What is A House Through Time?
A House Through Time is a documentary television series made for BBC Two and presented by historian David Olusoga. The popular house history series started in 2018 with a deceptively simple idea – David Olusoga traces the history of a single house, uncovering the lives of the people who lived there throughout centuries of British history. The series consultant is design historian Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan.
There have been four series of A House Through Time altogether, tracing the history of houses in Liverpool, Newcastle, Bristol and Leeds.
When is the next series of A House Through Time?
The fifth series of A House Through Time was first announced in 2023 but is now expected to land in the autumn schedules of 2024 – but this time, there’s a twist. In the new series, David Olusoga will look at the history of two apartment blocks, one in London, the other in Berlin, over three decades, from the Roaring Twenties to the aftermath of the Second World War.
The BBC’s press release says: “Using painstaking detective work, David hunts down records for the diverse residents of two buildings in two great cities. The cast of characters includes a soldier, an artist, a Nazi teacher, an African academic, a Jewish refugee, an Italian waiter, a poet, a prisoner of war, a woman spy, and an SS officer.
“Europe is at a crossroads and these ordinary people face extraordinary choices: to stay or to go, to speak out or stay quiet, to go to war or fight for peace. Told through their personal experiences, this is the story of the winners and the losers, the persecutors and the persecuted, those who survive and those who don’t.”
The new series of A House Through Time will consist of four episodes and be produced by Twenty Twenty. It will be broadcast on BBC Two later in 2024.
Where can I watch A House Through Time?
While you’re waiting for A House Through Time series five, series four is currently available on BBC iPlayer. Series four explored the history of a Victorian house in the Headingley area of Leeds, 5 Grosvenor Mount. Over the course of four episodes the series explores the house’s inhabitants from a master builder to Edwardian pacifists, a soldier traumatised by the First World War, journalists and students.
A House Through Time series three aired in 2020 and investigated the history of 10 Guinea Street in Bristol. Series two featured a Georgian-era property, 5 Ravensworth Terrace, in the Summerhill area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The first series featured 62 Falkner Street, built in the early Victorian era in Liverpool. The first three series are not currently available to view on iPlayer.
Who presents A House Through Time?
A House Through Time is presented by Professor David Olusoga OBE, a historian, writer and broadcaster. He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester and is the author of books including Black and British: A Forgotten History and A House Through Time (cowritten with Melanie Back-Hansen). At the Batas on 14 May 2023, he was awarded a Bafta Special Award for his services to television.
The series consultant is design historian Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan of the University of Portsmouth, who also appears in each episode.
Rosemary Collins is the features editor of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine