Timeshift
Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past.
Seasons
1. The Grunwick Strike
Air Date: 2002-10-10
Documentary recalling the industrial dispute at the Grunwick film processing business in North London in 1976. Featuring film archive from the time and interviews with key players.
2. The Cannabis Years
Air Date: 2002-10-12
An in-depth examination of how the debate surrounding cannabis has evolved over the past 50 years.
3. The Writer's Trade
Air Date: 2002-10-19
Examining the changing image of the novelist over the last 50 years.
4. The Sailing Sixties
Air Date: 2002-11-09
In the mid 1960s Britain went boating mad. This documentary tells the story of how an extraordinary maritime revolution that was kick-started by waterproof glues developed for bomber aircraft led to a whole generation of DIY dinghy builders, and ended in tragedy with the suicide of amateur yachtsman Donald Crowhurst.
5. Attenborough: The Controller Years
Air Date: 2002-11-16
Charting the time of our favorite presenter at the head of the then struggling and controversial BBC2. Packed chock full of interviews, clips and reminiscences both old and new, including the very tasty Joan Bakewell of the 60s... Sir David Attenborough's reign as controller of BBC TWO, from 1965 to 1973, is still thought of as the golden age of television.
6. he Rise and Fall of the Comedy Straight Man
Air Date: 2002-11-30
Timeshift celebrates the comedy double act's unsung half, with archive footage of Morecambe and Wise, Benny Hill and the Monty Python team. Contributors include Syd Little and Barry Cryer. Narrated by Mark Lamarr.
7. A Shadow Over Europe
Air Date: 2002-12-03
In 1945, two and a half million ethnic Germans were driven from their homes in Czechoslovakia. Thousands died. Now, as the Czech Republic heads for EU membership, Charles Wheeler reports on how the Czechs made the Sudeten German minority pay for Nazi occupation, and why it became a hot political issue. This is a story about Germans as victims of World War II.
8. Whatever Happened to the Working Class?
Air Date: 2003-02-11
This programme in the Time Shift strand explores the history of the current conflict over class
9. Notting Hill Riots
Air Date: 2003-01-18
Examining the west London riots of August 1958, which were the catalyst for black actMsm in Britain and inspired the annual carnival.
10. What Have the Germans Done for Us?
Air Date: 2003-02-16
From VW Beetles to Blue Nun and Kraftwerk, a look at Germany's conrtibution to British life
11. Greenham Common Changed My Life
Air Date: 2003-02-23
The story of the women who occupied the Greenham Common Peace Camp from 1981 to 2000 - what brought them to Greenham, their protests, conflicts with authority and the life they led at the camp. Contributors include Fiona Bruce, Fay Weldon and Joan Ruddock, all of whom visited the site to show their support.
12. Car Crazy
Air Date: 2003-03-02
The story of the British love of the motor car from the earliest days of mass production in the 1920s to today's MPVs and post-modern Minis told through a succession of classic models from the Austin 7 and Morris Minor to the Ford Cortina.
13. The Magic Roundabout Story
Air Date: 2003-03-16
Created by a French animator, the show was reinterpreted for Britain, with classic characters like Dougal. It transformed the careers of actor Eric Thompson and animator Ivor Wood and has spawned a movie.
14. Malcolm Muggeridge: Swimming Against the Stream
Air Date: 2003-03-24
The controversial broadcaster is profiled by Time Shift. How did the son of a Croydon clerk become one of TV's geniune originals? Interviewees include Cormac Murphy O'Connor.
15. Gurus
Air Date: 2003-03-30
Time Shift examines how the philosophy of the Indian guru has travelled into mainstream British society.
16. A Brief Interlude
Air Date: 2003-02-16
A short film about "The Interludes" - a series of short films made by the BBC in the 1940s and 1950s to fill in during technical breakdowns and gaps in the schedules. The most famous ones showed a potter's wheel, a cat playing with a ball of wool and a horse-drawn plough.
1. The Great British Seaside Holiday
Air Date: 2003-05-05
Timeshift presents a bank holiday celebration of the British seaside holiday experience from its Victorian origins and heyday in the 1950s to its slow decline and attempts at reinvention since. Interviewees including Jonathan Meades, Martin Parr and Bill Pertwee explain the way that the seaside has always been the place we all visit to lose our inhibitions and reveal a different side to ourselves.
2. Children's News
Air Date: 2003-05-18
Time Shift explores the significance of children's programmes in developing young people's worldview. With Jon Snow and John Craven.
3. Watching You
Air Date: 2003-05-22
Undercover reporter Donal Macintyre is among the interviewees as Time Shift looks at hidden-camera TV. Nigel Kneale discusses how his satire The Year of the Sex Olympics feels prescient in the Big Brother world.
4. TV and Charity
Air Date: 2003-06-05
Terry Wogan, Lenny Henry, Michael Buerk and Esther Rantzen guest on Time Shift's look at how charity and TV are interwoven - from the early days of Christmas collections for needy children to the successful annual telethons of today.
5. Tyneside
Air Date: 2003-06-12
Time Shift celebrates Tyneside's cultural contribution and its development through the eyes of writers, actors and others.
6. Political Thrillers: Plays of State
Air Date: 2003-06-15
From banned 1950s drama Party Manners to House of Cards and State of Play, the secrets of TV thrillers are uncovered in an edition of the Time Shift strand.
7. High Rise Dreams
Air Date: 2003-06-19
Time Shift looks back at how a group of idealistic architects changed the face of council housing in Britain, inspired by the modernist philosophy of Le Corbusier and new materials, only to be thwarted by financial restraints, poor craftsmanship and Margaret Thatcher 's private ownership creed.
