Time Team

Time Team is a popular British television series explaining the process of archaeology for the layman in the UK.

Broadcast by Channel 4, the programme was first shown in 1994, and is presented by Tony Robinson, well-known for his appearances in many popular historical and humorous TV series, including Blackadder and the children's series Maid Marian and her Merry Men.

Format

A team of archaeologists, usually led by either Mick Aston or Francis Pryor (the latter usually heads Bronze Age and Iron Age digs), and including field archaeologist Phil Harding, congregate at a site, usually in the United Kingdom. The site is frequently suggested by a member of the viewing public who knows of an unsolved archaeological mystery, or who owns property that is unexcavated and potentially interesting. Time Team uncover as much as they can about the archaeology and history of the site in three days, often in conjunction with the local archaeological unit.

At the start of the programme, Tony Robinson explains the reasons for the team's visit to the site, and during the dig he enthusiastically encourages the archaeologists to explain their decisions, discoveries and conclusions. He tries to ensure that everything is comprehensible to the archaeologically uninitiated.

Other team members

The regular team includes:
*landscape investigator Stewart Ainsworth
*geophysical surveyor John Gater
*surveyor Henry Chapman
*illustrator Victor Ambrus

The original Time Team line-up from 1994 has altered over the years. Historian Robin Bush was a regular in the first nine series, and in 2005 Carenza Lewis left to pursue other interests. She was replaced by Anglo-Saxon specialist Helen Geake.

The team is supplemented by experts appropriate for the period and type of site. Guy de la Bédoyère has often been present for Roman digs (although in 2006 he announced his withdrawal from the series). Margaret Cox often assists with forensic archaeology, and other specialists who appear from time to time include David S. Neal, expert on Roman mosaics. Local historians also join in when appropriate.

More recent regular team members have included archaeologist Neil Holbrook and historian Sam Newton.

Younger members of Time Team who have made or currently make regular appearances include:
*Katie Hirst
*Jenni Butterworth
*Brigid Gallagher
*Matt Williams
*Raksha Dave

Mick Worthington, formerly nicknamed "Mick the Dig" as he worked largely on site excavation in the early years, occasionally still appears in his current occupation of dendrochronologist, complete with new nickname "Mick the Twig".

Production

Time Team is commissioned by Channel 4 Television (the broadcaster) and made in partnership between VideoText Communications Ltd (based in Bristol) and Picturehouse Television Co. Ltd (based in London). Recently-formed Wildfire Television was involved in the production of Time Team's Big Roman Dig (2005). It is produced by Tim Taylor, the shows originator, with Associate Producers Mick Aston and Tony Robinson.

Sites

Sites may be suggested by landowners, local archaeologists, academics, interested bodies or members of the general public, and have included everything from the Mesolithic period to World War II. For example programmes have featured the excavation of Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements, Roman villas and medieval churches. Several excavations have resulted in the discovery of sites of national significance.

Other formats

Time Team Live broadcasts show selected Time Team excavations as they are under way. The edited highlights of the live broadcasts are then shown as a programme in the regular series in the following year. The first dig featured was at Turkdean, Gloucestershire, in August 1997.

Time Team's Big Dig was an expansion on the live format. A weekend of live broadcasts in June 2003 was preceded by a week of daily short programmes. It involved about a thousand members of the public in excavating test pits each one metre square by fifty centimetres deep. Most of these pits were in private gardens and the project stirred up controversies about approaches to public archaeology.

Time Team's Big Roman Dig (2005) saw this format altered, in an attempt to avoid previous controversies, through the coverage of nine archaeological sites around the UK which were already under investigation by professional archaeologists. Time Team covered the action through live linkups based at a Roman Villa at Dinnington in Somerset - itself a Time Team excavation from 2003. Over 60 other professionally-supervised excavations were supported by Time Team and carried out around the country in association with the programme. A further hundred activities relating to Roman history were carried out by schools and other institutions around the UK.

Time Team Extra (1998) were a series of eight broadcasts in which archivist Robin Bush and a guest archeologist or historian would elaborate on the information learned during the Time Team episode shown earlier in the week, using libraries, archives, discussion and visits to other historical locations. The Time Team Extra shows were intended to further flesh out the viewer's understanding of the history, community and lifestyle of people who would have occupied the dig site.

Time Team History Hunters (1998) hosted by Tony Robinson. Each of the seven episodes featured three teams of individuals interested in their local history. Using only historical materials accessible to the general population, each team would attempt to learn the history of a location and find the truth behind local legends and long-held theories.

