A
popular archaeological television programme broadcast on
Channel 4 in the UK, the programme started life as Time Signs back in 1991. Produced and directed by Time Team series producer Tim Taylor, they were presented by
Mick Aston. Aston also suggested
Phil Harding to do some
reconstruction archaeology.
Aston had previously discussed the idea of devising such a programme with Tony Robinson. So a pilot Time Team programme was made in October 1992, Robinson presented it, at Aston's suggestion. The pilot programme was never screened, but the idea was good enough to persuade Channel 4 to commission a four-programme series of Time Team, which was filmed in 1993 and broadcast the following year.
Set in variable locations (ranging from the Scottish Highlands to Maryland, USA), the team are given a task to complete within three days, from finding out the position and size of a Roman Villa to the reason why someone built a whacking great woodhenge by the sea. Although the majority of the research and the recording of artifacts takes place outside of the three day period, what is seen in the final programme takes place within that time span. Generally, the programmes are filmed in the summer to be broadcast in the following winter.
Sometimes Time Teams' excavations are part of an ongoing archaeological project or what the team uncovers may lead to further excavation work. However, usually, Time Team carries out 'one-off' digs, often on sites where funding is not available for other, longer excavations.
The Time Team producers have also collaborated with Bristol University to produce a MA course in Archaeology for Screen Media to enable students to gain practical experience in the development and production of archaeological television programmes. Generally, the students work on the production of at least one Time Team shoot over their course and also work out of both the Archaeology department and the Time Team offices (which are located in Bristol).
Main Team Members (specialities / roles in brackets)
Tony Robinson (presenter)
Mick Aston (educational archaeology)
Stewart Ainsworth (surveyor, "archaeology above ground")
Victor Ambrus (illustrator)
Robin Bush (historical researcher)
Jenni Butterworth (researcher, digger)
Dr Henry Chapman (geophysics, surveyor)
Chris Gaffney (geophysics)
John Gater (archaeological geophysics)
Phil Harding (field archaeology, reconstructive archaeology)
Katie Hirst (digger, post-excavation work)
Carenza Lewis (medieval landscape)
Bernard Thomason (architectural surveyor and illustrator, ariel photography interpretation)
Mick "the dig" Worthington (digger and now (due to illness) occasional dendrochronology)
Alice Roberts (anatomical archaeology)
Tim Taylor (producer and director)
Current full programme listing (with dates of first broadcast on Channel Four, UK)
Time Signs
The Deserted Valley, 30 June 1991
The Lost Village, 7 July 1991
The Turning Wheel, 14 July 1991
The Final Harvest, 21 July 1991
Time Team Pilot Programme
Time Team Series I
Time Team Series II
Finlaggan, Islay, 8 January 1995
Winterbourne Gunner, Wiltshire, 15 January 1995
Tockenham, Wiltshire, 22 January 1995
Lambeth Palace, London, 29 January
Hylton, Sunderland, 5 February 1995
Time Team Series III
Boleigh, Cornwall, 7 January 1996
Stanton Harcourt, Oxon, 14 January 1996
Templecombe, Somerset, 21 January 1996
Teignmouth, Devon, 28 January 1996
Navan, County Armagh, 4 February 1996
Preston St Mary, Suffolk, 11 February 1996
Time Team Series IV
Maryland, USA, 5 January 1997
Launceston, Cornwall, 12 January 1997
Birmingham, 19 January 1997
Govan, Glasgow, 26 January 1997
Malton, North Yorkshire, 2 February 1997
Netheravon, Wiltshire, 9 February 1997
Time Team Live 1997
Time Team Series V
Xmas Special, 28 December 1997
Richmond, Surrey, 4 January 1998
Greylake, Somerset, 11 January 1998
Orkney, Scotland, 18 January 1998
Turkdean, Gloucestershire, 25 January 1998
Mallorca, Spain, 1 February 1998
Aston Eyre, Shropshire, 8 February 1998
Downpatrick, County Down, 22 February 1998
High Worsall, North Yorkshire, 1 March 1998
Time Team Live 1998
History Hunters
Time Team Series VI
Burslem, Stoke on Trent, 3 January 1999
Papcastle, Cumbria, 10 January 1999
Thetford, Norfolk, 17 January 1999
Cheddar, Somerset, 24 January 1999
Plympton, Devon, 31 January 1999
Smallhythe, Kent, 7 February 1999
Beauport Park, Sussex, 14 February 1999
Reedham, Norfolk, 21 February 1999
Turkdean, Gloucestershire, 28 February 1999
Kemerton, Worcestershire, 7 March 1999
Bawsey, Norfolk, 14 March 1999
Nevis, West Indies, 21 March 1999
Nevis, West Indies, 28 March 1999