8. Vicars: Dearly Beloved?
Air Date: 2003-07-03
Timeshift looks at the changing role of the Church of England parish priest over the last 40 years.
9. Footballers’ Lives
Air Date: 2003-09-21
In the last 40 years, money and fame have transformed footballers from working class heroes to multimedia icons. Time Shift explores how this change has come about and asks if today's lower league players aren't worse off than they were before.
10. Six Days to Saturday
Air Date: 2003-09-21
John Boorman-directed documentary from 1963, recounting a week in the life of the players and manager of Swindon Town football club, a fascinating snapshot of a profession a world away from Premiership and sponsorship.
1. Cold War Kids
Air Date: 2003-10-01
Paul Morley and Michael Rosen are among those discussing the changing experiences of children who grew up in the shadow of the Cold War.
2. The Kneale Tapes
Air Date: 2003-10-15
Time Shift profiles Nigel Kneale, the brains behind such disconcerting chillers as The Stone Tapes and The Ouatermass Experiment.
3. James Cameron: A Pain in the Neck
Air Date: 2003-10-22
Timeshift profiles the journalist, a conflict-battered idealist who feared for the worst and campaigned for the best.
4. Apocalypse Now… and Then
Air Date: 2003-10-29
Time Shift examins mankind's obsession with the end of the world, looking at how science and religion fuel the belief that armageddon is just around the corner.
5. The Lie of the Land
Air Date: 2003-11-05
The conventional view of the country-side is of a rural idyll perpetuated by our cultural tradition - but does this idyll really exist? Timeshift investigates.
6. Child Prodigies
Air Date: 2003-11-19
Timeshift looks at how precocious children challenge thinking about education - and whether labelling a child as "gifted" does more harm than good.
7. Raj to Rhondda: How Indian Doctors saved the NHS
Air Date: 2003-11-30
The story of the generation of doctors who came from the Indian subcontinent to become the hidden heroes who have provided the backbone of the NHS for the last 40 years. Despite enduring years of discrimination, they fulfilled Britain's health needs and carved successful careers that took them to the heart of the British medical establishment. Now, as they collectively reach retirement age, Britain faces a crisis in healthcare.
8. The Jet Set
Air Date: 2003-12-17
Rich, distant and opulent, the jet set fascinated the public as they waved to us from airplane doorways before winging their way across the skies heading for yachts and exotic locations that the rest of us could only dream of. They were the aristocrats, the high fliers and high earners whose lives and loves fascinated us long before celebrity became a dirty word.
9. Missing Believed Wiped
Air Date: 2003-12-29
The story of Britain's lost generation of TV entertainment, from the golden age of light entertainment in the 1950s, via the "sacrilegious" tape erasing of the 1960s and 1970s, to recent lucky finds.
10. Prog Rock
Air Date: 2004-01-19
A look back to the years when progressive rock ruled the universe, with bands such as Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and King Crimson filling stadia with their grandiose stage shows. Contributors include Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, Yes drummer Bill Bruford, Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris, DJ John Peel and rock critic Charles Shaar-Murray.
11. Hard Drive Heaven: The History of the Home Computer
Air Date: 2004-02-09
The PC has shrunk in size, but grown in power - Time Shift charts its evolution. Contributors include Sir Clive Sinclair.
12. Whistleblowers
Air Date: 2004-03-02
Until the 1980s Whitehall was able to use the Official Secrets Act to suppress information it didn't want disclosed. Time Shift recalls those who spoke out on stories the Government did not want to be told.
13. Charles Wheeler: Edge of Frame
Air Date: 2004-03-04
A look at the decisive moments of the latter 20th century through the eyes of the late Charles Wheeler. One of journalism's most dedicated yet modest professionals, Wheeler was at the forefront of world news reporting for over 50 years. Contributors include Jeremy Paxman, John Simpson and son-in-law Boris Johnson.
1. Art School
Air Date: 2004-06-19
A look at the history of Britain's art schools, the most exciting educational establishments in Britain for two decades. The engines of the 1960s counter culture, they produced a generation of young go-getters who would take on the establishment and create the new industries of fashion, graphic design and pop music. Contributors include Brian Eno, Mary Quant, Kim Howells and Brian Rice.
2. Fantasy Sixties
Air Date: 2004-07-13
TV fantasies played out on our TV screens in the mid sixties, Timeshift take a look back at the wild ideas, that took centre stage.
3. Jack Rosenthal: The Voice of Television Drama
Air Date: 2004-07-18
Time Shift profiles the late Jack Rosenthal from humble beginnings to his success as writer of such dramas as The Evacuees and Cold Enough for Snow.
4. The Carnival Years
Air Date: 2004-08-28
Notting Hill Carnival is Britain's biggest street party and a celebration of London's cultural melting pot. But, as Time Shift reports, its success has been dogged by controversy. With Trevor Nelson
5. The History of Pubs
Air Date: 2004-10-07
Time Shift examines the very special place occupied by the pub in British society. Arthur Smith narrates, with contributions from Jeremy Hardy , Rowan Pelling and Pete Brown.
6. Live on the Night: The Story of Live TV Drama
Air Date: 2004-10-14
In the days before editing ensured slick production values and blemish-free performances, TV drama was a live medium. Bill Nighy narrates a Time Shift retrospective on a time when things didn't always go to plan on screen.
7. New Age Travellers
Air Date: 2004-10-21
Soap-dodging scroungers or free-thinking champions of an alternative lifestyle? Time Shift examines the origins of those regarded by many as social pariahs, revealing how at one time their ideas had a surprising degree of government support.
8. Drugs in Sport
Air Date: 2004-10-28
Time Shift tells the stories of athletes ruined by drugs - or allegations of them.
