Secrets of Great British Castles

Last updated

Secrets of Great British Castles
Genre Documentary
Starring Dan Jones/Billy McGrath (writer)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes12 (list of episodes)
Production
Production locationUK
Running time60 minutes
Production companiesSideline Productions and Motion Content Group
Original release
Network Channel 5
Release3 April 2015 (2015-04-03) 
9 December 2016 (2016-12-09)
Related
Britain's Bloodiest Dynasty
Henry VIII and His Six Wives

Secrets of Great British Castles is a British history documentary series that grew from the success of Irish TV series Tales of Irish Castles. The idea - initially created and written by Billy McGrath - was rejected by state broadcaster RTE. It was subsequently pitched to Ben Frow - the director of programming for Ireland's 1st ever commercial channel TV3 - and it proved a ratings success. When he returned to London to head up Channel 5 Ben asked Billy (then partner in Sideline Productions) to expand on a new idea based on UK castles. The result was the much more ambitious Secrets of Great British Castles produced by Dublin based Sideline in 12 parts. It was first broadcast between 3 April 2015 and 9 December 2016 (6 parts per season). Historian Dan Jones [1] came on board as host and writer to explore the history behind Great Britain's most famous castles and is currently broadcast on Netflix around the globe. International sales for SoGBC were secured by screen content distributors DCD Rights and sold to 160 countries world-wide. The deal with DCD was negotiated by ICM Partners London (now CAA).

Contents

Episode list

SeasonCastlePlaceBroadcast
1 Dover Castle England3 April 2015
Tower of London England10 April 2015
Warwick Castle England17 April 2015
Caernarfon Castle Wales24 April 2015
Stirling Castle Scotland1 May 2015
Carrickfergus Castle Northern Ireland8 May 2015
2 Edinburgh Castle Scotland28 October 2016
Cardiff Castle Wales4 November 2016
York Castle England18 November 2016
Leeds Castle England25 November 2016
Lancaster Castle England2 December 2016
Arundel Castle England9 December 2016

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Channel 4</span> British free-to-air television channel

Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded entirely by its commercial activities, including publicity. It began its transmission in 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in the United Kingdom. At the time, the only other channels were the licence-funded BBC1 and BBC2, and a single commercial broadcasting network ITV.

<i>Father Ted</i> British sitcom set in Ireland (1995–1998)

Father Ted is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for British television channel Channel 4. It aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May 1998, including a Christmas special, for a total of 25 episodes. It aired on Nine Network and ABC Television in Australia, and on TV2 in New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Robinson</span> English actor and campaigner (born 1946)

Sir Anthony Robinson is an English actor, author, broadcaster, comedian, presenter, and political activist. He played Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder and has presented many historical documentaries, including the Channel 4 series Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. He has written 16 children's books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Connolly</span> Scottish actor and comedian (born 1942)

Sir William Connolly is a Scottish actor, retired comedian, artist, writer, musician, and television presenter. He is sometimes known by the Scots nickname the Big Yin. Known for his idiosyncratic and often improvised observational comedy, frequently including strong language, Connolly has topped many UK polls as the greatest stand-up comedian of all time. In 2022 he received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

<i>The Secret Policemans Ball</i> Shows to benefit Amnesty International

The Secret Policeman's Ball is a series of benefit shows staged initially in the United Kingdom to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. The shows started in 1976 featuring popular British comedians but later included leading musicians and actors. The Secret Policeman's Ball shows are credited by many prominent entertainers with having galvanised them to become involved with Amnesty and other social and political causes in succeeding years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Down Street tube station</span> Closed London Underground station

Down Street, also known as Down Street (Mayfair), is a disused station on the London Underground, located in Mayfair, west London. The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opened it in 1907. It was latterly served by the Piccadilly line and was situated between Dover Street (now named Green Park) and Hyde Park Corner stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yesterday (TV channel)</span> UKTV channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Yesterday is a British free-to-air history-oriented television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It launched on 30 October 2002 as UK History and relaunched in its current format on 2 March 2009. It is available on satellite through Sky, Freesat and through the digital terrestrial provider Freeview. Hours on Freeview had previously been cut, with transmissions finishing at 6 pm, but were restored on 1 June 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History Channel</span> US-based international satellite and cable TV channel

History, formerly and commonly known as the History Channel, is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company's General Entertainment Content Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Miller</span> English comedian and actor

Bennet Evan Miller is an English actor, comedian, and author. He rose to fame as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. Miller is also known for playing the lead role of DI Richard Poole in the first two series of the BBC crime drama Death in Paradise, and for portraying James Lester in the ITV science-fiction series Primeval.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Playfair</span> British polymath (1759–1823)

