Time Team Live was a British television series that aired on Channel 4. The first programme was shown in 1997 and the most recent was in 2006. Presented by the actor Tony Robinson and guest presenters, this is a live version of the archaeology series Time Team, showing more of what happens in real time, than when the cut-down episode airs on Channel 4.

Time Team Live
Also known asTime Team Big Dig, Time Team's Big Roman Dig, Time Team: Big Royal Dig
Presented byTony Robinson, Sandi Toksvig, various.
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of series8
Production
ProducerTim Taylor
Original release
NetworkChannel 4
Release23 August 1997 (1997-08-23) –
28 August 2006 (2006-08-28)
Related

Background

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Time Team Live episodes came from historically important sites. Instead of showing a 'best of' show, the live episodes were broadcast whilst the digs were actually taking place. Later, regular episodes were made from the best of the live episodes. Normally, regular sites were recorded in the same method, however, only a few were selected for live broadcast. The regular episodes were either a special, or a normal series episode.

Episodes

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Series 1 (1997)

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Guest presented by Sandi Toksvig and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall alongside Robinson. Edited into Time Team series 5, episode 4.

# Episode Location Director Coordinates Original airdate
1–9"Time Team Live 1997"Turkdean, GloucestershireSimon Raikes51°52′10″N 1°51′23″W / 51.869531°N 1.856436°W / 51.869531; -1.85643623-25 August 1997 (1997-08-25)
Over the course of the August Bank Holiday weekend, the team went to Turkdean in Gloucestershire to try to discover whether experts are correct in believing the site used to house Roman buildings.[1]

Series 2 (1998)

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Guest presented by Sandi Toksvig and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall alongside Robinson. Edited into Time Team series 6, episode 11.

# Episode Location Director Coordinates Original airdate
10"Episode One"Bawsey, NorfolkBrendan Hughes52°44′59″N 0°29′16″E / 52.7497°N 0.48766°E / 52.7497; 0.4876629 August 1998 (1998-08-29)
Iron Age settlement and Norman church
11"Episode Two"TBATBATBA29 August 1998 (1998-08-29)
12"Episode Three"TBATBATBA30 August 1998 (1998-08-30)
13"Episode Four"TBATBATBA30 August 1998 (1998-08-30)
14"Episode Five"TBATBATBA30 August 1998 (1998-08-30)
15"Episode Six"TBATBATBA31 August 1998 (1998-08-31)
16"Episode Seven"TBATBATBA31 August 1998 (1998-08-31)

Series 3 (1999)

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Guest presented by Sandi Toksvig and Paul Thompson alongside Robinson. Edited into Time Team series 7, episode 13, "York".

# Episode Location Director Coordinates Original airdate
17"Episode One"York, YorkshireLaurence VulliamyTBA3 September 1999 (1999-09-03)
Roman cemetery, Viking buildings and the medieval St Leonard's hospital
18"Episode Two"TBATBATBA3 September 1999 (1999-09-03)
19"Episode Three"TBATBATBA4 September 1999 (1999-09-04)
20"Episode Four"TBATBATBA4 September 1999 (1999-09-04)
21"Episode Five"TBATBATBA5 September 1999 (1999-09-05)
22"Episode Six"TBATBATBA5 September 1999 (1999-09-05)

Series 4 (2000)

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Guest presented by Sandi Toksvig and Liza Tarbuck alongside Robinson. Edited into Time Team series 8, episode 12, "Three Tales of Canterbury".

# Episode Location Director Coordinates Original airdate
23"Episode One"Canterbury, KentLaurence Vulliamy, Amanda Fidler, Duncan HessTBA25 August 2000 (2000-08-25)
Roman temple, medieval kiln and Franciscan friary
24"Episode Two"TBATBATBA25 August 2000 (2000-08-25)
25"Episode Three"TBATBATBA26 August 2000 (2000-08-26)
26"Episode Four"TBATBATBA26 August 2000 (2000-08-26)
27"Episode Five"TBATBATBA27 August 2000 (2000-08-27)
28"Episode Six"TBATBATBA27 August 2000 (2000-08-27)

Series 5 (2001)

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Guest presented by Sandi Toksvig alongside Robinson. Alice Roberts appears in an archaeology role, her first appearance on TV, but appears as an "expert", not a presenter. Edited into Time Team series 9, episode 13, "Seven Buckets and a Buckle".

# Episode Location Director Coordinates Original airdate
29"Episode One"Breamore, HampshireMel Morpeth, Michael Douglas, Patrick McGrady, Laurence Vulliamy50°57′18″N 1°46′19″W / 50.954994°N 1.772017°W / 50.954994; -1.77201728 August 2001 (2001-08-28)
30"Episode Two"TBATBATBA29 August 2001 (2001-08-29)
31"Episode Three"TBATBATBA30 August 2001 (2001-08-30)
32"Episode Four"TBATBATBA31 August 2001 (2001-08-31)

The Big Dig (2003)

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Time Team's Big Dig was an expansion on the live format. A weekend of live broadcasts in June 2003 was preceded by a week of daily short programmes. It involved about a thousand members of the public in excavating test pits each one metre square by fifty centimetres deep. Most of these pits were in private gardens and the project stirred up controversies about approaches to public archaeology. Edited into a Time Team special, "Big Dig, The Hole Story".