9. Hey Mr. DJ: The Rise and Rise of the Disc Jockey
Air Date: 2004-11-04
Pete Tong and Ranking Miss P contribute to Time Shift's look at the evolution of the DJ from pirate radio outlaw to modern superstar.
10. British Space Race
Air Date: 2004-11-16
Britain was, briefly, the unlikely player in the field of rocket research. Time Shift tells the story of unsung pioneers of space exploration: the rocket engineers, the scientists and, ultimately, the dreamers who never gave up on a vision of bringing the future into the present. Interviewees include Professor Colin Pillinger, lead scientist of Beagle 2.
11. Pile It High, Sell It Cheap
Air Date: 2005-01-20
Timeshift charts the spectacular growth of the supermarket over the past 50 years, examining how it has influenced British society.
12. Red Robbo
Air Date: 2005-02-02
Time Shift traces the rise and fall of British Leyland shop steward Derek Robinson. In the mid 70s, he wielded immense power over management at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham. But by the end of 1979 he had been fired, a victim of the Conservative government's bid to break union power.
13. Gambling Britain
Air Date: 2005-02-03
The National Lottery's launch in 1994 confirmed Britain as a nation of gamblers - yet just over 40 years ago, betting shops and casinos were illegal. Time Shift traces governmental efforts to control gambling through legislation.
14. The Story of Circus
Air Date: 2005-02-10
Timeshift explores how television's early days exploited the spectacle of the circus. Including the first live outside broadcast from Calais where a French circus artist's act was witnessed by Richard Dimbleby.
15. Pop Svengalis
Air Date: 2005-02-22
Timeshift celebrates the dynamos behind great British bands from the 1950s to today.
16. Conchies: Questions of Conscience
Air Date: 2005-05-01
Timeshift looks at conscientious objectors from the first World War to today; those who refused to serve for religious, moral or political reasons.
17. Kenneth Tynan
Air Date: 2005-03-02
The rise and fall of the theatre critic - who brought swearing to the BBC and nudity to the West End - is traced by Time Shift. Presented by New Yorker critic John Lahr, it features rare contributions from Tynan's daughters.
18. Jewish Entertainers
Air Date: 2005-03-15
Jewish entertainers have dominated parts of the industry in the UK and US for decades, Time Shift investigates why American Jews celebrate their ethnicity while their British counterparts have often masked or even denied their roots.
19. Alan Plater: Hearing the Music
Air Date: 2005-03-26
Writers Alan Bleasdale and Lee Billy Elliot Hall discuss the work of the writer for Time Shift. With critics Chris Dunkley and Dave Gelly, and director John Glenister.
20. Speak No Evil: The Story of the Broadcast Ban
Air Date: 2005-04-04
When Margaret Thatcher 's government starved Sinn Fein of the "oxygen of publicity", it was the most direct level of censorship since 1945. Time Shift recalls an era in which the voice of Gerry Adams was replaced by that of an actor.
21. Russel T. Davis: Unscripted
Air Date: 2005-04-11
Doctor Who and Casanova have both benefited from the writing of Russell T Davies. Time Shift examines his work from children's TV to Queer as Folk and beyond, with contributions from Mark Lawson, Christopher Eccleston and Andi Peters.
1. MPs on the Box
Air Date: 2005-05-19
Time Shift looks at how satirists have portrayed politicians in such television creations as Yes Minister Spitting Image and The New Statesman.
2. Je T'Aime... How We Learned to Love Europe
Air Date: 2005-05-31
Sixty years ago, postwar Europe was seen as a dirty, chaotic place where you couldn't drink the water. Now Brits dream of restoring crumbling chateaux in rural France - so what happened to change our minds?
3. England Away
Air Date: 2005-05-31
Time Shift examines the history of English football fans travelling to Europe, and the attendant sub-culture of drinking and violence.
4. Court on Camera
Air Date: 2005-07-16
A member of OJ Simpson's "dream team", plus the lawyer who defended nanny Louise Woodward , are among contributors to Time Shift's history of the camera in the courtroom.
5. Apes in Hollywood
Air Date: 2005-07-17
Since King Kong broke box office records, apes have been big business. Time Shift takes a wry look at a neglected genre, from Tarzan and Planet of the Apes to B-movies and cult films, like Bedtime with Bonzo.
6. Star Men
Air Date: 2005-08-06
Adam Hart-Davis explores the world of Britain's 40,000 amateur astronomers. While the last century saw amateurs eclipsed by high technology, increasingly sophisticated home equipment has seen the amateur community enter a new collaborative relationship with the professionals. Contributors include bestselling novelist Terry Pratchett, Colin Pillinger of the Beagle 2 project and the godfather of popular astronomy Patrick Moore.
7. Black and White Minstrels Revisited
Air Date: 2005-08-08
Time Shift takes a look at the now notorious show, whose blacked-up singing and dancing routines ruled the weekend schedules for 21 years.
8. Too Much, Too Young
Air Date: 2005-09-09
Time Shift charts the devastating effect on children - some as young as five - who care for infirm parents
9. The Jitterbug Years
Air Date: 2005-10-01
Documentary recalling the social revolution which swept across Britain from 1946. A new dance craze, the Jitterbug, captured the mood of the country as years of war and austerity were cast off. The film uses archive footage and a soundtrack of classic hits, including music by Louis Jordan, Alma Cogan, Billie Holiday and Ray Charles.
10. Play It Again
Air Date: 2005-10-04
Remembering the golden age of the TV panel game as What's My Line?, The Name's the Same and Ask Your Dad make their debuts during the years 1945-55. Narrated by Hugh Dennis
11. The Battle for the Ashes
Air Date: 2005-10-20
The changing sporting fortunes of England and Australia as recounted in this Time Shift documentary.
