All Episodes 1991

This first programme examines how people at work were affected by the industrial Revolution. What we see around us - the manufactured landscape - gives us clues, not only to the secrets of the past, but also to understanding the position Britain finds herself in today.

These days we take fast transport for granted, but before the development of railways and the internal combustion engine and before industrialisation, the way people and goods were carried was very different. This programme looks at the development of roads and canals. What does the evidence around us (the manufactured landscape) tell us about the need for improvement.

This programme looks at the results that the introduction of the steam railway had on life in Britain. Like so many industrial changes, the origins of railways go back to the coal industry. For several hundred years coal had been carried by sea from the coal fields of North Eastern England to London. The problem the coal owners faced was how to get their coal from the pit heads to the ports. The answer was the railway, in which wagons could be pushed by men or pulled by horses. Then a new source of power came into its own - The steam locomotive.

Before the Industrial Revolution the world knew only four basic forms of power. Human strength, animal strength, wind and water. All of these sources of energy have their limitations. This programme looks at when needs were met by steam power, which, amongst other things, resulted in the country's coal production rising from eleven million tons in 1800 to two hundred million tons by 1900.

Of all the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, by far the greatest was in the way of life in the homes and in the habits of the British people. This final programme looks at the evidence that tells us about the growth of towns - Urbanisation. The demand for housing close to the factories brought terrible overcrowding. Sometimes people could only afford to rent part of a bed, let alone a room. In one survey in London, half of the people only had one bed for the whole family.