# A House Through Time

A House Through Time is a documentary television series made by Twenty Twenty Television for BBC Two. The first series aired in 2018, a second in 2019, a third in 2020, and a fourth in 2021, with each examining the history of a single residential building in an English city. A fifth series, in 2024, features apartment blocks in London and Berlin.
The programme is presented by David Olusoga, who is Professor of Public History at Manchester University. The series consultant is design historian Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan, of the University of Portsmouth, who also appears in each episode.

## Episodes

| Series | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Series | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 January 2018 (2018-01-04) | 25 January 2018 (2018-01-25) |
| 2 | 4 | 4 | 8 April 2019 (2019-04-08) | 29 April 2019 (2019-04-29) |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | 26 May 2020 (2020-05-26) | 16 June 2020 (2020-06-16) |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 September 2021 (2021-09-07) | 28 September 2021 |

### Series 1 (2018)

The first series features the house at 62 Falkner Street in the Canning area of Liverpool.
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | UK viewers (millions) |
| 1 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Paul Tilzey | David Olusoga | 4 January 2018 (2018-01-04) | 3.13 |
| David Olusoga visits the house at 62 Falkner Street for the first time, and explores the stories of its first inhabitants, who lived there in 1840s and 1850s. |||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Stuart Elliott | David Olusoga | 11 January 2018 (2018-01-11) | 2.44 |
| David looks at the trials and tribulations of 62 Falkner Street's residents from the 1850s through to the 1890s. |||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Stuart Elliott | David Olusoga | 18 January 2018 (2018-01-18) | 2.44 |
| David uncovers the lives of the house's residents from 1891 to 1945, covering World War I, World War II, and the Great Depression. |||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Paul Tilzey | David Olusoga | 25 January 2018 (2018-01-25) | 2.47 |
| David finally covers the house's residents from 1945 to the present day, and reveals the programme's findings to the house's present occupant. |||||||

### Series 2 (2019)

Series two featured 5 Ravensworth Terrace, a Georgian-era terraced house in the Summerhill area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and began broadcast on BBC Two on 8 April 2019. As a result of research conducted for the programme, a plaque was unveiled there, commemorating a former resident (1841–1857), the naturalist Joshua Alder, on 26 September 2018 by Olusoga and the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, David Down. The house has been Grade II listed since June 1976.
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | UK viewers (millions) |
| 5 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Nicola Seare | David Olusoga | 8 April 2019 (2019-04-08) | 2.40 |
| David Olusoga is in Newcastle upon Tyne, exploring the history of the house at 5 Ravensworth Terrace, looking at the stories of a vengeful lawyer, a scientist faced with financial ruin and a doctor entangled in a workhouse scandal- the house's earliest residents. |||||||
| 6 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Hugo Macgregor | David Olusoga | 15 April 2019 (2019-04-15) | 2.21 |
| Now looking at the house in the 1880s to the 1900s, David encounters stories of family trauma, a refuge for girls, and séances. |||||||
| 7 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Nicola Seare | David Olusoga | 22 April 2019 (2019-04-22) | 2.30 |
| 5 Ravensworth Terrace's residents of the early 20th century deal with war, and Irish republican terrorism. |||||||
| 8 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Hugo Macgregor | David Olusoga | 29 April 2019 (2019-04-29) | 2.24 |
| Bringing the story into the present day, David uncovers infidelity and divorce, traces a WWII prisoner to Ravensworth Terrace, and sees the house fall into disrepair before it is restored for the 21st century. |||||||

### Series 3 (2020)

The third series takes place in Bristol, investigating the history of 10 Guinea Street, whose inhabitants included the satirist John Shebbeare and the future mayor of Bristol Sir John Kerle Haberfield. The house has been Grade II* listed since December 1994.
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | UK viewers (millions) |
| 9 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Eleanor Scoones | David Olusoga | 26 May 2020 (2020-05-26) | 4.16 |
| David's journey with 10 Guinea Street, Bristol, begins in the 18th century. The first occupants bring stories of piracy, a foundling, the satirist John Shebbeare, and a runaway slave. |||||||
| 10 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Edmund Moriarty | David Olusoga | 2 June 2020 (2020-06-02) | 3.38 |
| David looks at the house's residents from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century, encountering stories of scandal, domestic violence and the asylum. |||||||
| 11 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Eleanor Scoones | David Olusoga | 9 June 2020 (2020-06-09) | 3.07 |
| The mid-19th to mid-20th century sees the residents of 10 Guinea Street explore entrepreneurship, tragedy in World War I, and some shady dealings. |||||||
| 12 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Edmund Moriarty | David Olusoga | 16 June 2020 (2020-06-16) | 2.61 |
| Exploring the house's history from the mid-20th century to the present day, David finds out about the house's links to more war tragedy, identity fraud, and the house's renewal in the 21st century. |||||||

### Series 4 (2021)

The fourth series takes place at 5 Grosvenor Mount, in the Headingley area of Leeds. With the other two houses in its terrace, it has been Grade II listed since August 1976.
* 1,3 & 5 Grosvenor Mount (number 5 on the right)
* The house's first occupant, William Bruce painted by Michael Anthony Hilliard Willson ("Bob") in 1890 or 1891
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | UK viewers (millions) |
| 13 | 1 | "Episode 1" | Nick Tanner | David Olusoga | 7 September 2021 (2021-09-07) | 2.16 |
| The house is completed in 1852 and occupied by William Bruce, a solicitor, and his wife Helen. |||||||
| 14 | 2 | "Episode 2" | Kemi Majekodunmi | David Olusoga | 14 September 2021 (2021-09-14) | N/A |
| 15 | 3 | "Episode 3" | Edmund Moriarty | David Olusoga | 21 September 2021 (2021-09-21) | N/A |
| 16 | 4 | "Episode 4" | Nicola Seare | David Olusoga | 28 September 2021 (2021-09-28) | N/A |

### Series 5 (2024)

Series 5, subtitled Two Cities at War, takes a different approach, comparing and contrasting the lives of the inhabitants of two apartment blocks—Block 2 of Montagu Mansions, an Edwardian building in the Marylebone district of London and 72, Pfalzburger Strasse in Wilmersdorf, Berlin—in the years leading up to and during World War II. Residents in London included the cinema impresario Cecil Bernstein and the poet and conscientious objector Timothy Corsellis, and in Berlin the chef and language teacher, Bonifatius Folli, from Togo, the historian and nazi, Paul Dittel, and Freda Fromm, whose brother Friedrich Fromm was a regular visitor.
* Montagu Mansions, Marylebone
* Pfalzburger Straße 72 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf