largest in the history of western civilization. The Americans were to land on Omaha and Utah beaches, Canadians on Juno and the British on Sword and Gold. Almost half of the total troops were British and among them were the 400 infantrymen of the first Dorset regiment. They landed here on Gold beach on the 6th of June 1944, and this is the story of their day.

The King of Bling - Prittlewell, Essex

It might not seem it, but this damp piece of unprepresessing scrub is at the heart of one of the most important discoveries in British archaeological history. Just below the surface here, diggers found the tomb of an Anglo-Saxon King, crammed with ornate finds from across Europe, and that was just the start, of a fascinating detective story. Who was this mysterious King? Archaeologists have spent the last twelve months unpicking this site and pouring over the finds trying to find hidden clues which could reveal the identity of the person who was buried here, and Time Team has been with them all the way.

Britain’s Lost Roman Circus - Colchester, Essex

Tony Robinson, Phil Harding and Guy de la Bedoyere tell the story of the discovery of the only Roman circus ever found in Britain, just outside Colchester's Roman walls. They investigate the history of the circus and explore the rough, tough world of chariot racing.

Life on the Edge 1000 Years BC - Washingborough, Lincoln

Three thousand years ago the River Witham, just outside Lincoln, was a busy place. In the cold wet Autumn of 2004, archaeologists were given just six weeks to rescue the fragile evidence of a major Bronze Age settlement, before it would be buried under tons of clay when the river’s flood defences were strengthened. With frequent visits from Tome Team regulars, Mick Aston and Phil Harding, this Time Team Special follows the progress of this extraordinary dig, and witnesses the spectacle of literally thousands of prehistoric finds being unearthed and analysed.

Durrington, Somerset - Durrington Walls

Stonehenge may be Britain's most famous henge: a massive monument and ancient construction that is shrouded in mystery. But a mile away is an even bigger henge: Durrington Walls. In a major excavation this summer, archaeologists linked the two monuments and revealed an extraordinary and sophisticated picture of Stone Age life. The henge at Durrington was a mile round, a gleaming white bank of chalk sitting in the Wessex landscape. Leading down to the nearby river, a road was uncovered: the first Neolithic road to be discovered in Europe. Down that road would have tramped thousands of people, carrying the cremated remains of their recent dead. Can the team prove it was the start of a journey for the ancestors' spirits down the River Avon to the permanent memorial of Stonehenge? Even more remarkable, inside the henge was a huge wooden monument with 160 trees arranged in perfect circles. The piles of finds indicate the aftermath of great feasts, so to understand the monument better, Time Team takes on the mammoth task of building a full-size replica. It is impressive and the theories flow thick and fast. Could the midwinter alignment mean this may be the first recorded "Christmas", 2,500 years before Christ was born? Prod: Sian Price; Exec Prod: Philip Clarke.

Dinnington, Somerset - Big Roman Villa

Tony Robinson presents the story of the excavation of a big Roman villa in Somerset, originally discovered by Time Team in 2002 and revisited in 2005. The programme demonstrates how the villa grew from a small farm building to a fine stone building, and how that was expanded again and turned round to face the busy new Fosse Way.

Buried by the Blitz - Shoreditch Park, London

In order to commemorate the 60th anniversary of VE day, archaeologists from the Museum of London enlist the aid of dozens of volunteers to excavate Dorchester Street in Shoreditch, London.

The Big Royal Dig - Windsor Castle, Palace of Holyroodhouse and Buckingham Palace

A special edition of the archaeology programme to mark The Queen's 80th birthday. Tony Robinson and his team of historians are granted exclusive access to investigate three royal sites - Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and The Palace of Holyroodhouse.

The God of Gothic - Ramsgate, Kent

Tony Robinson talks us through the renovation of, perhaps, one of the most important homes ever built: Augustus Pugin's home in Ramsgate. In the mid-19th century, Pugin reinvented a medieval style of architecture that became known as Gothic Revival. Best known for his work on the Houses of Parliament, he built the Grange in Ramsgate in the 1840s using his own money and with, as he put it, "not an untrue bolt or joint from foundation to flagpole". Amazingly, the house was about to be destroyed in 2004 when the Landmark Trust set about restoring it. Time Team follows the transformation of the property and visits other Pugin creations around the country. It promises to be an intriguing mix of Grand Designs and Restoration - what could be better?

Britain's Drowned World

Until about 8,000 years ago Britain was part of the European continent. Then the ice melted, rivers flooded, seas rose and, hey presto, the land that joined us to France, Holland and Denmark disappeared under water. The excitable Tony Robinson and his team of eager archaeologists set about investigating the vast, flat landscape that's now under the North Sea and the English Channel. But it's one of the most difficult archaeological sites to work on. While the local fishermen regularly bring up ancient bones from the seabed, Robinson and co merely bring up their dinner. It's worth the discomfort though: vast mammoth bones, the jaw of a sabre-toothed cat, a lion's canine and sophisticated tools are among the treasures that enthusiasts have uncovered.

