Digging For Britain is a British television series focused on last and current year archaeology. The series is made by 360 Production (now Rare TV) for the BBC and is presented by Alice Roberts.[2][3] It was first aired on 19 August 2010.
The series focuses on archaeological excavations and research in the United Kingdom, both at new sites and those already well known to science. Filming has taken place in many parts of the country.
Its 12th series, containing six episodes, was broadcast in January 2025 (starting on 7 of that month).[4] Roberts shared information about upcoming series on her Facebook page starting from 7 June 2024.
Production
The first series consisted of four episodes, initially broadcast on BBC Two in August and September 2010. A second series of four episodes was broadcast in September 2011. Each episodes of first two series had covered archaeology of specific period. The programme returned as a series of three episodes on BBC Four in February 2015, covering the previous summer's investigations in specific geographical region of the United Kingdom in each episode. Each episode of this series was hosted in a regional museum. The same format as in series 3 was adopted for series 4 and 5, which first aired in March and December 2016, respectively. There was also a programme Digging for Ireland linked to the series[5] which had the same format and presenters as series 5; it was broadcast in February 2015. A sixth series of the programme began airing in November 2017, returning to the four-episode format (covering three geographical regions plus one special theme). This structure was retained for series 7 and 8, which aired in November 2018 and 2019 respectively. Four episodes titled The Greatest Discoveries aired in 2020. It returned for its 9th series in January 2022.[6]
Since series 3, with exception of series 5, the programme was co-presented in various forms. Some presenters are former members of the Time Team crew (as is Roberts). The series 3 and 4 by archaeologist Matt Williams (who also presented some Time Team episodes). (Roberts and Williams also presented Digging for Ireland.) Raksha Dave (archaeologist in Time Team) series 7.[7] The archaeologist and academic Naoíse Mac Sweeney was a presenter in series 8.[8] Series 9 features historianOnyeka Nubia and archaeologists Cat Jarman and Stuart Prior in some episodes as presenters.[9]Romani archaeologist John-Henry Phillips, co-presenter of Channel 4's The Great British Dig, appeared in series 12.[10]
Sudbury Roman lantern (commentary by Caroline McDonald)
Revaluation of 1912 dig near Hambleden (researcher Jill Eyers)
1st/2nd century Roman burial and potential Iron Age village excavated during the construction of the East Kent Access Road on the Isle of Thanet (director of the excavation Andrew Fitzpatrick)
Iron Age excavation near Bere Regis (director of the excavation Paul Cheetham, Miles Russel)
Frome Roman coins hoard (finder Dave Crisp, conservator Pippa Pearce, roman coins experts Roger Bland and Sam Moorhead)
Anglo-Saxon fortress remains at Bamburgh Castle (director of the excavation Graeme Young)
Anglo-Saxon village excavation at Lanton Quarry (director of the excavation Clive Waddington)
Saxon graves excavated during the construction of the East Kent Access Road on the Isle of Thanet
Conservation of objects found at The Meads Anglo-Saxon cemetery carried out by volunteers at Conservation Science Investigations: Sittingbourne (conservator Dana Goodburn-Brown, commentary by Andrew Richardson)
Anglo-Saxon cemetery excavation at Sutton Hoo commissioned in 2000 by the National Trust (commentary by Chris Fern)
Anglo-Saxon nunnery at Berkeley Castle (co-directors of the excavation Stuart Prior and Mark Horton)
Rooswijk shipwreck (director of the dives Martijn Manders)
Barnham site[2] dating to the Hoxnian Interglacial with Clactonian flint tool industry and potential evidence of 400,000 years old fire use (co-directors of the excavation Nick Ashton and Simon Parfitt)
HMS Invincible (co-directors of the excavation Dan Pascoe and Dave Parham)
Barton Farm Hessian camp (director of the excavation Paul McCulluch)
Breechess of George II (commentary by Tom Mayberry)
Wessex Archaeology examination of skeletons exhumed from a 19th century paupers' graveyard at the site of London's New Covent Garden Market (osteologist Kirsten Dinwiddy, reporting by Raksha Dave)
Excavation of a bathhouse near the Silchester Roman Town (director of the excavation Mike Fulford)
Remains of medieval village near Chichester examined in Portslade-by-Sea (archaeologist Garrett Sheehan, archaeobotanists Stacey Adams and Angela Vitolo, finds specialist Isa Benedetti-Whitton, reporting by Raksha Dave)