Time Team Live 1999
Time Team Series VII
Xmas Special, 19 December 1999
'Seahenge', Norfolk, documentary special, 29 December 1999
Denia, Spain, 2 January 2000
Cirencester, Gloucestershire, 9 January 2000
Wierre Effroy, France, 16 January 2000
Waddon, Dorset, 23 January 2000
Birdoswald, Cumbria, 30 January 2000
Elveden, Suffolk, 6 February 2000
Coventry, West Midlands, 13 February 2000
Basing, Hampshire, 20 February 2000
Flag Fen, Cambridgeshire, 27 February 2000
Sutton, Hereford, 5 March 2000
Greenwich, London, 12 March 2000
Hartlepool, Durham, 19 March 2000
York, 26 March 2000
Time Team Live 2000
Time Team Series VIII
The Real King Arthur, 24 December 2000
The Time Team History of Britain, 27 December 2000
The Mystery of Mine Howe, 27 December 2000
An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, Lincs, 7 January 2001
Behind the Scenes at Time Team, 7 January 2001
The Man Who Bought a Castle, Alderton, Northants, 14 January 2001
The Celtic Spring, Llygadwy, Wales, 21 January 2001
Waltham Villa, Gloucestershire, 28 January 2001
The 'Lost Viaduct', Blaenafon, south Wales, 4 February 2001
A Palace Sold for Scrap, Rycote, Oxfordshire, 11 February 2001
An Iron-Age Roundhouse on Salisbury Plain, 18 February 2001
The Inter-City Villa, Basildon, Berkshire, 25 February 2001
The Bone Cave, Alveston, Gloucestershire: Special, 1 March 2001
Holy Island, 4 March 2001
Coventry's Lost Cathedral: Special return report, 8 March 2001
The Leaning Tower of Bridgnorth, Shropshire, 11 March 2001
Three Tales of Canterbury, 18 March 2001
The Leper Hospital, Winchester, 25 March 2001
The Island of the Eels, Digging deep into old Ely, 17 May 2001
Time Team Series IX
Dinosaurs, Montana, 23 December 2001
London's first bridge, Vauxhall, 6 January 2002
The Romans panic, Lincolnshire, 13 January 2002
Diving for the Armada, Kinlochbervie, 20 January 2002
The naughty monastery, Chicksands, 27 January 2002
The furnace in the cellar, Ironbridge, 3 February 2002
An Ermine Street pub, Cheshunt, 10 February 2002
Iron-Age market, Helford, 17 February 2002
Siege house in Shropshire, 24 February 2002
A prehistoric airfield, Throckmorton, 3 March 2002
A lost Roman city, Castleford, 10 March 2002
Every castle needs a lord, Warwickshire, 17 March 2002
Steptoe et filius, Isle of Wight, 24 March 2002
Seven buckets and a buckle, 31 March 2002
The Big Dig in Canterbury, 15 April 2002
Londinium, Edge of Empire, 22 April 2002
Time Team Specials 2002
The Big Dig in Canterbury, 15 April 2002
Londinium, Edge of Empire, 22 April 2002
The wreck of the Colossus, 31 October 2002
Time Team Digs
The Bronze Age, 1 November 2002
The Iron Age, 8 November 2002
The early Romans, 15 November 2002
Roman Britain, 22 November 2002
The Dark Ages, 29 November 2002
Medieval England, 6 December 2002
The Modern Era, 13 December 2002
The Norman Conquest, 27 December 2002
10th anniversary special
Ten years of Time Team, 27 December 2002
Time Team Series X
Garden secrets, Raunds, Northants, 5 January 2003
Mosaics, mosaics, mosaics, Dinnington, 12 January 2003
Peak District practices, Carsington, Derbyshire, 19 January 2003
The Giant's Grave, Fetlar, Shetland, 26 January 2003
Joust dig it, Greenwich, London, 2 February 2003
Digging Liberty, Merton, south London, 9 February 2003
Death in a Crescent, Bath, 16 February 2003
Back to our roots, Athelney, 23 February 2003
Looking for the White House, Kew Gardens, 2 March 2003
Rescuing the dead, Leven, Fife, 9 March 2003
Not a blot on the landscape, Castle Howard, Yorkshire, 16 March 2003
A view to a kiln, Sedgefield, 23 March 2003
Jailhouse rocks, Appleby, Cumbria, 30 March 2003
Time Team Special
Time Team Big Dig
Time Team Big Dig, 22-28 June 2003
Time Team Big Dig Special, 29 December 2003
Time Team Series XI
Syon House, 4 January 2004
Whitestaunton, 11 January 2004
Loch Migdale, 18 January 2004
South Carlton, 25 January 2004
Syndale, 1 February 2004
Green Island, 8 February 2004
Oakamoor, 15 February 2004
Goldcliff, 22 February 2004
Wittenham, 29 February 2004
Nassington, 7 March 2004
Ipswich, 14 March 2004
Roxburgh, 21 March 2004
Cranborne Chase, 28 March 2004
Time Team Specials
Sheffield, Steel City, 22 March 2004
The house in the loch, 19 April 2004
Ightham Mote, 3 May 2004
D-Day, Normandy, 31 May 2004
Node UPDATED!! 21-August-2004
All information taken from the only site I could find on Time Team : http://www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/index.html
If anyone knows the production credits or any other websites relating to the programme,
please /msg me and I'll edit this writeup with credit to you. Thanks!