Jamestown, America’s Birthplace - Virginia, USA

The Time Team archaeologists make a 400th-anniversary visit to Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America. Jamestown is the birthplace of the United States and brought the country the English language, as well as the English legal and political system. Piles of perfectly-preserved 17th century finds are pulled up from a disused well, bringing the team closer to the men, women and children who founded.

Secrets of the Stately Garden - Prior Park

Tony Robinson takes us on a grand tour around some of our finest stately gardens, where he visits extraordinary grottoes and fanciful follies, and uncovers sexy secrets concealed in apparently classical designs. He starts at Prior Park garden near Bath, where a two-year project is underway to reinstate Alexander Pope's Wilderness and the 18thcentury Serpentine Lake and Cascade. But he also travels to the breathtaking Hadrian's Garden near Rome, the inspiration for so much that we see in the "traditional" English garden.

Codename: Ainsbrook - Thirsk, Yorkshire

Time Team reports on a prickly issue in the world of old artefacts whilst on a secret investigation into a possible Viking boat burial in Yorkshire. After metal detectorists make a major discovery of coins, silver and swords a small team of archaeologists set out to uncover the source of these remarkable objects. The programme lays bare the uneasy relationship between archaeologists and the UK's 50,000 metal detectorists, some of whom are unscrupulous when it comes to exploiting their finds. The battle lines are drawn (then pegged out, excavated and displayed) between two camps with different priorities: the archaeologists and the metal detectorists. The former want to preserve ancient relics to be studied; most of the latter do, too, although an unscrupulous few would rather make money by selling their precious finds without declaring them to the experts. The issue comes to the fore at an investigation into a possible Viking boat burial at Ainsbrook in Yorkshire.

The Real Knights of the Round Table - Windsor Castle, Berkshire

Under the Queen's private lawn at Windsor Castle lie the foundations of one of the most enigmatic - and significant - buildings in English history: the Round Table. The building was lost until Time Team excavated its remains and proved its existence. But finding the building was just the beginning of the story. Built by Edward III on the grounds of what is now the Queen's private lawn at Windsor Castle, the huge building stood for only half a century, yet was a stepping stone in Edward III's success. Robinson embarks on a journey of discovery that takes him back into the heart of medieval chivalry.

The Lost Dock of Liverpool - Liverpool, Merseyside

The team are given access to the largest dig in the programme's history as they scour the 42-acre site of the Paradise project in Liverpool to unearth the secrets of the new European Capital of Culture. Interestingly, they discover that a similar state of redevelopment existed 300 years ago as the small seven-street town on a muddy pool was transformed from an industrial backwater into a world-class port. Whilst excavating within the new buildings sites around the Pier Head the team takes a look at the city’s maritime history.

Swords, Skulls and Strongholds

Britain is a land of monuments and buildings stretching back over seven thousand years, and in many ways they'd reflect the history of its people. Symbols of empire and civic pride from the proud Victorians; Elegance and proportion were defined by the tasteful Georgians; and the Tudors built palaces for prestige; Roman architecture asserted military might, power and civilisation; even our prehistoric ancestors left their mark on our landscape with stone circles, mounds and tombs. But the biggest man made monuments in Britain belong to one of the most mysterious periods in this countries past. These are relics of almost a thousand years of mystrery, superstition and violence, the Iron Age. But for centuries these huge monuments have been ignored or misunderstood. Now though with new excavations and new ideas we can at last come face to face with this huge chunk of our lost history.

The Lost World War I Bunker - Flanders, Belgium

To mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War, Tony Robinson travels to the Somme. When shelling turned the battlefield of the Somme into a hell on earth, Britain's best miners and engineers created a maze of tunnels and dugouts that would become the setting for a secret war waged underground. One of the last dugouts constructed has been drained of water, enabling the first people to enter it in 90 years. Deep beneath Flanders fields the skilled work of the elite tunnelling companies is revealed to be in a remarkable state of preservation, allowing Tony and the experts to walk into what effectively is a time capsule of the Great War.

The Mystery of the Roman Treasure

Somewhere in the Roman empire at the end of the 4th century lived a very rich man. The man's name was Sevso. How he got his wealth and what he did during his life are lost in the mists of time. But his name endures. Why? Because he left behind one of the greatest treasures the world has ever known.

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Henry VIII’s Lost Palaces - England

In this feature-length Time Team Special , Tony Robinson and the Team make their inimitable contribution to marking the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession to the throne. The team have unprecedented access behind the scenes at Hampton Court where they search for Henry's famous jousting yard and bowling alley. In Essex, the first palace Henry built for himself is revealed and excavated for the first time. They hunt down the site of the extraordinary temporary palace he built at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in France. A stone's throw from the Vatican in Rome, they discover the Palace that Henry owned, and the one nearby that inspired his greatest feat of building at Nonsuch Palace in Surrey.