What is Tony Robinson’s Museum of Us?
Tony Robinson’s Museum of Us is a new More4 documentary series that follows communities who come together to uncover the hidden history of their own ‘ordinary’ streets. The programme is presented by actor, broadcaster and author Sir Tony Robinson, famous for playing Baldrick on Blackadder and for presenting history TV programmes including Time Team. In each episode, Sir Tony visits a street in Britain and leads a team of experts who help the residents design and create their own pop-up museum in just seven days. It’s a process that begins with the residents exploring their own personal connections to where they live, but grows to encompass how the stories of different streets and communities fit into Britain’s wider national history.
When is Tony Robinson’s Museum of Us on TV?
The first series of Tony Robinson’s Museum of Us will have four episodes. The first episode will be broadcast on More4 at 9pm on Monday 17 October.
What is Tony Robinson’s Museum of Us about?
In the programme, Tony Robinson and the team will visit four streets in Bristol, Birmingham, Aberystwyth and Norwich. The first episode of Tony Robinson’s Museum of Us is set in Hebron Road, Bristol. It’s an “intriguing little road” of 50 terraced houses dating from the late 19th century, when the now fast-gentrifying area in the south of the city was home to labourers and miners. It’s also a street that has its own chapel (now converted to housing) and a verdant graveyard that doubles as a community garden.
Tony Robinson’s Museum of Us was executive produced by historian and broadcaster David Olusoga, best known for presenting BBC Two’s house history series A House Through Time, who described it as about the “fascinating histories hidden behind [the] front doors” of ordinary streets in Britain.
Rosemary Collins is the features editor of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine