One Foot in the Past
Season 4
No season overview available.
Episode 1
Tonight, Jack Charlton visits his childhood haunts in Northumberland, while Kirsty Wark looks at gasometers at London's King's Cross rail station.
Episode 2
Tonight Kirsty Wark visits Wormwood Scrubs in west London to reveal a hidden heritage. Dame Thora Hird dances the night away at the Midland Hotel, built in 1933 in Morecambe, Lancashire. And Dan Cruickshank reviews the Georgian age and its town houses.
Episode 3
Kirsty Wark tells the story of model villages, Sir Bernard Ingham visits the Stoodley Pike obelisk, while Ptolemy Dean reveals the state of neglect of many of architect Sir John Soane 's buildings
Episode 4
Unlikely romantic Ross Kemp, who plays Grant Mitchell in EastEnders, visits Cliveden in Berkshire, a 19th-century house built by the Duke of Buckingham to house his mistress, and home to politicians the Astors in the thirties. Kirsty Wark reports on plans to reflood the moat at the Tower of London. Plus, a look at life inside Britain's oldest almshouse.
Episode 5
Actor Ralph Fiennes visits Clouds Hill in Dorset, the tiny cottage home of T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. Fiennes, who has played Lawrence on stage and screen, has a long-standing affinity for the soldier, writer and leader. He retraces his hero's last years, leading to his fatal motorbike crash in 1935. For the first time, the humble post-war council house is about to be officially recognised as part of Britain's architectural heritage.
Episode 6
Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, is a beautiful, but little-known pier. It is the work of the Victorian pier designer Eugenius Birch and a favourite place of actor Rupert Graves, who revisits his childhood haunt. On the south coast of England sit the strange and menacing great sound mirrors that were supposed to be the cutting edge of Britain's defence in the years leading up to the Second World War. Dan Cruickshank reports. The gigantic statue of the first Duke of Sutherland at Golspie is a grim reminder of the Highland clearances of the early 19th century, in which he took part. Plans to have the statue moved and replaced by a Celtic cross, as a memorial to those who suffered in the clearances, have caused great controversy. Kirsty Wark investigates.
Episode 7
Behind the closed doors of modern government are the forgotten remnants of Henry Vlll's great lost palace - Whitehall. Simon Thurley explains how the palace was destroyed. Elain Harwood enters the world of the Victorian lunatic asylum, visiting the Claybury hospital in Middlesex. Finally, following Sunderland FC's promotion to the Premier League, a farewell to an old ground with an impressive history. With Kirsty Wark.
Episode 8
In the wake of the controversy stirred up by the Heritage Lottery Fund's multi-million pound award to purchase the Churchill papers for the nation, Kirsty Wark follows another application for funds: the troubled Llangollen steam railway in North Wales. Also, two items held over from last week. Elain Harwood visits the Claybury hospital in Middlesex to see a Victorian lunatic asylum that practised an unusually benevolent and enlightened approach. And, following Sunderland FC's promotion to the Premier League and a move to new premises, a farewell to Roker Park, their old ground with a history stretching back almost 100 years.
Episode 9
Lucinda Lambton travels to Ireland to visit Castle Leslie in County Monaghan, now open to payingguests. There, she talks to the present owner, Sir John Leslie Bt, about its history and the ghost said to roam the castle. Plus, a look at the role played by the village hall within communities. There are 8,500 of them in Britain and most need renovating; f 40 million of Lottery cash has been set aside for this purpose. Finally, an item postponed from 27 June. Gavin Stamp looks at the history of the rusty Firth of Forth Bridge. Does the Government care enough to help save it? Last in the series.
Cast
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Videos
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