Time Team Specials are documentary programmes about topics in history and archaeology made by the same production company. They are generally presented by Tony Robinson and often feature one or more of the familiar faces from the regular series of Time Team. In some cases the programme makers have followed the process of discovery at a large commercial or research excavation by another body. Time Team usually does not carry out excavations for these programmes, but may contribute a reconstruction.

Impact on public interest in archaeology

Time Team regularly receives 2 to 3 million viewers, with at least 20 million turning on at some point over any one series. Foreign audiences also enjoy the programme, with particular interest in the Netherlands. The programme has also been transmitted on the in the US, and some episodes have also been broadcast by History International.

There is no doubt that Time Team has substantially raised public awareness and understanding of archaeology. Time Team contributor Francis Pryor has written: "Before the first series of Time Team in 1993, it was hard work starting an excavation. I can remember arriving at a building site in Fengate, where I was to cut some exploratory trial trenches. When I announced that I was an archaeologist, some wit in a JCB quipped that I had lost my way to Egypt. Much hilarity. After Time Team that same chap would be asking when I was planning to bring in the geophysics." (Pryor, 2005)

Archaeologist Robert Van de Noort, Head of the School of Geography, Archaeology and Earth Resources at Exeter University, said: "Tony Robinson's Honorary Doctorate, and the Honorary Professorships for principal presenter Mick Aston and producer Tim Taylor, reflect our great appreciation for what Time Team has done for the public understanding of archaeology in this country. We know that the enthusiasm and skill of those working on the show has contributed greatly to creating a new generation of archaeologists, some of whom we hope to teach here at Exeter." [1]

Episode Listing

Series 1

#16 January 1994 - Athelney, Somerset: Alfred the Great's abbey fort.#23 January 1994 - Ribchester, Lancashire: Roman. #30 January 1994 - Much Wenlock, Shropshire: medieval hall.#6 February 1994 - Llangorse Lake, Powys: Dark-Age settlement.

Series 2

#8 January 1995 - Finlaggan, Islay: 13th-century castle.#15 January 1995 - Hylton Castle, Sunderland: medieval keep.#22 January 1995 - Tockenham, Wiltshire: Roman villa or temple.#29 January 1995 - Lambeth Palace, London: Roman bridge.#5 February 1995 - Winterbourne Gunner, Wiltshire: Anglo-Saxon graves.

Series 3

#7 January 1996 - Boleigh, Cornwall: prehistoric fougou.#14 January 1996 - Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire: pre-Ice-Age quarry.#21 January 1996 - Temple Combe, Somerset: medieval Templar buildings.#28 January 1996 - Teignmouth, Devon: Spanish Armada wreck.#4 February 1996 - Navan, County Armagh: first kings of Ulster.#11 February 1996 - Lavenham/Preston St Mary, Suffolk: Roman pottery.

Series 4

#5 January 1997 - St Mary's City, Maryland (USA): early English settlers.#12 January 1997 - Launceston, Cornwall: medieval leper hospital.#19 January 1997 - Soho, Birmingham: steam-powered mint.#26 January 1997 - Govan, Glasgow: 8th-century church.#2 February 1997 - Malton, North Yorkshire: Norman and medieval castles and Jacobean house.#9 February 1997 - Netheravon, Wiltshire: Roman villa.

Additional programmes in 1997:#23-25 August 1997 - Turkdean, Gloucestershire: Roman villa (live broadcasts).#28 December 1997 - Christmas Special.

Series 5

#4 January 1998 - Richmond, Surrey: Richmond Palace built by Henry V. #11 January 1998 - Greylake, Somerset: Bronze-Age trackway.#18 January 1998 - Sanday, Orkney: Viking graves.#25 January 1998 - Turkdean: Roman villa (highlights of the live broadcasts from 1997).#1 February 1998 - Deya, Mallorca, Spain: Copper-Age settlement.#8 February 1998 - Aston Eyre, Shropshire: Medieval manor house.#22 February 1998 - Downpatrick, County Down: St Patrick's first church.#1 March 1998 - High Worsall, North Yorkshire: medieval village.

Additional programmes in 1998:#29-31 August 1998 - Bawsey, Norfolk: Iron-Age settlement and Norman church (live broadcasts).

Time Team Extra#January 1998 - Richmond, Surrey: Richmond Palace built by Henry V. #January 1998 - Greylake, Somerset: Bronze-Age trackway.#January 1998 - Sanday, Orkney: Viking graves.#January 1998 - Turkdean: Roman villa (highlights of the live broadcasts from 1997).#February 1998 - Deya, Mallorca, Spain: Copper-Age settlement.#February 1998 - Aston Eyre, Shropshire: Medieval manor house.#February 1998 - Downpatrick, County Down: St Patrick's first church.#March 1998 - High Worsall, North Yorkshire: medieval village.

