A House Through Time

A House Through Time is a documentary television series made by Twenty Twenty Television for BBC Two. The first series aired in 2018, a second in 2019 and a third in 2020, with each examining the history of a single residential building in an English city.

A House Through Time
Genre	Documentary
Presented by	David Olusoga
Composer(s)	Paul Honey
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	12
Production
Executive producer(s)	Maxine Watson
Producer(s)	Mary Crisp
Production location(s)	Liverpool (series 1) Newcastle upon Tyne (series 2) Bristol (series 3)
Production company(s)	Twenty Twenty
Release
Original network	BBC Two
Picture format	1080i HDTV
Original release	4 January 2018 (2018-01-04)
External links
Website

The programme is presented by David Olusoga, who studied history at the University of Liverpool in the early 1990s and is Professor of Public History at Manchester University.[1][2] The series consultant is design historian Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan, of the University of Portsmouth, who also appears in each episode.[3]

A fourth series, set in Leeds, has been commissioned for broadcast in 2021.[4]

Episodes

Series		Episodes		Originally aired
				First aired	Last aired
	1	4		4 January 2018 (2018-01-04)	25 January 2018 (2018-01-25)
	2	4		8 April 2019 (2019-04-08)	29 April 2019 (2019-04-29)
	3	4		26 May 2020 (2020-05-26)	16 June 2020 (2020-06-16)

Series 1 (2018)

62 Falkner Street, 2018

The first series features the house at 62 Falkner Street in the Canning area of Liverpool.[5][1][6]

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by [7]	Written by	Original release date	UK viewers (millions) [8]
1	1	"Episode 1"	Paul Tilzey	David Olusoga	4 January 2018 (2018-01-04)	3.13
David Olusoga visits the house at 62 Falkner Street for the first time, and explores the stories of its first inhabitants, who lived there in 1840s and 1850s.
2	2	"Episode 2"	Stuart Elliott	David Olusoga	11 January 2018 (2018-01-11)	2.44
David looks at the trials and tribulations of 62 Falkner Street's residents from the 1850s through to the 1890s.
3	3	"Episode 3"	Stuart Elliott	David Olusoga	18 January 2018 (2018-01-18)	2.44
David uncovers the lives of the house's residents from 1891 to 1945, covering World War I, World War II, and the Great Depression.
4	4	"Episode 4"	Paul Tilzey	David Olusoga	25 January 2018 (2018-01-25)	2.47
David finally covers the house's residents from 1945 to the present day, and reveals the programme's findings to the house's present occupant.

Series 2 (2019)

Series two featured 5 Ravensworth Terrace,[9] a Georgian-era terraced house in the Summerhill area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and began broadcast on BBC Two on 8 April 2019.[10][11][12][13][14] As a result of research conducted for the programme, a plaque was unveiled there, commemorating a former resident (1841–1857), the naturalist Joshua Alder, on 26 September 2018 by Olusoga and the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, David Down.[15] The house has been Grade II listed since June 1976.[16]

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by [7]	Written by	Original release date	UK viewers (millions) [17]
5	1	"Episode 1"	Nicola Seare	David Olusoga	8 April 2019 (2019-04-08)	2.40
David Olusoga is in Newcastle upon Tyne, exploring the history of the house at 5 Ravensworth Terrace, looking at the stories of a vengeful lawyer, a scientist faced with financial ruin and a doctor entangled in a workhouse scandal- the house's earliest residents.
6	2	"Episode 2"	Hugo Macgregor	David Olusoga	15 April 2019 (2019-04-15)	2.21
Now looking at the house in the 1880s to the 1900s, David encounters stories of family trauma, a refuge for girls, and séances.
7	3	"Episode 3"	Hugo Macgregor	David Olusoga	22 April 2019 (2019-04-22)	2.30
5 Ravensworth Terrace's residents of the early 20th century deal with war, and Irish republican terrorism.
8	4	"Episode 4"	Hugo Macgregor	David Olusoga	29 April 2019 (2019-04-29)	2.24
Bringing the story into the present day, David uncovers infidelity and divorce, traces a WWII prisoner to Ravensworth Terrace, and sees the house fall into disrepair before it is restored for the 21st century.

Series 3 (2020)

The third series takes place in Bristol, investigating the history of 10 Guinea Street,[18] whose inhabitants included the satirist John Shebbeare and the future mayor of Bristol Sir John Kerle Haberfield.

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by [7]	Written by	Original release date	UK viewers (millions) [17]
9	1	"Episode 1"	Eleanor Scoones	David Olusoga	26 May 2020 (2020-05-26)	4.16
David's journey with 10 Guinea Street, Bristol, begins in the 18th century. The first occupants bring stories of piracy, a foundling, the satirist John Shebbeare, and a runaway slave.
10	2	"Episode 2"	Edmund Moriarty	David Olusoga	2 June 2020 (2020-06-02)	3.38
David looks at the house's residents from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century, encountering stories of scandal, domestic violence and the asylum.
11	3	"Episode 3"	Eleanor Scoones	David Olusoga	9 June 2020 (2020-06-09)	3.07
The mid-19th to mid-20th century sees the residents of 10 Guinea Street explore entrepreneurship, tragedy in World War I, and some shady dealings.
12	4	"Episode 4"	Edmund Moriarty	David Olusoga	16 June 2020 (2020-06-16)	2.61
Exploring the house's history from the mid-20th century to the present day, David finds out about the house's links to more war tragedy, identity fraud, and the house's renewal in the 21st century.

See also

• The Secret History of Our Streets

References

1. Shennan, Paddy (10 December 2017). "The Liverpool house which will be the star of a new TV series". Retrieved 4 January 2018.
2. "David Olusoga OBE becomes Professor at The University of Manchester". David Olusoga OBE becomes Professor at The University of Manchester. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
3. "Deborah Sugg Ryan – Portsmouth Research Portal". researchportal.port.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
4. "BBC - A House Through Time series four is coming to BBC Two - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk.
5. Olusoga, David (31 December 2017). "Slave trader's home, slum, des res: the stories of one house raise restless ghosts". Retrieved 4 January 2018 – via www.theguardian.com.
6. "A House Through Time". www.twentytwenty.tv. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
7. "BBC Two - A House Through Time - Episode guide (see relevant episode(s))". BBC.
8. "Weekly Top 30 Programmes (see relevant week(s))". BARB.
9. 5 Ravensworth Terrace coordinates: 54.97108°N 1.62707°W / 54.97108; -1.62707 (5 Ravensworth Terrace)
10. "Episode 1 — Series 2". A House Through Time. Series 2. Episode 1. 8 April 2019. BBC Television.
11. Meechan, Simon (26 September 2018). "A city with 'big ideas' – why House Through Time chose Newcastle". nechronicle. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
12. Geography, Kay's (20 March 2019). "A House Through Time – Newcastle". Newcastle residential areas. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
13. Hodgson, Barbara (27 February 2019). "See inside the Newcastle home which stars in A House Through Time". nechronicle. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
14. "When is the new series of A House Through Time?". Who Do You Think You Are Magazine. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
15. "Lord Mayor joined by BBC presenter for plaque unveiling". Newcastle City Council. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
16. Historic England. "5, RAVENSWORTH TERRACE, Newcastle upon Tyne (1107928)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
17. "Four Screen Dashboard (see relevant channel and week(s))". BARB.
18. Murray, Robin (26 May 2020). "A House Through Time to air on BBC2 tonight — everything you need to know". Bristol Post. Retrieved 26 May 2020.

External links

• A House Through Time on IMDb
• A House Through Time at BBC Programmes