12. The Lost Pictures of Eugene Smith
Air Date: 2005-10-25
Time Shift investigates how Life magazine's opposition to Attlee's radical Labour government inspired them to suppress photographs of the 1950 general election.
13. The Third Progamme: High Culture for All in Postwar Britain
Air Date: 2005-10-25
Francine Stock narrates the story of the Third Programme, a high-culture radio show launched in 1946, focusing on how the series influenced the British arts scene.
14. Lost Road: Overland To Singapore
Air Date: 2005-10-30
In 1955 young producer of Travellers' Tales David Attenborough was persuaded by six Oxbridge undergraduates to give some money & filmstock so they could film their unique overland journey by Land Rover from London to Singapore.
15. A Study in Sherlock
Air Date: 2005-12-24
Documentary explores the continuing appeal of Sherlock Holmes through his various screen incarnations, from early silent films through the classic portrayals by Basil Rathbone and Peter Cushing to the BBC's most recent Rupert Everett version. Contributors include Minette Walters, Kim Newman and Edward Hardwicke.
16. Baker Street Babylon: The Bizarre Afterlife of Sherlock Holmes
Air Date: 2005-12-26
Time Shift presents clips of the strangest Sherlocks, with pastiche and parody from Roland Rat to John Cleese.
17. Stephen Poliakoff: A Brief History of Now
Air Date: 2006-01-15
Robert Lindsay and Miranda Richardson guest in Time Shift's profile of the TV dramatist.
18. The British Way of Death
Air Date: 2006-02-06
Daniela Nardini narrates a documentary exploring why the British funeral has acquired a new spirit of informality. Today's departed are just as likely to be sent on their way to the strains of Robbie Williams as they are to a classic hymn. A bewildering array of coffin styles is available, with even an environmentally-friendly wicker casket for the organically-minded. Are we improvising new rituals to fill a more profound vacuum in our secular society?
19. Left of Frame: The Rise and Fall of Radical TV Drama
Air Date: 2006-02-08
Jimmy McGovern and Ken Loach are among those reflecting on left-wing drama of the 1960s and 70s, looking at works as diverse as Take Me Home and Our Friends in the North.
20. Rude Britannia
Air Date: 2006-02-13
From Pygmalion to Paxman, Time Shift traces the cult of plain-speaking. Narrated by Tamsin Greig.
21. The Sun and the Moon
Air Date: 2006-03-06
A quirky Time Shift compilation of TV appearances by these two heavenly bodies, including Patrick Moore 's meeting with a vicar who refuses to believe the Sun is hot.
22. Pay Attention Britain! Public Information Films
Air Date: 2006-03-30
Marking 60 years of the Central Office of Information, Time Shift celebrates PIFs, from HIV awareness to "Charley Says".
1. Switch off Something - Britain and the Three Day Week
Air Date: 2006-04-01
Welcome to 1973 - the year that saw the three-day week and the arrival of a fictional character from 2006 in the BBC1 drama Life on Mars. The success of the latter has acted as a springboard for a week-long BBC4 season. This excellent Time Shift concentrates on the winter of strikes and power cuts.
2. Creating 'Life on Mars'
Air Date: 2006-04-02
The creators of Life on Mars (2006) discuss the series and how it was made.
3. The Da Vinci Code - The Greatest Story Ever Sold
Air Date: 2006-05-01
After The Da Vinci Code was cleared of plagiarism, this documentary explores the climate which has permitted it to make such an effective challenge to conventional history.
4. Carry On Campus
Air Date: 2006-05-10
Nigel Planer narrates a documentary taking a fond look at the growing pains of the university through the eyes of the writers who immortalised it in the campus novel.
5. Machine Men
Air Date: 2006-05-13
Documentary looking at the history of robots, androids and cyborgs in both fact and fiction. Contributors include sci-fi visionary Brian Aldiss and writer Kim Newman.
6. Oz and Them
Air Date: 2007-01-16
Documentary on the relationship between Australia and the UK since the Second World War, beginning with the Queen's 1954 visit to Australia and ending with the 2005 Ashes.
7. Spy Stories: British Espionage in Fact and Fiction
Air Date: 2006-08-30
Bill Nighy narrates a documentary telling the story of the long and often extraordinary relationship between fact and fiction in the mysterious world of British espionage.
8. Planet Ping Pong
Air Date: 2006-09-11
The story of table tennis and how it became the most popular sport in Asia. The programme revisits the glory days of the 30s and 40s, when thousands would cram into Wembley to watch top players do battle.
9. Parallel Worlds: A User's Guide
Air Date: 2006-11-29
Playful viewer's guide to entering another dimension, narrated by Richard Ayoade, featuring some of TV and cinema's best-known alternate universes, from the likes of Star Trek, Sliders, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Futurama and Doctor Who.
10. Transylvania Babylon
Air Date: 2006-12-28
A comic exploration of the cult of Dracula. From Bela Lugosi to bloodsucking bikes, with a Mexican tag-wrestling version thrown in for good measure, this ghoulish compilation is an entertaining homage to the vampire tradition gifted us by Bram Stoker's famous Count.
11. The New Middle Classes
Air Date: 2007-03-04
Where has a decade and more of rising prosperity across the social spectrum left Britain's middle class? Much bigger certainly. But does that mean we're all middle class now? Novelist Tim Lott takes a quirky and humorous journey through the new social landscape of Britain in search of some answers.
12. Rover: The Long Goodbye
Air Date: 2007-03-20
Documentary which traces the rise and fall of a great British brand, exploring how Rover cars went from defining their eras to becoming victims of their times.