Great Whelnetham Roman slave cemetery (director of the excavation Kerrie Bull)
Mapledurwell Treasure hoard of silver coins deposited in the early years of the English Civil War (finder Darcy Fear, conservator Duygu Camurcuoglu senior conservator Pippa Pearce)
Ffynnon Beuno Cave early modern human tools (director of the excavation Rob Dinnis)
Anglo-Saxon minster near Berkeley Castle (co-directors of the excavation Mark Horton and Stuart Prior)
Bronze Age burial mound at Barrow Clump, Salisbury Plain (director of the excavation Richard Osgood, post excavation project manager Phil Andrews, reporting Naoise Mac Sweeney, senior osteoarchaeologist Kirsten Egging Dinwiddy)
Tudor era human remains in the coastal cliff near Monknash (director of the excavation Jacqui Mulville)
Downpatrick's Victorian work house cemetery (osteoarchaeologist Bethany Johnson, director of the excavation Chris Lynn, reporting by Naoise Mac Sweeney)
Village that stood from medieval time to 19th century near Creswell Crags (director of the excavation Kevin Kuykendall)
Anglo-Saxon cemetery near Scremby (director of the excavation Hugh Willmott)
Viking hall at Skaill Farmstead, Rousay, Orkney (director of the excavation Daniel Lee)
Celtic roundhouse with Roman influence Swaledale (director of the excavation Philip Bastow)
Excavation of Abbey of Poulton cemetery (director of the excavation Kevin Cootes, osteoarchaeologist Rea Carlin, reporting by Naoise Mac Sweeney)
Recovery of Fairey Barracuda bomber near Gosport (commentary by Simon Aday-Davies, David Morris and Ben Saunders)
Windermere Boys village at Calgarth Estate, Troutbeck Bridge (director of the excavation Kevin Colls)
Remains of barracks of Easy Company near Aldbourne (director of the excavation Richard Osgood)
Reconstruction and conservation of the Barracuda (project lead David Morris, engineer William Gibbs, reporting by Naoise Mac Sweeney)
Excavation of the V-2 rocket near Marden (directors of the excavation Colin and Sean Welch)
Remains of D-Day landings rehearsal known as Operation Tiger on Slapton Sands (finder Ken Small, commentary of the Dean Small, surveyor Graham Scott, reporting by Naoise Mac Sweeney)
Excavation of the remains of P-38 Lightning of Second Lieutenant Milo Rundall near Castleblayney in County Monaghan (director of the excavation Jonny McNee)
Norman bailey earthworks in the woods of Lowther Castle dating to the Norman conquest of Cumbria
2
"Anglo-Saxon Gold and Rebellious Nuns"
Not listed
TBA
Dominic Ozanne
3 January 2024 (2024-01-03)
N/A
Central England
Sites and archaeology featured:
Late Roman rural site at RAF Alconbury airbase with a large number of pottery and household objects, that were deliberately buried as suspected votive offerings during a time of crisis
7th-century Anglo-Saxon grave site near New Alresford potentially marking a transition from paganism to Christianity, with the dead laid facing West as in the Christian custom, but still having limited number of grave goods, like knives or a rare gold pendant
Excavation of the ruined 12th-century Ankerwycke Priory of Benedictine nuns, showing that the surface walls are not a later folly, but remains of a refectory
Restoration of the Old Black Lion pub in Northampton, first documented as a coaching inn early in the 18th century, has uncovered remains of bread ovens from a suspected earlier bakery on the site
Dig outside Leicester Cathedral uncovers a Roman sunken room with painted wall plaster fragments and a portable altar, possibly a late 3rd-century private shrine
3
"A Norman Panic Room and a Mesolithic Fish Trap"
Not listed
TBA
Dominic Ozanne
4 January 2024 (2024-01-04)
N/A
Western Britain
Sites and archaeology featured:
Excavations inside the Decorated Gothic ruins of Tintern Abbey, prior to their conservation, uncover post-dissolution burials of two children in an unusual high-status area outside the abbey east wall, and a shallow grave next to the southern entrance holding a crouched woman with a congenital facial deformation, testifying to the continued use of the site even after it was deconsecrated and stripped for materials
Mesolithic footprints and 7,000-year-old stakes from a V-shaped fish trap are recorded on the Severn Estuary intertidal mudflats near Goldcliff, after they are uncovered by storms and before being lost to continued erosion
Digs near the Norman Fonmon Castle reveal a rare early medieval cemetery settlement dating to the 6th-7th century. The cemetery is enclosed by a ditched bank and shows signs of secular activity, like blacksmith slag or pottery shreds and charred animal bones from feasting, all taking place among the burials, a practice similar to sites of the same period in Ireland