Actual air dates of Time Team Extra programmes are not currently available, but each programme aired just days following the related Time Team episode.

Time Team History Hunters#21 November 1998 - South London: Crystal Palace#28 November 1998 - Blackpool: Pleasure Beach#5 December 1998 - Nottingham: three pubs#12 December 1998 - Coventry: watchmaking sector#19 December 1998 - Scottish border and related ballads#January 1999 - Burton upon Trent: Middle Age abbey#January 1999 - Marshfield, Gloucestershire: malting:The Time Team website gives no exact air date for the two final programmes. It is possible that they never aired.

Series 6

#3 January 1999 - Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent: 18th-century pottery factory.#10 January 1999 - Papcastle, Cumbria: Roman pottery.#17 January 1999 - Thetford, Norfolk: Norman cathedral.#24 January 1999 - Cheddar Gorge, Somerset: cave inhabited by stone-age man.#31 January 1999 - Plympton, Devon: medieval town.#7 February 1999 - Smallhythe, Kent: Henry V's naval dockyard.#14 February 1999 - Beauport Park, Sussex: Roman bathhouse.#21 February 1999 - Reedham Marshes, Norfolk: two crashed World War II aeroplanes.#28 February 1999 - Turkdean, Gloucestershire II: Roman villa further investigation.#7 March 1999 - Kemerton, Worcestershire: possible Iron-Age site.#14 March 1999 - Bawsey, Norfolk: Iron-Age settlement and Norman church (highlights of the live broadcasts from 1998).#21 March 1999 - Nevis, West Indies: settlement and slave colony, part I.#28 March 1999 - Nevis, West Indies: settlement and slave colony, part II.

Additional programmes in 1999:#3-5 September 1999 - York, Yorkshire: Roman cemetery, Viking buildings and the medieval St Leonard's hospital (live broadcasts).#19 December 1999 - Christmas Special.#29 December 1999 - The Mystery of Seahenge: special programme on this Bronze-Age site in Norfolk.

Series 7

#2 January 2000 - Denia, Spain: Muslim port.#9 January 2000 - Cirencester, Gloucestershire: Roman town and temple.#16 January 2000 - Wierre Effroy, France: Spitfire crash site.#23 January 2000 - Waddon, Dorset: Iron-Age site.#30 January 2000 - Birdoswald, Cumbria: Roman fort beside Hadrian's Wall.#6 February 2000 - Elveden, Suffolk: Stone-Age settlement.#13 February 2000 - Coventry, West Midlands: Medieval cathedral. #20 February 2000 - Basing House, Hampshire: Tudor building.#27 February 2000 - Flag Fen, Cambridgeshire: Bronze-Age trackway.#5 March 2000 - Sutton St Michael, Herefordshire: Saxon site, possibly Offa's palace.#12 March 2000 - Greenwich, London: Roman site.#19 March 2000 - Hartlepool, Durham: Anglo-saxon monastery.#26 March 2000 - York, Yorkshire: Roman cemetery, Viking buildings and the medieval St Leonard's hospital (highlights from the 1999 live broadcasts).

Additional programmes in 2000:#25-28 August 2000 - Canterbury, Kent: Roman temple, medieval kiln and Franciscan friary (live broadcasts).#24 December 2000 - The Real King Arthur.#27 December 2000 - Time Team History of Britain. #27 December 2000 - The Mystery of Mine Howe.

Series 8

#7 January 2001 - Normanton, Lincolnshire: Anglo-Saxon cemetery.#14 January 2001 - Alderton, Northamptonshire: Norman castle.#21 January 2001 - Llygadwy, Wales: an archaeological detective story.#28 January 2001 - Waltham, Gloucestershire: Roman villa.#4 February 2001 - Blaenavon, South Wales: the first railway viaduct.#11 February 2001 - Rycote, Oxfordshire: Tudor house.#18 February 2001 - Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire: Iron-Age to Roman enclosure. #25 February 2001 - Basildon, Berkshire: Roman villa.#4 March 2001 - Alveston, Gloucestershire: Iron-Age cave. #11 March 2001 - Holy Island: Tudor site.#18 March 2001 - Bridgnorth, Shropshire: Norman castle.#25 March 2001 - Canterbury, Kent: Roman temple, medieval kiln and Franciscan friary (highlights of the live broadcasts from 2000).#1 April 2001 - Winchester, Hampshire: St Mary Magdalene leper hospital.