William Playfair, a Scottish engineer and political economist, served as a secret agent on behalf of Great Britain during its war with France. The founder of graphical methods of statistics, Playfair invented several types of diagrams: in 1786 the line, area and bar chart of economic data, and in 1801 the pie chart and circle graph, used to show part-whole relations. As a secret agent, Playfair reported on the French Revolution and organized a clandestine counterfeiting operation in 1793 to collapse the French currency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Cruickshank</span> British art historian and television presenter (born 1949)

Daniel Gordon Raffan Cruickshank is a British art historian and BBC television presenter, with a special interest in the history of architecture.

Together TV is a British free-to-air television channel owned by The Community Channel, a community benefit society. The channel targets a women's audience aged 40 to 60, with programming related to health and wellness, hobbies, and creativity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregg Wallace</span> English broadcaster, entrepreneur, media personality and writer (born 1964)

Gregg Allan Wallace is an English broadcaster, entrepreneur, media personality, writer and former greengrocer. He is known for co-presenting MasterChef, Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals, alongside celebrity chef John Torode, on BBC One and BBC Two. He has written regularly for Good Food, Now and Olive magazines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Horgan</span> Irish actress, writer, director, producer, and comedian (born 1970)

Sharon Lorencia Horgan is an Irish actress, writer, director, producer, and comedian. She is best known for creating and starring in the comedy series Pulling (2006–2009), Catastrophe (2015–2019), and Bad Sisters (2022–present). She also created the comedy series Divorce (2016–2019), Motherland (2016–present), and Shining Vale (2022–2023).

<i>Law & Order: UK</i> British police procedural television series

Law & Order: UK is a British police procedural and legal television programme broadcast from 2009 to 2014 on ITV, adapted from the American series Law & Order. Financed by the production companies Kudos Film and Television, Wolf Films, and Universal Television, the series originally starred Bradley Walsh, Freema Agyeman, Jamie Bamber, Ben Daniels, Harriet Walter and Bill Paterson. Dominic Rowan, Georgia Taylor, Paul Nicholls, Ben Bailey Smith, Sharon Small, Peter Davison and Paterson Joseph joined the cast in later series. This is the first American drama television series to be adapted for British television, while the episodes are adapted from scripts and episodes of the parent series.

Monty Halls is a British TV broadcaster and marine biologist best known for his BBC Great Escape series Monty Halls' Great Escape, Monty Halls' Great Hebridean Escape and Monty Halls' Great Irish Escape, during which he lived and worked in remote parts of the UK and Ireland with his dog Reuben. Halls' other TV programmes include WWII's Great Escapes, Great Barrier Reef and Lost Worlds with Leo Houlding for Discovery Channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Poore</span> British independent musician (born 1966)

David Nicholas Poore is a British independent musician, who has composed and produced music for over 200 films by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Disney, PBS, National Geographic, RTÉ and other broadcasters.

<i>Great British Railway Journeys</i> British television series

Great British Railway Journeys is a 2010–present BBC documentary series presented by Michael Portillo, a former Conservative MP and Cabinet Minister who was instrumental in saving the Settle to Carlisle line from closure in 1989. The documentary was first broadcast in 2010 on BBC Two and has returned annually for a current total of 14 series.

<i>Gogglebox</i> British reality television show

Gogglebox is a British reality television series created by Stephen Lambert, Tania Alexander and Tim Harcourt, and broadcast on Channel 4. The series documents families and groups of friends around the United Kingdom who are filmed for their observations and reactions to the previous week's television from their own homes. The first series launched on 7 March 2013, and the show is scheduled to begin its twenty-third series on 16 February 2024. The show was narrated by Caroline Aherne from its launch until her death in July 2016, after which Craig Cash took over.

<i>Striking Out</i> Irish TV series or program

Striking Out is an Irish television legal drama series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017. Produced by Bl!nder F!lms for RTÉ Television, Striking Out stars Amy Huberman as Dublin-based solicitor Tara Rafferty, who is currently working for a fledgling legal firm. Filmed in Dublin and Wicklow, the first series, comprising four episodes, was broadcast during January 2017, to critical acclaim. Subsequently, the series was sold to the United States, where it made its North American debut on Acorn TV on 17 March 2017. Internationally, the series has been distributed by DCD Rights and Acorn Media Enterprises.

References

  1. "Catalogue". Dcdrights.com. Retrieved 1 July 2015.