Time Team

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  • Not Rated
  • 1994
  • 20 Seasons
  • 8.5  (1,801)

Time Team was a British documentary television series that followed archaeologists as they conducted archaeological excavations on historical sites throughout the United Kingdom. The show was first broadcast on Channel 4 in 1994 and ran for a total of 20 seasons over the course of 20 years.

The show was hosted by Tony Robinson and featured a team of expert archaeologists, historians, geophysicists, and other specialists who worked together to uncover the secrets of various historical sites around the UK. One of the most notable members of the Time Team was Phil Harding, an experienced archaeologist and flintknapper who became a fan favorite due to his quick wit, quirky personality, and expert knowledge of prehistoric technology.

Each episode of Time Team followed a similar format, with the team arriving at a different historical site each week and setting up camp on location. They would then spend three days excavating the site, using a combination of traditional archaeological techniques and cutting-edge technology to uncover clues about the area's past.

Over the course of the three days, the Time Team would work tirelessly to uncover artifacts, structures, and other evidence that could shed light on the history of the site. They would also consult with local experts and historical records to try and piece together a complete picture of the site's significance.

Throughout the show, viewers were treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the highs and lows of archaeological excavation, as the team encountered unexpected challenges, disputes, and setbacks along the way. However, they also experienced moments of triumph, as they uncovered long-lost artifacts or made exciting discoveries about the history of the site.

One of the most popular elements of the show was the use of cutting-edge technology to aid in the excavation process. The Time Team made use of a variety of tools, including geophysical survey equipment, 3D laser scanners, and even drones, to help them uncover hidden features of the site that would be difficult or impossible to find using traditional methods.

However, despite the use of technology, the show never lost sight of the human element of archaeology. Viewers were introduced to a wide range of experts, volunteers, and locals who all played a vital role in the excavation process, highlighting the importance of collaboration and community involvement in the field of archaeology.

Overall, Time Team was a hugely popular show that helped to raise awareness about the importance of archaeology and the need to preserve our historical heritage. With an engaging mix of science, history, and human drama, the show continues to be remembered fondly by fans around the world.

Time Team is a series that ran for 20 seasons (240 episodes) between January 16, 1994 and on Channel 4

