In the first of seven programmes Kirsty Wark recounts the turbulent history of the Scottish crown jewels, and asks whether the Queen should wear them at the opening of the new Scottish parliament. Nigel Havers returns for the first time in 30 years to Ickworth House, home of his boyhood friend the Marquess of Bristol, who died in January. Dan Cruickshank offers a potted history of the chimney stack.
Kirsty Wark looks at the uncertain future of Wentworth Woodhouse, the vast Georgian Palace in Yorkshire; actor Michael Elphick recalls idyllic childhood days when he revisits Goodwood racecourse in Sussex; and Dan Cruickshank argues that Oliver Cromwell has been much maligned by history.
Simon Thurley travels to three of Britain's great architectural triumphs: the domes of St Paul 's in London, Howard Castle in Yorkshire and Radcliffe Camera in Oxford. Kirsty Wark looks back at the horrors of tuberculosis, and actor Leslie Phillips visits Wilton House.
Each year thousands of National Trust members spend their holidays working on stately homes. Kirsty Wark joins one group of volunteers helping out at Petworth House in West Sussex. Actress Patricia Hodge returns to her home town of Grimsby to see how it has changed, and new presenter Roger Bowdler travels to a crypt in Northampton and a north London catacomb to see how the overcrowding of cemeteries was dealt with in the past.
Raine Spencer absorbs the grandeur of Brighton Pavilion, an edifice that bears witness to
George IV's hedonistic lifestyle, in which every room reflects his tastes. Kirsty Wark investigates debtors' prisons of the past and asks whether they were really as bad as their literary portrayal has suggested. And, in the picturesque village of Clovelly, where life has remained largely unchanged for centuries, resident Joss Ackland delves into the singular history of this north Devon community.
Steam trains are making a comeback - Kirsty Wark reports on a breakthrough that means the latest locomotives are efficient, eco-friendly and can compete with their diesel and electric counterparts. Dan Cruickshank investigates the legacy of architect Edward Godwin , and Ainsley Harriott celebrates his two great loves - cookery and cricket at Lord's, where he worked in the kitchens for 19 years.
In this last programme in the series, Kirsty Wark looks into the requisitioning of railings during the Second World War that amounted to a propaganda stunt, and offers a preview of the meticulously refurbished Eltham Palace in south London. Dan Cruickshank travels back to the year 999 to find medieval pre-millennium society gripped by apocalyptic fear. Ludovic Kennedy returns to Edinburgh and, as he revisits his family's Georgian homes, tells the story of the city's glorious past.