Additional programmes in 2001:#7 January 2001 - Behind the Scenes at Time Team.#8 March 2001 - Coventry's Lost Cathedral: Special return report.#17 May 2001 - Island of the Eels. Documentary on a non-Time Team excavation in Ely, Cambridgeshire.#28-30 August 2001 - Breamore, Hampshire: Anglo-Saxon cemetery (live broadcasts).#30 December 2001 - Dinosaur hunting with Tony Robinson and Phil Harding in Montana, USA.

Series 9

#6 January 2002 - Vauxhall, London: Bronze-Age bridge.#13 January 2002 - Ancaster, Lincolnshire: Roman town.#20 January 2002 - Kinlochbervie, N.W. Scotland: Armada shipwreck.#27 January 2002 - Chicksands, Bedfordshire: medieval monastery.#3 February 2002 - Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire: 17th-century blast furnace.#10 February 2002 - Cheshunt, Hertfordshire: Roman Ermine Street.#17 February 2002 - Helford, Cornwall: Iron-Age earthworks.#24 February 2002 - High Ercall, Shropshire: Civil War siege site and medieval monastery.#3 March 2002 - Throckmorton, Worcestershire: prehistoric settlement.#10 March 2002 - Castleford, Yorkshire: Roman town.#17 March 2002 - Beaudesert, Warwickshire: Norman castle.#24 March 2002 - Yaverland, Isle of Wight: Roman villa.#31 March 2002 - Breamore, Hampshire: Anglo-Saxon cemetery (highlights of the 2001 live broadcasts).

Additional programmes in 2002:#15 April 2002 - The Big Dig in Canterbury: a documentary following this excavation by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust. #22 April 2002 - Londinium, The Edge of Empire: a documentary following this excavation by the Museum of London Archaeological Service. #31 October 2002 - The Wreck of the Colossus: documentary on this shipwreck. #1 November 2002 - Time Team Digs 1: The Bronze Age.#8 November 2002 - Time Team Digs 2: The Iron Age.#15 November 2002 - Time Team Digs 3: The early Romans.#22 November 2002 - Time Team Digs 4: Roman Britain.#29 November 2002 - Time Team Digs 5: The Dark Ages.#6 December 2002 - Time Team Digs 6: Medieval England.#13 December 2002 - Time Team Digs 7: The Modern Era.#27 December 2002 - Time Team Digs 8: The Norman Conquest. #27 December 2002 - 10 Years of Time Team.

Series 10

#5 January 2003 - Raunds, Northamptonshire: Saxon burials.#12 January 2003 - Dinnington, Somerset: Roman mosiac.#19 January 2003 - Carsington, Derbyshire: prehistoric site.#26 January 2003 - Fetlar, Shetland: Viking boat burial and long house.#2 February 2003 - Greenwich, London: Tudor armoury and tiltyard of Greenwich Palace.#9 February 2003 - Merton, London: Liberty Print Mills.#16 February 2003 - Bath, Somerset: Roman cemetery.#23 February 2003 - Athelney, Somerset: return to Alfred the Great's abbey for the 100th programme.#2 March 2003 - Kew Gardens, London: Hanoverian palace.#9 March 2003 - Leven, Fife: Bronze-Age cemetery.#16 March 2003 - Castle Howard, Yorkshire: medieval village.#23 March 2003 - Sedgefield, County Durham: frontier Roman settlement.#30 March 2003 - Appleby, Cumbria: 18th-century jail.

Additional programmes in 2003:#10 April 2003 - Hadrian's Well. Reconstruction of the Roman water-lifting machine found in the excavation in London already filmed (see documentary listed above 22 April 2002).#22 to 28 June 2003 - Time Team Big Dig (live broadcasts).#29 December 2003 - Time Team Big Dig Special.

Series 11

#4 January 2004 - Syon House, London: Brigittine abbey.#11 January 2004 - Whitestaunton, Somerset: Roman bath house and Edwardian folly.#18 January 2004 - Loch Migdale, Scottish Highlands: crannog.#25 January 2004 - South Carlton, Lincolnshire: Ango-Saxon graveyard.#1 February 2004 - Syndale, Kent: Roman defended farmstead.#8 February 2004 - Green Island, Dorset: Iron-Age trading place.#15 February 2004 - Oakamoor, Staffordshire: medieval blast furnace. #22 February 2004 - Goldcliff, Gwent: Mesolithic foreshore. #29 February 2004 - Wittenham Clumps, Oxfordshire: Iron-Age hill fort.#7 March 2004 - Nassington, Northamptonshire: King Cnut's manor.#14 March 2004 - Ipswich, Suffolk: Roman villa.#21 March 2004 - Roxburgh, Scottish Borders: deserted medieval town.#28 March 2004 - Cranborne Chase, Dorset: Roman villa and burials.

Additional programmes in 2004:#22 March 2004 - Sheffield Steel City: Time Team Special following excavations into Sheffield's industrial past by the Archaeological Research and Consultancy at the University of Sheffield. #19 April 2004 - The House in the Loch: Time Team Special on an Iron Age lake dwelling at Lock Tay, Perthshire.#3 May 2004 - The Ten Million Pound House: Time Team Special on the restoration of Ightham Mote, Kent.#31 May 2004 - The Invasion Landings: Time Team Special on D-Day, Normandy.

Series 12

#2 January 2005 - Chenies Manor House, Buckinghamshire: Tudor manor house.#9 January 2005 - Nether Poppleton, Yorkshire: Anglo-Saxon monastery.#16 January 2005 - Preston, Lancashire: crash of two bombers in 1944.#23 January 2005 - Drumlanrig, Dumfries and Galloway: Roman fort.#30 January 2005 - Northborough, Peterborough: Neolithic causewayed enclosure.#6 February 2005 - Grace Dieu, Hampshire: wreck believed to be that of Henry V's flagship. #13 February 2005 - Standish, Gloucestershire: Iron-Age to Roman-British farm.#20 February 2005 - Wemyss, Fife: Pictish symbols in caves.#27 February 2005 - St Osyth, Essex: early medieval town.#6 March 2005 - South Perrott, Dorset: early Bronze-Age barrow. #13 March 2005 - Skipsea, Humberside: multi-period site, from Neolithic to medieval.#20 March 2005 - South Shields, Tyneside: Arbeia Roman fort and cemetery.#3 April 2005 - Hanslope, Milton Keynes: medieval pig factory.

Additional programmes in 2005:#13 June 2005 - The King of Bling: Time Team Special on a remarkable Anglo-Saxon burial in Prittlewell. #20 June 2005 - Colchester's lost Roman circus: Time Team Special. #27 June 2005 - Life on the Edge 1,000 years BC: Time Team Special. #July 2005 - Big Roman Dig. A series of live programmes with a Roman theme, featuring 10 sites. #28 November 2005 - Durrington Walls: Time Team Special.

Series 13

#22 January 2006 - Glendon, Northamptonshire: medieval church and lost village.#29 January 2006 - Withington, Gloucestershire: Roman villa and bathhouse.#5 February 2006 - Manchester: Arkwright's first mill.#12 February 2006 - Esher, Surrey: medieval palace.#19 February 2006 - Utrecht, Netherlands: Roman barge, watch tower and canal.#26 February 2006 - Eastry, Kent: Ango-Saxon cemetery.#5 March 2006 - Brimham, Harrogate, Yorkshire: monastic grange.#12 March 2006 - Queenborough, Kent: Queenborough Castle. #19 March 2006 - Blackpatch, Sussex: Neolithic settlement.#26 March 2006 - Islip, Oxfordshire: Anglo-Saxon chapel.#2 April 2006 - Ffrith, North Wales: Roman building possibly a bathhouse.#9 April 2006 - Alfoldean, Horsham, Sussex: Roman mansio.#16 April 2006 - Applecross near Skye, Scottish Highlands: Iron age Broch.

Additional programmes in 2006:#8 January 2006 - The Big Roman Villa: A Time Team Special. Time Team first discovered this Roman villa at Dinnington, Somerset in 2002 (programme shown 12 January 2003) and returned to it during the Big Roman Dig in July 2005 (programme shown live). This Special includes content from the previous programmes.

References

* Ambrus, Victor and Aston, Mick, Recreating the Past (Tempus, 2001).
* Aston, Mick, Mick's Archaeology (Tempus, 2000, new edition 2002).
* Gaffney, Chris and Gater, John, Revealing the buried past: Geophysics for archaeologists (Tempus, 2003).
* Lewis, Carenza, Harding, Phil and Aston, Mick, edited by Tim Taylor, Time Team's Timechester (Channel 4 Books, 2000).
* Pryor, Francis, Flag Fen: Life and death of a prehistoric landscape (Tempus, 2005).
* Robinson, Tony and Aston, Mick, Archaeology is Rubbish (Channel 4 Books, 2002).
* Taylor, Tim, with photographs by Bennett, Chris, Behind the Scenes at Time Team (Channel 4 Books, 2000).
* Taylor, Tim, Digging the Dirt (Channel 4 Books, 2001).
* Taylor, Tim, Time Team Guide to the Archaeological Sites of Britain and Ireland (Channel 4 Books, 2005).
* Taylor, Tim, The Ultimate Time Team Companion: An alternative history of Britain (Macmillan, 1999).

External links

*Channel4.com - Time Team