Digging for Britain “Season 9 Episode 1” (BBC Four Monday 27 March 2023)

Digging for Britain airs a new episode tonight Monday 27 March 2023 on BBC Four.

“Season 9 Episode 1” In this episode, we follow Alice Roberts as she travels across the East of England in search of the best archaeological sites from the past year.

First off, she watches as workers in Rutland County unearth what has been called “the most important Roman mosaic to be found in the UK in over 100 years.” She meets Jim, the son of a farmer, who grew up in a field that turned out to be the site of a massive Roman villa complex. Jim and his family dug in their wheat field for fun during the lengthy lockdown of 2020, and they uncovered a massive mosaic barely two feet below the surface.

At the same time, the dwelling place of a holy hermit has been located in the Lincolnshire fens. Researchers are excavating a site where they believe a man named Guthlac lived in the late seventh century after giving up his wealth in an effort to gain God’s favour. After the excavation, Dr. Onyeka Nubia travels to Cambridge to study a lavish and extremely rare book from 1200 that describes Guthlac’s life in an effort to deduce why he was canonised as one of Britain’s early saints.

Grave findings from an excavation in a small town in Kent have stunned even the most seasoned archaeologists, and the spotlight has once again turned to the Anglo-Saxons. The best are brought to the new Digging for Britain tent so that Alice can study conservation with renowned expert Dana Goodburn Brown and conduct her own micro-excavations.

Last but not least, Stuart Prior samples ale brewed according to an ancient Anglo-Saxon recipe unearthed at a massive malting facility in north Norfolk. According to recent discoveries, Anglo-Saxons in the east grew cereal crops in proportions that firmly connected them to the cultural homelands of mainland Europe.

Airdate: Monday 27 March 2023 at 8.00pm on BBC Four.

Season 9 Episode 1

Featured Image Credit: BBC Four