Show of the week: The Great British Dig: History In Your Back Garden

Forget stately homes and grandiose castles, this new “alternative archaeology” format gives everyday people the chance to uncover some of the amazing history hidden beneath their feet in the most ordinary of places – their own back yards.

Each episode of The Great British Dig: History In Your Back Garden follows the host and their team of crack archaeologists as they travel to a street, town or village that has lost touch with its own remarkable history – whether that may be an important building or other location that deserves a special mention in the history books.

The team will recruit local people to help unearth artefacts and structures by embarking on a series of exploratory digs across the back gardens of an entire street. They’ll delve into the local legends and distant history of these locations to pinpoint the best site for each dig and hopefully convince homeowners to let them into their property to start digging up their daisies.

Over the course of a week, the host, the experts and the helpful amateurs, will all seek to unearth some real buried treasures and artefacts that shed light on the local histories of the communities in which they have been digging.

Distributor: Hat Trick International
Producers: Strawberry Blond TV
Broadcaster: Channel 4
Logline: A team of expert archaeologists are joined by local residents of ordinary locations to see what amazing history they can dig up