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Hugh Dennis and a team of expert archaeologists excavate back gardens around Britain, in an attempt to uncover the lost history buried beneath our lawns and flower beds
Using witness testimony, archive and archaeological evidence, this three-part series reveals the untold story of the preparations to defend World War Two Britain by the Home Guard.

Comedian Lenny Henry sets out on a journey to discover what makes us laugh and what role humour plays in our lives

Series which celebrates an unlikely story of outstanding British aviation achievement at a time of national austerity, the breathtaking planes that were built and the remarkable men who flew them.

Des Bishop tackles one of the great taboos of Irish society and explores the Irish relationship with alcohol and other addictive behaviours.

Tony Robinson goes for a walk through some of Britain's beautiful and historic landscapes.

Robbie Coltrane has set himself a challenge to take a road trip across a Britain that we don't normally see. The route is from Scotland to the tip of Cornwall, stopping off at various locations - all on the scenic 'B' roads.

Documentary series revealing the inner workings of Britain's railways, introducing the track-workers, train guards, drivers, police officers and management teams determined to keep the country moving.

Caroline Randall Williams, an award-winning writer, cookbook author and restaurateur, travels the United States uncovering the fascinating, essential and often untold black stories behind American food.
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Portillo's Hidden History of Britain sees former UK politician Michael Portillo investigating abandoned buildings around Britain.

Britain’s rich horticultural history is being lost. More and more front and back gardens are paved over - for development, for parking spaces, or because families don’t have the time or inclination to manage these spaces. The trend for easy-to-maintain lawns, patios and paving has also led to a decline in traditional gardens full of flowers, plants and trees to the extent that some of our most iconic flora and fauna have all but disappeared. Step forward the BBC’s most-loved gardening experts, who are determined to turn us back into a green-fingered nation once again.

Actor/adventurer Jack Maxwell learned a lot working in South Boston bars, and one lesson stood out: Enjoy a couple of drinks with a stranger, and the whole world opens up. Those experiences inspired "Booze Traveler," which follows Maxwell to various countries to quench his curiosity about what people drink, why, and the tales it prompts. In Armenia, Belize, Lithuania, Mongolia, Nepal and elsewhere, Maxwell learns its intoxicating traditions, meets with locals, joins in activities, and even helps with the alcohol-making process. He finds a unique drink, makes friends and shares stories in each spot.

The enormous popularity of recent British dramas such as Downton Abbey, Mr. Selfridge, and Sherlock, has led to vast interest in the real-life stories and history of the icons of Great Britain. Each episode of this series visits a famous British building or institution to explore its past and present, meeting a wide range of experts and historians along the way.

Exploring the hidden corners of the UK in search of the best the countryside has to offer.

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Stretching from the Stone Age to the year 2000, Simon Schama's Complete History of Britain does not pretend to be a definitive chronicle of the turbulent events which buffeted and shaped the British Isles. What Schama does do, however, is tell the story in vivid and gripping narrative terms, free of the fustiness of traditional academe, personalising key historical events by examining the major characters at the centre of them. Not all historians would approve of the history depicted here as shaped principally by the actions of great men and women rather than by more abstract developments, but Schama's way of telling it is a good deal more enthralling as a result. Schama successfully gives lie to the idea that the history of Britain has been moderate and temperate, passing down the generations as stately as a galleon, taking on board sensible ideas but steering clear of sillier, revolutionary ones. Nonsense. Schama retells British history the way it was--as bloody, convulsive, precarious, hot-blooded and several times within an inch of haring off onto an entirely different course. Schama seems almost to delight in the goriness of history. Themes returned to repeatedly include the wars between the Scots and the Irish and the Catholic/Protestant conflicts--only the Irish question remains unresolved by the new millennium. As Britain becomes a constitutional monarchy, Schama talks less of Kings and Queens but of poets and idea-makers like Orwell. Still, with his pungent, direct manner and against an evocative visual and aural backdrop, Schama makes history seem as though it happened yesterday, the bloodstains not yet dry.

How did a small island once rule over a quarter of the world's population? This shared history still shapes us today - and billions of people are part of its story.

Following on from the earlier series 'Trawlermen', documentary series `Trawlermen: Hunting the Catch' follows fishermen around the clock as they embark on deep-sea fishing trips. From Shetland to Cornwall, and from the North Sea to the English Channel, cameras follow fisherman as they traverse 300,000 square miles of ocean. Each episode follows a different British fishing boat over the course of a single week as they battle the elements and hunt for a catch that will pay off for the skipper and the crew.

The nation's love affair with the coast will be reawakened for this entertaining and ambitious exploration of the entire UK coastline. Every part of the 9,000-mile coast is covered to explore how we've shaped it - and how it shapes us. Hosted by a team of history and geography experts who investigate everything from life on a nuclear submarine; rebuilding the Titanic using computer images; the story behind the first Butlins holiday camp; and the birth of the Severn Bore. Discover the curious, sometimes dysfunctional, relationship between the British and the seas.
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8 episodes • 2009
| # | Episode | Air Date | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Episode 1 | Jan 6, 2009 | 0.0 |
| 2 | Episode 2 | Jan 13, 2009 | 0.0 |
| 3 | Episode 3 | Jan 20, 2009 | 0.0 |
| 4 | Episode 4 | Jan 27, 2009 | 0.0 |
| 5 | Episode 5 | Feb 3, 2009 | 0.0 |
| 6 | Episode 6 | Feb 10, 2009 | 0.0 |
| 7 | Episode 7 | Feb 17, 2009 | 0.0 |
| 8 | Episode 8 | Feb 24, 2009 | 0.0 |