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BBC Two England

BBC Two is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964.

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Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

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Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

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The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

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The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

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The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

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Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

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BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

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Royal Upstairs Downstairs

Tim Wonnacott

Rosemary Shrager

Owen Rodd

Jules Whomsley

Ivan Day

Royal Upstairs Downstairs: Episode 16: Penrhyn

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Episode 16

Episode 16: Penrhyn

Penrhyn

BBC Two - Royal Upstairs Downstairs, Penrhyn

Tim Wonnacott and Rosemary Shrager are at Penrhyn Castle in Bangor, North Wales.

Rosemary Shrager and Tim Wonnacott visit Penrhyn Castle in Bangor, North Wales, where Victoria and Albert stayed in 1859 for three days.

Antiques expert Tim Wonnacott and chef Rosemary Shrager travel in the footsteps of Queen Victoria, Britain's longest reigning monarch, looking at the houses, castles and stately homes she visited throughout her life. Using her own diaries and other first-hand accounts, they discover what happened during the visits.

Victoria and Albert visited Penrhyn Castle in Bangor, North Wales, in 1859 for three days. Victoria had been on the throne for 22 years at the time. The castle had only been completed in 1845, just 14 years before the queen's visit, and the whole place is built in a sham medieval style.

Historical food expert and chef Ivan Day helps Rosemary recreate an amazing feast: spit roast beef with an elaborate garnish of truffles and crayfish. It was created by one of Victoria's own chefs for grand occasions like this royal visit. In the process, Ivan and Rosemary rediscover the intricate art of spit roasting: a job so skilled that one person, the rotisserie chef, would have been focused on it.

Tim tells the story of how her majesty shunned the grand staircase to take her up to her bed and favoured the smaller, and much more convenient, spiral staircase used by the servants. She even used it in total darkness when the lamplighter they'd hired to light her way failed to turn up. It's reported that she groped her way up the stairs to her bedroom, laughing heartily. Tim discovers that the royal bed may not have been that comfortable when she got there: it was made from slate from the host family's quarry. Victoria comments in her diary how she was entertained by a male voice choir formed from the local quarrymen - and Tim and Rosemary are entertained by a choir containing some of the descendants of that choir.

Knowledge, drama, comedy and the arts for a broad adult audience.

BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

Tim Wonnacott and Rosemary Shrager travel in the footsteps of Queen Victoria

Antiques expert Tim Wonnacott and chef Rosemary Shrager travel in the footsteps of Queen Victoria, visiting the houses, castles and stately homes she visited throughout her life

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Episode 16: Penrhyn

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