Britain's Biggest Dig

2020 - 2020

Episode 1

15th September 2020

Episode 1

In advance of the construction of HS2, the biggest ever cemetery excavation in Britain reveals the forgotten stories of rich and poor in Georgian London.

Episode 2

22nd September 2020

Episode 2

Professor Alice Roberts and Dr Yasmin Khan dig deeper through the excavations at St James’s burial ground on the hunt for the lost explorer who extended Britain’s empire across the globe.

Episode 3

29th September 2020

Episode 3

Working-class Victorians made Birmingham one of the most important industrial cities on the planet. Professor Roberts and Dr Khan present discoveries ranging from skeletons bearing mysterious cut marks to the rise of the real Peaky Blinders.

Top Cast

Alice Roberts•Yasmin Khan

Director

Harvey Lilley

Documentary

Profiling two of the massive archaeological digs along the 150-mile route of HS2, the UK’s new high-speed rail link, ahead of its start of construction. These cemetery excavations reveal forgotten stories of the rich and poor, and how Georgian-era London and industrial Birmingham left their mark on the thousands of skeletons buried there.