This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2017) |
Secrets of Great British Castles | |
---|---|
Genre | Documentary |
Starring | Dan Jones/Billy McGrath (writer) |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 2 |
No. of episodes | 12 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Production location | UK |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production companies | Sideline Productions and Motion Content Group |
Original release | |
Network | Channel 5 |
Release | 3 April 2015 – 9 December 2016 |
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).
Season | Castle | Place | Broadcast |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Dover Castle | England | 3 April 2015 |
Tower of London | England | 10 April 2015 | |
Warwick Castle | England | 17 April 2015 | |
Caernarfon Castle | Wales | 24 April 2015 | |
Stirling Castle | Scotland | 1 May 2015 | |
Carrickfergus Castle | Northern Ireland | 8 May 2015 | |
2 | Edinburgh Castle | Scotland | 28 October 2016 |
Cardiff Castle | Wales | 4 November 2016 | |
York Castle | England | 18 November 2016 | |
Leeds Castle | England | 25 November 2016 | |
Lancaster Castle | England | 2 December 2016 | |
Arundel Castle | England | 9 December 2016 |
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 advertising. 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.
Sir Anthony Robinson is an English actor, author, broadcaster, and political activist. He played Baldrick in the BBC television sitcom 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.
Time Team is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining the process in lay terms. The specialists changed throughout the programme's run, although it consistently included professional archaeologists such as Mick Aston, Carenza Lewis, Francis Pryor and Phil Harding. The sites excavated ranged in date from the Palaeolithic to the Second World War.
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as Great British Railway Journeys and Great Continental Railway Journeys. A former member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield Southgate from 1984 to 1997 and Kensington and Chelsea from 1999 to 2005.
Sir William Connolly is a Scottish retired comedian, actor, artist, 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.
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.
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.
U&Yesterday is a British free-to-air 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.
Bennet Evan Miller is an English comedian, actor and author. He rose to fame as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. He is also known for his roles as Bough in the Johnny English film series, DI Richard Poole in the BBC crime drama series Death in Paradise and James Lester in the ITV sci-fi series Primeval.
Lieutenant Colonel (ret) Richard Francis Strawbridge, MBE is a British television personality, engineer and former army officer. He is often referred to as "Colonel Dick".
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.
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 (2016–2022), and Shining Vale (2022–2023).
Rupert is a 2D traditionally animated children's television series based on the Mary Tourtel character Rupert Bear, which aired from 1991 to 1997 with 65 half-hour episodes produced. The series is produced by Nelvana, in co-production with Ellipse Programme for the first three seasons, in association with YTV Canada, Inc., and ITV franchisees TVS Television and Scottish Television.
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.
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.
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 15 series.
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, the upcoming twenty-fourth series will air from 13 September 2024. The show was narrated by Caroline Aherne from its launch until her death in July 2016, after which Craig Cash took over.
Striking Out is an Irish television legal drama television series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017, based on The Good Wife by Robert and Michelle King. 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.