13. First Rites: From the Cradle to the Prom
Air Date: 2007-03-24
Documentary which looks at how the rituals that mark our milestones in life - baptism, the first day at school, the first drink - are changing in today's society.
14. Wedding Rites: In Sickness and in Health
Air Date: 2007-03-25
Documentary looking at how and why weddings are on the increase and divorce rates in decline in the UK, and if it's the end for traditions and rituals which go back centuries.
15. Goodbye Children Everywhere
Air Date: 2007-05-26
Documentary which celebrates the high and lows of children's TV and asks if the future of mainstream television be one where children are neither seen nor heard, as ITV cuts back on its commitment and the BBC now only makes programmes for under-11s.
1. The Edwardian Larder
Air Date: 2007-04-18
Documentary about the first mass-produced food brands focusing on Perrier water, Cadbury's Dairy Milk, Typhoo tea and Marmite. The tea-tasters of Typhoo explain how their predecessors turned a waste product into a bestseller. Chef Matthew Kay tries out some Edwardian recipes designed for vegetarian marmite fans.
2. How To Be a Good Prime Minister
Air Date: 2007-09-22
Political commentator Andrew Marr assesses what it takes to be a successful British premier based on the performance of the twenty prime ministers of the 20th century. Advocates such as Martin Bell, Helena Kennedy, Simon Schama and the late Bill Deedes champion their favourite PM in short films, while Andrew and a panel of historians and journalists debate what qualities they brought to the role and how successfully they did it, before coming to a decision on who was the greatest.
3. Gagging For It: TV's Hunger for Radio Comedy
Air Date: 2007-10-01
Since its earliest days, television has looked to radio comedy for the 'next big thing'. Radio hits from Hancock's Half-Hour to Little Britain have become TV classics. But other long-running radio favourites have died a death on the screen. So what makes for a sure-fire transfer?
4. Whatever Happened to Radio 2?
Air Date: 2007-10-05
Radio 2 was created out of the old Light Programme, but the modern station, with its targeted playlists and big-name DJs like Jonathan Ross and Chris Evans, is now light years away from its origins - or is it? In the evenings, small and cherished slots still exist for devotees of Folk, Organ, Jazz, Brass and Light Music. This programme is an affectionate celebration of the unusual and much-loved corners of 88-91FM, of the fans and of those who continue to broadcast to them.
5. Emmylou Harris's Ten Commandments of Country
Air Date: 2007-10-12
Live performance in which Emmylou Harris presents her ten rules of what makes a great country song, personally chosen from her own extensive repertoire. Filmed in Los Angeles in an intimate venue, the show features songs with Emmylou accompanied by her blue grass band. Each track illustrates one of her 10 Commandments, with a short introduction to explain why it was chosen and what element of country music it best represents.
6. Emmylou Harris at the BBC
Air Date: 2007-10-12
BBC collection of performances which traces Emmylou Harris's musical development from her first British TV appearance on the Old Grey Whistle Test right up to recent UK festival shows. Rarely seen archive from the BBC vaults nestles alongside more widely known material as Harris covers a broad spectrum of styles from country rock to Celtic traditional.
7. Archaeology - Digging the Past
Air Date: 2007-10-21
An exploration of the way archaeology has been presented on television over the past 50 years, from panel show Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?, which made celebrities out of its host Professor Glyn Daniel and resident character Sir Mortimer Wheeler, to Channel 4's contemporary Time Team. With contributions from archaeologists and broadcasters including Professor Barry Cunliffe, Tony Robinson and David Attenborough.
8. Sir Mortimer Wheeler - A Life in Ruins
Air Date: 2007-10-21
Profile of Mortimer Wheeler, who became the public face of archaelogy for almost 40 years. With the arrival of television in the 1950s, the energetic and charismatic Wheeler became a celebrity and was the first to bring the subject to a mass audience. From Dorset to the Himalayas, from Television Centre to Zimbabwe, a vast array of archive footage shows how Wheeler informed and entertained the viewing public.
9. Watching the Russians
Air Date: 2007-11-21
Beginning with the rise of Russophobia in Victorian Britain, former MI5 director general Stella Rimington explores our love-hate relationship with Russia over the past 150 years. The journey takes her to the East End of London on the trail of Russian revolutionaries and to the former mining town of Chopwell, once dubbed Little Moscow. She talks to former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky and shares recollections of the bugged British embassy in Moscow with former ambassador Rodric Braithwaite.
10. Never Had It So Good?
Air Date: 2007-12-10
Writer Colin Shindler returns to Manchester to revisit his childhood and tell his own intensely personal, boys own story of a paradoxical year, 1957, the one in which prime minister Harold Macmillan declared that 'most of our people have never had it so good'. In the company of leading historians, he takes a snapshot of 1957 to explore what it was really like to live in Never Had It So Good Britain and to find out whether Macmillan was right.
11. A Game of Two Eras: 1957 v 2007
Air Date: 2007-12-13
Using computerised analysis, an experiment to find out how English football has really changed in the past 50 years by comparing every aspect of the FA Cup finals of 2007 and 1957.
12. Stuffed: The Great British Christmas Dinner
Air Date: 2007-12-23
It's the season of peace and goodwill to all, when we think of those less fortunate than ourselves. It's also the time of year when we stuff our faces and gorge and drink ourselves silly. Christmas dinner is served. Being the last great feast in the British culinary tradition, what role does it play today?
13. The Rise and Fall of the Ad Man
Air Date: 2008-03-09
Inspired by the maverick US advertisers of Madison Avenue, a new generation of British ad men created a unique style of advertising based on authentic British culture. It tapped into home-grown humour and marketed itself as almost a branch of the arts. During the 1970s, British ads came to be regarded as the best in the world.
1. How to Be a Good President
Air Date: 2008-09-14
Helped by contributors including Shirley Williams, Douglas Hurd and Simon Hoggart, journalist Jonathan Freedland attempts to define the qualities which make a great US president.
2. Between the Lines - Railways in Fiction and Film
Air Date: 2008-10-09
Novelist Andrew Martin presents a documentary examining how the train came to shape the work of writers and film-makers, from Wordsworth and Dickens to The Railway Children.
3. Last Days of Steam
Air Date: 2008-10-16
Documentary that tells the surprising story of how Britain entered a new age of steam railways after the Second World War and why it quickly came to an end.
4. How to Write a Mills and Boon
Air Date: 2008-11-02
To mark 100 years of romance publishers Mills and Boon, literary novelist Stella Duffy takes on the challenge of writing for them, a task that ends up being harder than it looks.
5. How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword
Air Date: 2008-11-10
Don Manley reveals the tricks that compilers use to bamboozle and entertain cryptic crossword solvers, while fans including Prunella Scales explain why they enjoy them.
6. The Comic Songbook
Air Date: 2008-12-22
Documentary which celebrates Britain's tradition of comic songs, from Noel Coward's Mad Dogs and Englishmen to Benny Hill's Ernie, and reveals the skill involved in creating them.
7. Fashion versus the BBC
Air Date: 2009-01-22
A team of fashion writers and commentators including Peter York, Colin McDowell, Ted Polhemus and Hilary Alexander looks at the relationship between British fashion and the BBC.
8. The North-South Divide
Air Date: 2009-04-02
Journalist John Harris travels around England to find out why the north-south divide is still an economic reality following the decline of industry, and if it can be closed.
1. Farm to Pharma: The Rise and Rise of Food Science
Air Date: 2009-04-03
Documentary about the history of British food science meets a man who pioneered instant soup for Batchelors, and discovers how Quorn was invented to prevent a global food crisis.
2. The Golden Age of Liners
Air Date: 2009-10-22
Paul Atterbury travels around Britain finding out how the great ocean liners made such a mark on the popular imagination and why they continue to enchant.
3. The Men Who Built the Liners
Air Date: 2009-10-29
Documentary looking at the unique culture that grew up in the Clyde shipyards of Scotland, where the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth and the QE2 were built.
4. The Last Days of the Liners
Air Date: 2009-11-03
Documentary telling how, in the years after the Second World War and with national pride and prestige at stake, countries competed to launch the most magnificent passenger ships.
5. How to Win at Chess
Air Date: 2009-12-21
In a programme showing how to play better chess, British grandmasters Dan King and Ray Keene go through a demonstration game from opening gambit to checkmate.
6. Oliver Postgate: A Life in Small Films
Air Date: 2009-12-22
A celebration of the life and work of Oliver Postgate, the man behind some of Britain's best-loved children's TV programmes, including Bagpuss, the Clangers and Ivor the Engine.
7. Clement Freud: In His Own Words
Air Date: 2009-12-22
Documentary which draws together interviews with the late Clement Freud - Liberal MP, cookery expert, newspaper columnist and author - from across four decades.
8. Bread: A Loaf Affair
Air Date: 2010-03-24
Documentary about the rise of the popular loaf in Britain. After the holy grail of affordable white bread was achieved, dietary experts began to trumpet the virtues of brown.
9. Disappearing Dad
Air Date: 2010-06-29
Novelist Andrew Martin takes a wry look at the way fathers are represented in fiction and film, and finds that they tend to be depicted as marginal, loopy or entirely absent.
1. The North on a Plate
Air Date: 2010-09-08
Cultural historian Andrew Hussey follows his success with France on a Plate by travelling back to his homeland, the north west of England, in search of its lost food culture.
2. 1960: The Year of the North
Air Date: 2010-09-14
The story of how the north went from being Britain's economic engine room to cultural powerhouse. Andrew Martin explores how the north liberated itself and the country as a whole.
3. When Britain Went Wild
Air Date: 2010-10-05
Documentary exploring how, in the 1960s, the British people fell in love with animals and how endangered species and wildlife protection became an intrinsic part of our culture.
4. Nordic Noir: The Story of Scandinavian Crime Fiction
Air Date: 2010-12-20
Documentary which investigates the success of Scandinavian crime fiction, from Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millennium trilogy to Henning Mankell's brooding Wallander series.
5. Italian Noir: The Story of Italian Crime Fiction
Air Date: 2010-12-27
Profile of a new wave of Italian crime fiction that has emerged to challenge the conventions of the detective novel - a dark world of corruption, unsolved murders and the mafia.
6. The Golden Age of Coach Travel
Air Date: 2011-01-05
Documentary which journeys back to the 1950s when the coach was king. Those who had not travelled beyond their own villages and towns were given a taste of exploration and freedom.
7. The Modern Age of the Coach
Air Date: 2011-01-12
Documentary bringing the story of the coach up to date, exploring the most recent phase of Britain's love affair with four-wheeled group travel from school trips to Indian treks.
8. Crime and Punishment - The Story of Corporal Punishment
Air Date: 2011-04-04
Documentary lifting the veil on the taboo that is corporal punishment, revealing a history spanning religion, the justice system, sex and education.
9. Crime and Punishment - The Story of Capital Punishment
Air Date: 2011-04-05
Documentary tracing the story of the ultimate sanction, examining such matters as the protocols of the public execution and the 'science' of hanging.
1. Retrial by TV: The Rise and Fall of Rough Justice
Air Date: 2011-04-03
Documentary about the BBC's Rough Justice series, which began investigating miscarriages of justice in the early 1980s and helped overturn the convictions of 18 people in 13 cases.
