But when he returned to Britain, Tony found the studios equally intransient. I am Canadian-born but living near Atlanta, Geogia, and travel to the UK often. RIP Time Team. A number of archaeological old hands were sacrificed in favour of more youthful presenters. The whole catering & accommodation aspect could have been trimmed, without loss of such a wonderful program. Time Team has sometimes been accused of peddling stereotypes to the public, but anyone who has met the archaeologists will know that they are not cynical media-savvy operators adopting false personas for the camera. A family programe deleted. I am watching repeats on Yesterday but hate the constant adverts. It was not the first time that a chance conversation with Mick had got someone thinking about television archaeology. The pair bonded on the idyllic Greek island, where Micks aptitude for breathing life into the past convinced Tony that archaeology had untapped television potential. What a shame to see it go, but what a swan song. There is a market here to be tapped. Instead Time Teams format was radically overhauled. And this program had run its course several years ago. Alan Gale is 100% correct. Axing time team is a huge mistake. I am now watching past digs being repeated on More Four. What on earth is going on and who is in charge of these moronic decisions! As well as an arresting demonstration of the power of teamwork, Athelney showed how geophysics could be the heart of the programme. It was responsible for me going on a dig and having a great time. Please sign fans: Our family enjoyed Tony Robinsons performance, but what made Time Team great was Mick and Phil and Carenza and Matt and Stewart and Raksha and Mick the Twig and Bridget and Raysan and Victor the artist and the geophysicists and Robin the historian and all the others whose contributions brought together a cohesive story for a site from a range of disciplines. The huge plus for archaeology in general has been the raising of the profile of a branch of science that prior to this program was the province of a fairly small group of people. In 2014. quite a lot of the programmes are available on Veehd.com. With Channel 4 keen to attract more supposedly affluent viewers in their 20s and 30s, season 19 also tinkered with the format. She was replaced by Helen Geake, Anglo-Saxon specialist. here was atransfixing series, turning elitist subject into everyday knowledge for the ordinary man. And I really enjoy watching I never made any money out of it, but a lot of my soul went into it. There were times when I would have liked to see some longer digs being featured and I would still like to see that, but it seems likely that it will not be Channel 4 doing it. Perhaps there were too many Roman sites with their predictable layouts. Channel 4 please think again you have made a monumental mistake! Good job I have the internet to log onto. Perhaps we can come up with a crew of our own with Ronald Hutton replacing Tony Robinson and I do know of a great film crew that would take up the filming. 2023. Did you watch the episode of operation nightingale where the maimed ,psychologically injured soldiers from conflicts abroad found an inner peace and a feeling that they were no longer helpless in the world. I watched every show, every season, and I never noticed that Tony had an obsession with Romans. Lets hope that somebody in control is also a fan and a compromise can be reached. Ive always adored darling Tony Robinson since his days as Baldric, and Mick (RIP), Phil (gotta love him!) With regards to a few folks comments about Tony Robinson. With 1.5 million views a month on the Time Team Classics YouTube channel in 41 countries worldwide, the new programs will premiere on YouTube, with additional behind-the-scenes content on the platform Patreon. The implementation of Planning Policy Guidance 16 in 1990 enshrined archaeology within the development process and paved the way for todays professional units. Found Time Team on You Tube. RIP Mick Aston This segregates the viewers and leaves fans like me stuck in the middle and slightly upset at the notion that my favorite programmes have been taken over by people who havent got a idea. Indeed, the only affectation on Time Team was Micks famous stripy jumper. Teatime 26: Stewart Ainsworth - Return to Nevis 14,215 views Premiered Oct 11, 2020 Time Team Teatime: Session 26 - As Black History Month continues in the UK, we catch up with Stewart. Fortunately, it wasnt. I have watched this program over the life of its showing and as a saturday morning archaeologist I was challenged to dig deeper (pun intended) by reading more into the theory and practice of archaeology. Gutted to learn it is no more. Now, instead of honest archeology, we are going to be swamped with American hystorical programming, in which they assume we all have a 1 second attention span, need constant recaps (at least 4 per 10 minute part) and need it all (badly) acted out by ridiculous, cheap, and hugely inaccurate costumes, backgrounds and language. Self - Aston Eyre, Shropshire (1998) . When he took this pitch to various studios, however, no one wanted to know. Whats on at this afternoon? Tony Robinsons role seems to one of a viewer who does not completely understand what is going on although logic says he must have a reasonable knowledge of the subject. Still, we liked to watch something online every now and than rather than read a book, play a game or just talk to each other and thats when my husband showed me the first episodes of Time Team, which he remember from his youth. TT is very fun to watch after nearly 30 years from the first episodes; watching the GeoPhysics change from season to season (week to week for me as I binge) is great for this engineer. How many people can look back on a twenty years span of such a masterful contribution to human culture? Whichever fool(s) cut it, perhaps they are now also, goneso please bring Time Team back it was a great staple! They have onbly made a couple of mistakes, 1 was letting Mick go and the other was axing Time Team. From the fall of TT on the minuscule scale, to the fall of a Royal house; loss of a battle; collapse of an empire. I will miss it & Sunday afternoons will not be the same-Im all for a petition -there arent many programs on now that are educational & family viewing with no risk whatsoever of offending anyone, there are too many reality programs these days & that seems to be what the young people are watching. Do 5 day digs instead. The more who sign it the better, I have and so have my family. Not a Tony Robinson fan myself but he is part of the show. Who knows,but hopefully in years to come we might all see a reunion? It