Jay Blades: The Midlands Through Time: Series Premiere (Channel 5 Wednesday 11 October 2023)

Jay Blades: The Midlands Through Time: Series Premiere airs Wednesday 11 October 2023 on Channel 5.

What is this episode about

The three-part series West Midlands Through Time follows Jay Blades’s acclaimed documentary East End Through Time. He relocated to the area in 2015, and since then, it has been very kind to him.

Jay illuminates the debt owed to this often-overlooked region of England … There’s more to life than canals, Peaky Blinders and Cadbury chocolate. The Industrial Revolution, the Olympic Games, Darwin’s theory of evolution, and the balti all have their origins there, as Jay discovers. In a nutshell, the Midlands are crucial to the UK’s (and the world’s) history.

In the premiere, Jay introduces us to the West Midlands, his adopted home, and its rich history. He begins by examining artefacts from the Staffordshire Hoard, an Anglo-Saxon treasure trove worth £3.3 million that was discovered in a farmer’s field near Lichfield by a local metal detectorist. Jay learns that it was buried during the time that the Midlands was the kingdom of Mercia, one of the most powerful in England.

Jay learns the truth behind the myth that Lady Godiva rode a naked horse through 11th-century Coventry in a stable not far from the city. Jay travels to the Black Country and discovers that the region’s dialect, despite widespread ridicule, is actually quite significant. Words that have since been lost to modern English are used, including many that can be found in the poetry of Chaucer.

Jay learns that Charles Darwin’s grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was a physician. Despite all the attention given to Charles, it was actually his grandfather who came up with the idea for the theory of evolution. Erasmus Darwin was a member of a group of brilliant minds who got together once a month to share insights and brainstorm new projects. The complicated relationship that some of these ‘Lunar Men’ had with the abolition of slavery is revealed to Jay.

When can we see the episode

Jay Blades: The Midlands Through Time: Series Premiere airs Wednesday 11 October 2023 at 9.00pm on Channel 5

Featured Image Credit: Channel 5