2. Hotel Deluxe
Air Date: 2011-06-29
Documentary which charts how luxury hotels have met the needs of new forms of wealth - from aristocrats to rock stars and beyond - with comfort, innovation and service.
3. All the Fun of the Fair
Air Date: 2011-08-02
Documentary which explores the history of the fairground, from the sideshows to the freak shows, and from early hand-powered rides to the arrival of steam and electricity.
4. When the Circus Comes to Town
Air Date: 2011-08-09
Film which uses the University of Sheffield's National Fairground Archive to explore the history of the circus, from Billy Smart to Gerry Cottle and Archaos to Cirque du Soleil
5. The Picture Postcard World of Nigel Walmsley
Air Date: 2011-09-15
The story behind the humble picture postcard, told by comic creation Nigel Walmsley. With their own language and bespoke rules, postcards were the texts and emails of their era.
6. Dear Censor - The secret archive of the British Board of Film Classification
Air Date: 2011-09-29
Documentary examining the work of the BBFC, casting an eye over some of the most infamous cases in its history and analysing how it works with film-makers themselves.
7. Antarctica - Of Ice and Men
Air Date: 2011-11-03
Documentary which looks at why the most inhospitable place on the planet has exerted such a powerful hold on the imagination of explorers, scientists, writers and photographers.
8. The Golden Age of Trams: A Streetcar Named Desire
Air Date: 2011-12-05
Documentary exploring how the tram liberated overcrowded cities, mapping its journey from horse-drawn carriage on rails to steam and then electric power.
9. Epic: A Cast of Thousands!
Air Date: 2011-12-24
Documentary which goes behind the scenes to tell the stories of the biggest film genre of them all - the epic, from Ben-Hur to The Ten Commandments and from El Cid to Cleopatra.
10. The Smoking Years
Air Date: 2012-01-04
With contributions from Barry Cryer, Stuart Maconie and others, this documentary tells the unnatural history of the now-threatened creature that is 'the smoker'.
11. The Rules of Drinking
Air Date: 2012-01-11
Documentary which digs into the archive to discover the unwritten rules that have governed the way we drink in Britain, from 1940s pubs and clubs to drinking at home or at work.
1. Health before the NHS: The Road to Recovery
Air Date: 2012-09-24
The shocking story of health before the NHS. In the early 20th century, getting treated if you were ill was a rudimentary, risky and costly business.
2. Health before the NHS: A Medical Revolution
Air Date: 2012-10-01
Robert Winston explores the extraordinary transformation of the hospital from Victorian workhouse to modern centre of medicine.
3. Klezmer
Air Date: 2012-10-14
Michael Grade narrates the story of klezmer, from its origins in Jewish folk music performed at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs to a musical sensation enjoyed by millions worldwide.
4. Magnificent Machines: The Golden Age of the British Sports Car
Air Date: 2012-10-08
Timeshift looks back to a time when iconic British marques like Jaguar, Austin-Healey, MG and Triumph sparked a manufacturing frenzy that helped to democratise speed and glamour.
5. The British Army of the Rhine
Air Date: 2012-10-22
Documentary telling the affectionate story of British servicemen and their families who had to make Germany a home from home in the decades after the Second World War.
6. When Wrestling was Golden: Grapples, Grunts and Grannies
Air Date: 2012-12-13
Timeshift looks back to a time when British professional wrestling attracted huge TV audiences and made household names of the likes of Mick McManus, Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy.
7. The Joy of (Train) Sets
Air Date: 2013-01-23
The Model Railway Story: Documentary which explores how the British have been in love with model railways for over a century, with unique archive and contributions from modellers.
8. Eyes Down! The Story of Bingo
Air Date: 2013-01-30
Documentary looking at how a loophole in an obscure piece of gambling legislation led to nearly a quarter of Britain's population playing high street bingo in the 1960s.
9. Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting: The Rise of Martial Arts in Britain
Air Date: 2013-02-24
Documentary taking a look at Britain's long and illustrious involvement with the martial arts, from the early days of bartitsu, through judo and karate to kung fu.
10. How To Be A Lady: An Elegant History
Air Date: 2013-03-26
With a handful of vintage etiquette books and some film archive to guide her, journalist Rachel Johnson goes in search of what seems an almost vanished social type: the lady.
1. Full Throttle: The Glory Days of British Motorbikes
Air Date: 2013-10-28
Documentary which explores the British love of fast, daring and sometimes reckless motorbike riding during a period when home-grown machines were the envy of the world
2. When Coal Was King
Air Date: 2013-11-04
Documentary which explores the lost world of coal mining and the rich social and cultural lives of those who worked in what was once Britain's most important industry.
3. Bouffants, Beehives and Bobs: The Hairstyles That Shaped Britain
Air Date: 2013-11-13
Timeshift takes a loving and sometimes horrified look back at the iconic hairdos and 'must have' haircuts that both men and women in Britain have flirted with in the past 60 years.
4. A Day at the Zoo
Air Date: 2013-11-20
Documentary telling the story of how zoos captured the British public's imagination - from the first in Regent's Park to Gerald Durrell's conservation ark, which became Jersey Zoo.
5. The Ladybird Books Story: The Bugs that Got Britain Reading
Air Date: 2013-12-22
Timeshift documentary about Ladybird books, which once informed people on such diverse subjects as how magnets work and what to look for in winter, but also helped to teach many to read.
6. Hurricanes and Heatwaves: The Highs and Lows of British Weather
Air Date: 2014-01-08
A national obsession is explored in this archive-rich look at the evolution of the weather forecast from print via radio to TV and beyond - and at the changing weather itself.
