Dr Caroline Pudney, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology and Programme Leader for BA Archaeology, offers her expertise in an episode of The Great British Dig: History in Your Garden, being aired on More 4 at 9pm today (Wednesday January 5) and then available on Channel4.com.
Each episode, actor, comedian and host Hugh Dennis, and a team of expert archaeologists arrive in a different community, and set about unlocking clues to mysteries about the past by digging, with full agreement, in the gardens and community spaces of residents.
Filmed in the summer, Dr Pudney helps with excavations on the outskirts of Stretton, a village in Staffordshire, where the residents are living on exactly the same spot as their prehistoric ancestors.
The team discovers more about the dense settlement that existed around 2,500 years ago, packed with enclosures, fields, paddocks and, most importantly, roundhouses, and initially revealed by aerial photographic evidence from the 1960s. The episode will be the first of 2022 and the second in the season.
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Dr Pudney said: “It was a great privilege to be asked to contribute to this exciting and engaging series, working alongside other archaeologists and crew to investigate evidence of later prehistoric roundhouses.”
She added: “Getting to film at the reconstructed roundhouse at Beeston Castle, Cheshire, was a particular highlight.”
The show is part of the second series of The Great British Dig. The pilot was More 4's most successful one-off show in 2020 and the first series received widespread positive reviews. It has been described by critics as a "lovely reminder of the history beneath your feet", with the community involvement and accessibility of the show being praised. In 2021, it was also nominated for Best Popular Factual Programme in the Broadcast Digital Awards.
After screening for the first time at 9pm today (Wednesday January 5) on More 4, the episode featuring Dr Pudney will be available to watch at: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-great-british-dig-history-in-your-garden.