Community dig in Siston finds stone foundations of an early medieval site with good metal preservation of stirrups, arrowheads and buckles due to the alkaline soil. The site was originally surrounded by a circular bank and so could have started as a monastic settlement, but later transitioned to a farmstead
An Iron Age banjo enclosure dating back 2,200 years, uncovered during work on the A417 road 5 miles south of Cheltenham, yields one central crouched burial, animal bones and pottery shards pointing to feasting, but no signs of occupation
4
"A Roman Mystery and Waterloo’s Disappearing Dead"
Not listed
TBA
Dominic Ozanne
9 January 2024 (2024-01-09)
N/A
Eastern England
Sites and archaeology featured:
Ermine Street Bracebridge Heath ouskirts of Lincoln
Early medieval burials in Lincolnshire wolds, Lincolnshire
Iron Age hillfort near Warham
Roman potery and dodecahedron from Norton Disney
Ruins of Elsyng Palace in grounds of Forty Hall manor house in Enfield, north London
Search dig for mass burial in the grounds of Hougoumont Farm near Waterloo, Belgium
5
"3000-Year-Old Shoes and Giant Axeheads"
Not listed
TBA
Dominic Ozanne
10 January 2024 (2024-01-10)
N/A
Southern England
Sites and archaeology featured:
North Kent Marshes madlock leather objects
Leather shoe reconstruction
Paleolithic handaxes Maritime Academy Med Valley Gillingham
Neolithic remnant of the ovalbarrow and the stone circle near Tenants Hill
Roman Town ruins near Exeter Cathedral
Medieval shipyard in Smallhythe
II World War artillery guns inplacements and installation Fan Bay, Dover
6
"Forgotten Fortresses and Lost Villages"
Not listed
TBA
Dominic Ozanne
11 January 2024 (2024-01-11)
N/A
Western Britain
Sites and archaeology featured:
Medieval Snodhill Castle
Early Medieval mosaic in Chedworth roman villa
Stone roundhouse in Iron Age promontory fort, Caerfai Bay near St Davids
"Oldest house" of Cardiff from Bronze Age
Modern remains and medieval roots of deserted village of Imber
Series 12 (2025)
No. in season
Title
Directed by
Producer(s)
Series Producer
Original release date
UK viewers (millions)
1
"Saxon Gold and Buried Coins"
TBA
Terry Black & Louise Ord
Dominic Ozanne
7 January 2025 (2025-01-07)
TBD
East of Britain
Sites and archaeology featured:
Anglo-Saxon burial ground south of the Cantenbury (director of the excavation Duncan Sayer, site supervisor Jemma Sweeney)
Excavation in Leiston ahead of contruction of the powerplant with the hoard of early medieval coins (Jo Caruth, coin expert Alexander Bliss)
Remnant of the Icini tribe roman villa near Norton (director of the excavation Kevin MaDonald)
Roman period cemetary with sarcophagus from the vicinity of Peterborough
17th century wreck of a ship called London near Southend-on-sea
2
"Dinosaur Highway and Roman Sauna"
TBA
Terry Black & Louise Ord
Dominic Ozanne
8 January 2025 (2025-01-08)
TBD
Central
Sites and archaeology featured:
Dinosaur trackways in quarry near Bicester
Roman period villa in the field near Kettering
Iron Age settlements on A428 near St. Neots
Tabbaco use research on the bodies from early modern period found near Leister Cathedral
Roman period archeology on the Chester House estate in Irchester
3
"Island Treasures"
TBA
TBA
Dominic Ozanne
9 January 2025 (2025-01-09)
TBD
Islands
Sites and archaeology featured:
Neolithic tomb on the Orkney Islands
Great War's USS Jacob Jones shipwreck near the coasts of the Isles of Scilly
Neanderthals tools at vicinity of the Seymour tower 2 miles from the coast of the Island of Jersey
Excavation at Kame of Isbister on the Shetland Island
Iron Age Cairn Broch on the island of South Ronaldsay
4
"Roman Crime and Ancient DNA"
TBA
Terry Black & Louise Ord
Dominic Ozanne
14 January 2025 (2025-01-14)
TBD
North
Sites and archaeology featured:
Fundaments of Haselrig's mansion Bishop Auckland
Community dig in Millom started because of 6 axe-heads from Bronze Age
Roman coin moulds Castleford
Pictish stone from Kilmadock
Ancient DNA from medieval cemetary at Poulten
5
"Chariots and Slaves"
TBA
Terry Black & Louise Ord
Dominic Ozanne
15 January 2025 (2025-01-15)
TBD
West
Sites and archaeology featured:
Roman villa and possibly temple at Grove
Bridle parts found in RAF Valley in Wales
Hunt for Monastery in Llantwit Major
Findings of global trading from 17th century in Ilfracombe
Roman period building near Cheltenham at A417
Industrial revolution mill in Bristol
6
"Lost Mansions and Impaled Prisoners"
TBA
TBA
Dominic Ozanne
16 January 2025 (2025-01-16)
TBD
South
Sites and archaeology featured:
Columnbjohn Manor House in Killerton
Roman period cemetary which included bed burial London
Romani compound in Thorney Hill
Roman pottery manufacture at Arne
New excavation at Burrow Island known also as Rat Island