7. How to Be Sherlock Holmes: The Many Faces of a Master Detective
Air Date: 2014-01-12
Film charting the evolution of Sherlock Holmes on screen, from silent movies to the latest film and television versions. Featuring contributions from Sherlocks past and present.
1. Mods, Rockers and Bank Holiday Mayhem
Air Date: 2014-05-26
A look back at the bank holiday 'battles of the beaches', when hundreds of mods and rockers flocked to seaside resorts on scooters and motorbikes in search of thrills and spills.
2. Killer Storms and Cruel Winters - The History of Extreme Weather
Air Date: 2014-07-28
Lucie Green looks back through Britain's most dramatic weather history and sees how our reactions helped forge a weather science that today allows us to predict the worst extremes.
3. Bullseyes and Beer: When Darts Hit Britain
Air Date: 2014-12-15
How a traditional working-class pub game became a national obsession during the 1970s and 80s, and how television played a key role in elevating its players into household names.
4. Battle for the Himalayas: The Fight to Film Everest
Air Date: 2015-01-29
The story of how film-makers turned the conquest of Himalayan peaks into great propaganda by Imperial Britain, Nazi Germany and superpower America from the 1920s to the 1960s.
5. The Nation's Railway: The Golden Age of British Rail
Air Date: 2015-02-24
Using the British Transport Films archive, Timeshift revisits Britain's railways during the era of public ownership in a corrective to the myth of the bad old days of rail.
6. Spicing Up Britain: How Eating Out Went Exotic
Air Date: 2015-03-11
How postwar Britain went from a place where eating out was more of a chore than a pleasure to a nation of food adventurers, thanks to generations of migrants opening eateries.
1. The Trains That Time Forgot: Britain's Lost Railway Journeys
Air Date: 2015-09-02
Author and railway enthusiast Andrew Martin travels the route of three famous named trains from bygone days, the Cornish Riviera Express, the Flying Scotsman, and the Brighton Belle, to examine why we used to name trains, and why express trains of today no longer provide the level of luxury VIP service that they used to.
2. A Very British Map: The Ordnance Survey Story
Air Date: 2015-09-09
For over 200 years, Ordnance Survey has mapped every square mile of the British Isles, capturing not just the contours and geography of our nation, but of our lives. Originally intended for military use, OS maps were used during wartime to help locate enemy positions. In peacetime, they helped people discover and explore the countryside. Today, the large fold-out paper maps, used by generations of ramblers, scouts and weekend adventurers, represent just a small part of the OS output. As Ordnance Survey adjusts to the digital age, Timeshift looks back to tell the story of a quintessentially British institution.
3. The Engine That Powers the World
Air Date: 2015-09-23
The story behind the invention of the diesel engine in the 19th century that later became the workhorse of the 20th and 21st century.
4. The People's Liners: Britain's Lost Pleasure Fleets
Air Date: 2015-10-20
A voyage in the company of passengers and crew of the vintage steamers, which were common sight on the rivers and coastal waters around Britain.
5. Looking for Mr Bond: 007 at the BBC
Air Date: 2015-10-28
After more than 60 years tracking James Bond in print and on screen, the BBC opens up its vaults to reveal the forgotten files on the world's most famous secret agent. Featuring rare and candid interviews with all six actors to play 007, and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, this is James Bond unguarded, unrestricted and unseen.
6. How Britain Won the Space Race: The Story of Bernard Lovell and Jodrell Bank
Air Date: 2015-11-16
How Bernard Lovell's telescope was used by both the Americans and the Russians to track their competing spacecraft and put Britain at the forefront of radio astronomy.
1. Bridging the Gap: How the Severn Bridge Was Built
Air Date: 2016-10-19
A look at the engineering behind the construction of the Severn Bridge, and the impact the bridge had on communities on either side of the river.
2. Sailors, Ships and Stevedores: The Story of British Docks
Air Date: 2016-10-26
How Britain's docks in cities like Liverpool, London and Cardiff were commercial portals and gateways for the arrival of sounds, styles and cultures.
3. Penny Blacks & Twopenny Blues: How Britain Got Stuck on Stamps
Air Date: 2016-11-14
A look at how the introduction of the penny post changed Britain, and how enthusiasm for the first stamps led to the emergence of stamp-collecting as a popular hobby.
4. Booze, Beans & Bhajis: The Story of the Corner Shop
Air Date: 2016-12-19
Babita Sharma traces the history of the corner shop in Britain, from its Victorian suburban origins, its crucial role serving the home front in World War Two, and its fortunes in the hands of successive waves of immigration. She and her parents visit the corner shop which was once run by them as a family, and discuss how it shaped her upbringing.
5. Flights of Fancy: Pigeons and the British
Air Date: 2017-02-07
Timeshift ventures inside places of sporting achievement, scientific endeavour and male obsession - the lofts of pigeon fanciers - to tell the story of a remarkable bird.
1. Roof Racks and Hatchbacks: The Family Car
Air Date: 2017-04-03
Exploring the British experience of family cars, from the Morris Minor to the Ford Cortina, the VW Golf to the Volvo estate, school runs to family holidays.
2. Blazes and Brigades: The Story of the Fire Service
Air Date: 2017-04-13
Timeshift looks back on nearly two centuries of British firefighting, exploring how major incidents and the evolution of equipment have helped forge the modern fire service.
3. Dial B for Britain: The Story of the Landline
Air Date: 2017-04-20
From early call boxes to the Post Office Tower, Timeshift tells the story of how Britain's phone network was built over the course of 100 years, and its impact on the public.
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Rating
7.0/10
Release Date
2002-10-10
Episodes
184 (17 seasons)
Status
Returning Series