# Episode Location Director Coordinates Original airdate
33"Episode One"Great Easton, Leicestershire[2]TBATBA22 June 2003 (2003-06-22)
34"Episode Two"Wolverhampton
Barnet, Greater London
Oakamoor, Staffordshire
TBATBA23 June 2003 (2003-06-23)
35"Episode Three"TBATBATBA24 June 2003 (2003-06-24)
36"Episode Four"TBATBATBA25 June 2003 (2003-06-25)
37"Episode Five"TBATBATBA26 June 2003 (2003-06-26)
38"Episode Six"TBATBATBA27 June 2003 (2003-06-27)
39"Episode Seven"TBATBATBA28 June 2003 (2003-06-28)
40"Episode Eight"TBATBATBA29 June 2003 (2003-06-29)

Big Roman Dig (2005)

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Time Team's Big Roman Dig (2005) saw the "Big dig" format altered, in an attempt to avoid previous controversies, through the coverage of nine archaeological sites around the UK which were already under investigation by professional archaeologists. Time Team covered the action through live link-ups based at a Roman Villa at Dinnington in Somerset – itself a Time Team excavation from 2003. Over 60 other professionally supervised excavations were supported by Time Team and carried out around the country in association with the programme. A further hundred activities relating to Roman history were carried out by schools and other institutions around the UK.

Material from the Big Roman Dig relating to the Roman villa site at Dinnington, Somerset; along with material from the earlier episode at the same site - Time Team series 10, episode 2 "Mosaics, Mosaics, Mosaics" - was used in a Time Team Special, "The Big Roman Villa".

# Episode Location Director Coordinates Original airdate
41"Episode One"TBATBA50°55′05″N 2°50′58″W / 50.918152°N 2.849492°W / 50.918152; -2.8494922 July 2005 (2005-07-02)
A series of live programmes with a Roman theme, featuring 10 sites.
42"Episode Two"TBATBATBA2 July 2005 (2005-07-02)
43"Episode Three"TBATBATBA3 July 2005 (2005-07-03)
44"Episode Four"TBATBATBA4 July 2005 (2005-07-04)
45"Episode Five"TBATBATBA5 July 2005 (2005-07-05)
46"Episode Six"TBATBATBA6 July 2005 (2005-07-06)
47"Episode Seven"TBATBATBA7 July 2005 (2005-07-07)
48"Episode Eight"TBATBATBA9 July 2005 (2005-07-09)
49"Episode Nine"TBATBATBA9 July 2005 (2005-07-09)

2005 Extras

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# Episode Location Director Coordinates Original airdate
50"Episode One"TBATBATBATBA
A series of live programmes with a Roman theme, featuring 10 sites.
51"Episode Two"TBATBATBATBA
52"Episode Three"TBATBATBATBA
53"Episode Four"TBATBATBATBA
54"Episode Five"TBATBATBATBA
55"Episode Six"TBATBATBATBA
56"Episode Seven"TBATBATBATBA
57"Episode Eight"TBATBATBATBA
58"Episode Nine"TBATBATBATBA

Big Royal Dig (2006)

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Edited into a Time Team special, "Big Royal Dig".

# Episode Location Director Coordinates Original airdate
59"Episode One"TBATBATBA25 August 2006 (2006-08-25)
Over the August bank holiday, they conducted excavations in three Royal gardens for the Queen. The event, timed to celebrate the Queen's 80th birthday, was Time Team's 150th dig. (For full descriptions of the findings, see Buckingham Palace and Buckingham Palace Garden, Windsor Castle and Palace of Holyroodhouse.) In addition to the nightly programmes on Channel 4, six hours of live coverage per day was shown on More4.
60"Episode Two"TBATBATBA19:25, 26 August 2006 (2006-08-26T19:25)[3]
61"Episode Three"TBATBATBA20:00, 27 August 2006 (2006-08-27T20:00)[4]
62"Episode Four"TBATBATBA21:00, 28 August 2006 (2006-08-28T21:00)[5]

More4 Extras

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# Episode Location Director Coordinates Original airdate
TBA"Day One"TBATBATBA26 August 2006 (2006-08-26)
Six hours of live broadcast.
TBA"Day Two"TBATBATBA27 August 2006 (2006-08-27)
Six hours of live broadcast.
TBA"Day Three"TBATBATBA28 August 2006 (2006-08-28)
Six hours of live broadcast.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Time Team - Live". Unofficial Time Team Site. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
  2. ^ Kennedy, Maev (23 June 2003). "Time Team digs up row over DIY excavation". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  3. ^ "Archived copy". www.channel4.com. Archived from the original on 26 August 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Channel4.com - TV Listings". www.channel4.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Channel4.com - TV Listings". www.channel4.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
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