Time Team
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Seasons
Twenty Years of Time Team
13. Twenty Years of Time Team
March 24, 2013
Tony takes a look back at the best bits from two decades and over 250 episodes_4-18.
The Time Team Guide to Experimental Archaeology
12. The Time Team Guide to Experimental Archaeology
March 17, 2013
Tony Robinson celebrates the more than 150 practical experiments and re-creations that he and the Team have conducted over 20 years in order to unlock the mysteries exposed by their digs. Rebuilding - and even reliving - the past is a controversial area of archaeology. But it's one that Time Team has long championed, and one that has yielded some amazing results. This programme revisits some of the programme's greatest hits, from recreating individual objects such as Stone Age axes, Roman pewter bowls, medieval pottery and a Stone Age sword that throws new light on the myth of King Arthur's Excalibur, to building an entire Iron Age house and a Roman machine that lifted water from a deep well. The programme also revisits some of Time Team's forays into living history, from finding out what it felt like to be in Dad's Army to surviving 24 hours as a Victorian prisoner, in an attempt to see the past through our ancestors' eyes. Plus how a huge and - at times - contentious experiment for the programme finally solved the riddle of Seahenge.
An Englishman's Castle
11. An Englishman's Castle
March 10, 2013
When the Barlowsbought Upton Castle in Pembrokeshire they weren't sure if it was a Victorian folly or an Anglo-Norman castle. Time Team try to discover if it was one of the Anglo-Norman castles built to defend 'Little England beyond Wales' from the locals.
Wolsey's Lost Palace
10. Wolsey's Lost Palace
March 3, 2013
For 100 years schoolboys have been playing a few feet above the remains of the most opulent palace in Britain. The Manor of More was masterminded by Henry VIII's right-hand man, the all-powerful religious leader and statesman Cardinal Wolsey, who was also responsible for Hampton Court Palace. Tudor visitors remarked that it was grander than Hampton Court. But the palace went missing until the 1950s, when a group of pupils at Northwood School in Hertfordshire discovered its remains beneath their school playing field. Now one of those schoolboys - Martin Biddle, who is now one of the country's most distinguished archaeologists - joins Tony and the Team as they try to piece together the complete picture of this huge palace. In its heyday, the Manor of More would have been an opulent playground fit for royalty and state visitors. Like Hampton Court, it was built as a place in which to entertain. Thomas More and Catherine of Aragon would have known it intimately. But working out the layout of the palace is as tough a challenge as the Team have had for a long while. There should be a huge front courtyard, but where is it? There should be a long gallery running off the back range, somewhere under the school's tennis courts. But it's equally elusive. But finally enough pieces of this challenging Tudor jigsaw fall into place for the Team to visualise the splendour that once stood here, with its towered gatehouse rising majestically out of a wide moat.
The Lost Castle of Dundrum
9. The Lost Castle of Dundrum
February 24, 2013
Tony and the Team search for the remains of a renegade knight's Norman castle in one of Northern Ireland's most picturesque spots. King John sent John de Courcy to Ireland in 1170 as part of his invasion force, but de Courcy rebelled against his king's orders, instead establishing his own small kingdom and building a fine castle to defend it. King John refused to tolerate his disobedience and sent the loyal Hugh de Lacy across the Irish Sea to defeat him. De Courcy's castle was rebuilt, and much of its replacement is still standing. But the experts are convinced that some of what remains dates from de Courcy's time, and the archaeologists set out to find the lost structures. But as they survey and dig within the huge castle walls, they are in for a big surprise. It seems the site was occupied by tribal chiefs for many centuries before anyone had even heard of the Normans.
Mystery of the Thames-side Villa
8. Mystery of the Thames-side Villa
February 17, 2013
Roman remains have been turning up in an Oxfordshire field for decades, where a student in the 1960s believed he had uncovered a Roman mosaic. Is this the site of a lost grand Roman villa?
Horseshoe Hall
7. Horseshoe Hall
February 10, 2013
Oakham Castle is the best preserved 12th-century building in Britain, but there's much more to it than meets the eye.
Lost Mines of Lakeland
6. Lost Mines of Lakeland
February 3, 2013
Tony and the team make their way to the Lake District on an expedition that takes them both higher and deeper than they've ever been before. They are looking for a forgotten piece of the nation's industrial heritage.
Warriors
5. Warriors
January 27, 2013
Tony and the team work with veterans of the war in Afghanistan, investigating the ancient Barrow Clump on Salisbury Plain, where they discover burials from 2000BC and rare Saxon finds.
Henham's Lost Mansions
4. Henham's Lost Mansions
January 20, 2013
Tony and the team attempt to help Hektor Rous, the son of 'Aussie Earl' Keith Rous, work out the mysterious history of the family's Tudor country home in Suffolk.
A Capital Hill
3. A Capital Hill
January 13, 2013
Time Team investigate a huge hill near Cardiff that may be immensely significant; is it the long-lost Iron Age capital of South Wales? During the course of their investigations the archaeologists make one particularly rare discovery: the most complete Early Iron Age cup ever found in South Wales, which proves that the site is from the earliest part of the Iron Age, at around 800BC. A huge hill dominates the Ely housing estate in Cardiff. Its towering ramparts and deep ditches identify it as a hillfort, and the effort of their construction indicates that this was no ordinary Iron Age homestead. The site's so big that thousands of people could have lived up here. It's never been explored before. If there were houses, none are visible now and the age of the fort has always been a mystery. Tony Robinson and the Team have five acres of hilltop, half a mile of ramparts and ditches and just three days to answer some very big questions. Fortunately local residents are keen to help, and finds such as jewellery and fine drinking vessels show that Iron Age domestic life in the area was rich and colourful. But finding any houses is harder than anyone imagined and provokes fierce arguments amongst the Team as time ticks away. But the hours of careful scraping and one spectacular find do pay off, revealing that Cardiff's hillfort is as old and as important as anyone could have hoped.
Brancaster
2. Brancaster
January 6, 2013
Tony and the Team uncover their largest ever range and number of items from Roman Britain, and undertake their most ambitious geophysics project to date. The archaeologists explore a spectacular site at Brancaster in Norfolk, which is believed to have been a Roman 'Shore-Fort'. Excavations could determine how large it was, what it looked like, and whether it was one of the key military outposts of Roman Britain. If the site turns out to be as significant as the Team hope, it suggests this question: Why build a major stronghold in such a far-flung corner of the country? As the Team try to answer, they unearth an unprecedented 2500 finds, which provide lessons about everything from Roman sports to the decorative arts and even cockfighting. They even find a spectacular piece of a legionary's armour in a previously hidden chamber. The Team also take on a high-definition geophysics survey covering 24 acres. It generates so much data that the computers grind to halt. Can they be fixed in time to reveal the site's layout? The biggest surprise reveals evidence of a staggering level of trade with the local population, and clues as to how wealthy nearby Britons became on the back of the Roman presence.
The Forgotten Gunners of WWI
1. The Forgotten Gunners of WWI
November 11, 2012
Golfers at a popular East Midlands golf club now know that a huge wooded bank beside their fairway is a rather special area of 'rough'. Time Team's experts discovered, that 90 years ago it was a machine gun firing range - and buried in the bank are tens of thousands of spent bullets. Belton House near Grantham may be one of Britain's finest stately homes but during World War I, the grounds were home to thousands of men training for frontline duties. It was where the Machine Gun Corps was created and its troops were trained. The Corps was set up as a response to German superiority in using these deadly weapons and became vital to the war effort. Most of the Machine Gun Corps' records were destroyed, first in a fire and then in the Blitz in World War II. Today almost nothing is visible above ground. Tony Robinson and the Team have quite a task to locate the hundreds of barrack blocks, kitchen blocks, roads, social centres and shooting ranges. To the Team's relief, the dig is rich in finds, revealing glimpses of the men's lives in wartime; whether from the site of the YMCA, where a cup of cocoa could be had for a few pence, or from the hastily erected huts where they lived for their six weeks of intensive training. They uncover stories of young men who went so bravely to their deaths. Of the 170,000 who trained here more than 12,000 were killed and another 50,000 injured. The Corps' nickname was 'the Suicide Club'. The sound of a Vickers gun reverberating around the park for the first time in 90 years provides a shocking but fitting tribute.
Description
Where to Watch Time Team
Time Team is available for streaming on the Channel 4 website, both individual episodes and full seasons. You can also watch Time Team on demand at Apple TV Channels and Amazon Prime.
  • Premiere Date
    January 16, 1994
  • IMDB Rating
    8.5  (1,801)