Tony begins by looking at life during the reign of Tudor king Henry VIII. Tony talks about the role of executioner Thomas Grimes, and reveals how Richard Roose rose from pot washer to being the cook for the Bishop of Rochester.
Tony explores the lives of people from the Victorian era, including a 13-year-old girl who worked 14-hour shifts in a Bryant & May factory in London's East End, a woman who worked down a mine at Knowles Pitt near Bolton and a navvy who blasted tons of rock from the Highlands to help construct an ambitious water channel. Tony also hears the story of one of the first employees of Marks & Spencer.
Quirky real-life tales include a sailor's attempt to leave behind his scurvy existence for a Tahitian girl, and a gin entrepreneur who fell foul of the law. Plus, a hungry poacher has a cunning plan.
Babs's family were lucky to get out alive when Bethnal Green station was hit during the Blitz. Office boy James was called up to serve in France. Grocer's daughter Eileen worked with Princess Elizabeth in the ATS. Maisie's father was punished for his resistance in Guernsey. Joy married an American GI.
Tony takes us back nearly 2000 years to a time when Britain was under the Roman Empire. He tells the story of an African Roman soldier who gets posted to its most northerly outpost at Hadrian's Wall.
Tony takes us back to the beginning of last century. It's a time of elegance, innovation, class division and social progress: the Edwardian period, and he begins with two people who travelled on the Titanic.
Tony heads back to the 1950s, fondly remembered as an optimistic period of social and economic regeneration. Tony begins with the story of Irish woman Mary Powell, who joins the NHS, following her childhood dream of becoming a nurse.
Tony goes back to a time of knights in shining armour, big-shot kings, and fabulous clothes - if you could afford them. His first encounter is with someone you wouldn't want to meet on a dark night, or any time, really.
