The 1900 House | |
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Genre | Historical reenactment reality television |
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No. of seasons | 1 |
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Release | 28 December 1999 – 3 July 2000 |
The 1900 House is a historical reenactment reality television series made by Wall to Wall/Channel 4 in 1999. The programme features a modern family attempting to live in the way of the late Victorians for three months in a modified house. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and PBS in America (with American commentary).
The series was accompanied by the book 1900 House: Featuring Extracts from the Personal Diaries of Joyce and Paul Bowler and Their Family by Mark McCrum and Matthew Sturgis. [1] It won a Peabody Award in 2000 for being "an often humorous, always perceptive, series about the realities of life in 1900 that reveals themes of perseverance, human adaptation and family dynamics." [2]
The 1900 House in question is 50 Elliscombe Road, Charlton, South-East London ( 51°28′57″N0°01′57″E / 51.482475°N 0.032394°E ). An 1890s-built two-storey terraced house with a drawing room, a dining room, a kitchen, a scullery, a bathroom, three bedrooms (there were actually four, but one was used as a safety room with a telephone) and an outside loo. To make it the 1900 house, all modern elements were removed, including electricity, insulation, indoor toilet, and central heating. Period fixtures such as a 'copper' (a large pot used for heating washing clothes over a fire), cast-iron oven and fireplaces were installed. Gas lighting was reinstalled using original remaining pipes.
Daru Rooke was the consultant historian to the series who helped the family adjust to the 1900 lifestyle. He later visited the house for a dinner party with the family. He also equipped the family with a useful reference manual to aid their stay at the house, based on sources of the period such as Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management and Cassell's Household Guide.
Because looking after the house became difficult, the Bowlers decided to hire a maid-of-all-work. Elizabeth Lillington was chosen, however after a few weeks the family sacked her as Joyce decided that she could not reconcile her views on women's emancipation with employing a woman as a domestic. However, being 'liberated' was not the view Elizabeth herself took of her dismissal. It was pointed out that a woman in Elizabeth's position in 1900 would have faced desperate poverty had she been denied housekeeping work.
The success of 1900 House has since led to other related productions and co-productions: [3]
The 1900 House was released, alongside The 1940s House by Acorn Media UK. It was released on VHS on 27 June 2000 and on DVD on 5 August 2003.
# | Episode List | Release Date |
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1 | A Year to Remember | 28 December 1999 |
2 | The Time Machine | 12 June 2000 |
3 | A Rude Awakening | 19 June 2000 |
4 | A Woman's Place | 26 June 2000 |
5 | The End of an Era | 3 July 2000 |
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