Sign language

BBC Two England

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

BBC Two

BBC 2

BBC2

BBC Two (England)

England

The Victorian Slum

BBC Four

BBC Two Scotland

BBC Two Northern Ireland

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

BBC Two Wales

Simulcast of network BBC Two in high definition.

BBC Two HD

Simulcast of BBC Two Wales in high definition

BBC Two Wales HD

Simulcast of BBC Two Northern Ireland in high definition

BBC Two Northern Ireland HD

BBC Four HD

Michael Mosley

Vivienne Richmond

Cate Hall

Mark Ball

Emma Frank

Leah Caffrey

Wall to Wall Media

The Victorian Slum: Episode 1: The 1860s

Documentaries

The 1860s

Episode 1

Episode 1: The 1860s

BBC Two - The Victorian Slum, The 1860s

A group of 21st-century people move into a recreated Victorian slum in London's East End.

A group of 21st-century people move into a recreated Victorian slum. In this episode, the slum dwellers move into the 1860s, when London was the richest city on earth.

In the heart of the modern East End of London, a Victorian slum has been recreated and a group of 21st-century people are moving in.  Michael Mosley joins them to tell the extraordinary story of how the Victorian East End changed our attitude to poverty forever.

In this episode, the slum dwellers move into the 1860s, when London was the capital of the world's first industrial superpower and the richest city on earth. Their new home is totally authentic - a forbidding Victorian tenement building made up of sparse rooms, a shared water pump and outdoor privies. There are businesses too - a small shop and a common lodging house known as the doss house. For some of the new residents, it is a chance to live as their East End ancestors once did, while others want to experience the history of their trades.

As it would have been, their priority is to earn money to put food on the table and pay the weekly rent. During the economic boom years of the 1860s, life was tough for the poor, but at least London provided ways to make a living as the slum dwellers find out. Whether it is piecework farmed out by factories like matchbox making and wood turning or repurposing old clothes for the rag trade, they all replicate the work once done by poor Victorians.

Graham Potter finds out first hand the back-breaking labour his forebears would have experienced and the effect on a Victorian family when the main breadwinner was out of action. But it is Shazeda Haque who finds life toughest as she experiences the vicious cycle of poverty and debt that lone Victorian parents endured.

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.

Factual: History

A group of 21st-century people move into a Victorian tenement.

A group of 21st-century people move into a Victorian tenement that has been painstakingly brought back to life in the heart of London's East End.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Victorian Slum

Episode 1: The 1860s

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Series

BBC Two England

About BBC Two