Time Team

Series 20 - Episode 13 Twenty Years of Time Team

Review

by David Butcher

It’s the series that changed how we see the past. Starting in 1993 a motley band of archaeologists and a small comedy actor set about uncovering archaeology in three-day, TV-friendly digs.

They wore owlish spectacles and rainbow jumpers. They taught us a new word — “geophys”. And they found ways to re-animate history and give a sense of past lives emerging from the shadows.

Whether excavating a Spitfire crash, some Birmingham back gardens or a royal palace, they did it with a passion and expertise that almost made archaeology sexy, and in some cases re-wrote history books. Here, Tony Robinson looks back fondly.

Summary

In a special 20th anniversary celebration for the programme, Tony Robinson relives the best bits from more than 200 episodes, taking in major highlights such as digging up the garden of Buckingham Palace to reveal a crashed Spitfire and discovering the first stone circle to be found in Britain for 150 years. There is a reminder of how the show grew from nervous beginnings in a Somerset field into attempting city-wide digs and promoting nationwide events in which thousands of people spent the weekend digging in their own backyards.