was my favourite show for many years and definitely, for me, left so many other scientifically accurate but boring-as-bat-poo documentaries in its dust. NEVER. archaeology..is what my 11 year old gran daughter is looking into training for..shows like these are needed more. Lytham St Annes. And lets be honest, it doesnt get any better than watching absolutely great British television presented by the all time best supporting TV character, Baldrick. Its amazing. and I just came across the time team on my tablet in November 2019. The Mick Aston informative, involving wide range of age and expertise-or students out in the field working version, not the americanised teenybopper version as touted by c4 accountants. How come journalists never seem to tell us these sorts of things? Telly Tubbies. They will be joined by new faces representing the breadth of experts practising archaeology today. I will miss my bit of kulcha. time team r.i.p. The regular team also included: Stewart Ainsworth, landscape investigator; John Gater and Chris Gaffney, archaeological geophysicists; Henry Chapman, surveyor; and Victor Ambrus, illustrator. I am still quite happy to watch repeats on Sky. Ok BBC4, its time for you to take Time Team. For years I had little interest in any of it but as time went by this programme made me interested. if only someone could afford too get all thecast back and go on channel 2 or 5 any ware but not on 4 .. who ever made up there minds to get rid off TT I HOPE there bosses can see the error they are makeing.very sad to see it go. Self - Sanday, Orkney (1998) . Very very sad. Series Producer and creator of Time Team, Tim Taylor says . Well said, Paul! I speculate that Mr Bushs rant is based upon nothing more than jealousy over the fact that Mr Harding has obviously learned one more word than him whilst digging those big holes! This series is in my opinion (and hubbys) a satisfying end. Sir Tony Robinson, who is an honorary patron, says: I was delighted to hear about the plans for the next chapter in Time Teams story. That is, the irritating new team members, the irritating clanging noise when Tony narrates and the increasingly less time spent in the trenches. What do other TT viewers think? While the TV producers have obviously ruined a formula that entertained and educated millions of people worldwide for a couple of decades, I assume it is now beyond recall. I will have to content myself with watching the 4OD repeats for ever now. Now the format was safely established the programme was increasingly able to capitalise on its fame and access big name sites ultimately even Buckingham Palace. The Twitter page has been great up to now. It may also be heresy to say so, but I think many people who were interested more in the archaeology than the banter, found the relationship between Phil and Tony, to be past its sell by date. Out of interest, Time Team fans, how many of you would be willing to pay directly to watch new programs? I read a number of the same comments over and over here, and some are quite valid. It led to an appreciation of just how much information could be quickly gleaned from comparatively modest trenching. I have been fascinated by archaeology since reading Golden Books Lost Cities and Vanished Civilizations, at the age of nine, but only recently stumbled across TIME TEAM quite by accident one night. When discussing the latest TT episode at work/with friends sadly there doesnt seem to be many others who watch it, Ive always been interested in history so maybe its just me & maybe the young people of today arent being taught that history can be exciting/interesting. This comment by Peter Thomas is an excellent precis of all that has been said. It lost its way because of the producers. I wish I could study with Mick Ashton. Its prototype was Timesigns, a four-part series that aired in 1991. Maybe it will work with time team too. In 224 digs, Time Team revolutionised the presentation of archaeology on TV (which before had focussed largely on the Classical world), bringing Britain's heritage into our front rooms - and, in the early series, into our back gardens. But in this, as in so many other ways, Time Team bucks the trend. My enduring memory of Tony Robinson during Time Team filming is him spending several hours of every day asleep in a massive American car with the engine running. http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/time-team-should-continue-on-tv.html. Not any more. But maybe it is time and we need to move on. Hmm, lets take a show that works, tinker with it, decide the audience is wrong, treat the intelligent people in the cast and crew with disdain and see what happens. Great work mate, youre a champion. Channel 4 you need looking at!!! I have several friends who are serious archaeologists who have been dismissive of this program over the years, some of their comments about the lack of time for each dig are valid. It was just a ridiculous Channel 4 attempt to appeal to younger viewers, and failed dismally. Yes very sorry to see TT go, Sky at night still going both are just as important to us here on Earth and I think it will be missed in the future though the recordings are still available to evertbody but the forum is lost, Grrrr channel 4. I had no idea it had finished. Cheers. The past shows took it for granted that the viewers were intelligent and did not need someone (other than Tony I love him) to ask questions in his humorous fashion. And a pint or 2 as well, EUTOPIA. I have no idea which series I am watching, I think it must be a mixture as Tonys beer belly ebbs and falls and Phils hair waxes and wains, though Mick never seems to have changed. Just a thought If anyone knows how to get up an on line partition, perhaps we could get enough signatures to make Ch4 sit up and take notice? Please, please would someone bring the show back, This is just another example of Managements old adage: Its perfect; lets New and Improve it Eat umble pie you are having a laff. A viewers petition is probably the most difficult to achieve. Think again C4, as someone who is 40 years outside your target audience, all axing this program has done is make me switch channels, so demographically relevant or not you have simply lost another viewer and surely viewer numbers are more important than some misguided attempt to only appeal to a certain age group? 20 years is a long time in television. I have watched TT for the last 20 years from my mid 20s. Its disadvantage was that it had no scope to include z-list celebrities to manufacture controversy around, and so it was killed. Watched it since the beginning, some great episodes and fantastic digs. Not all of us want mindless reality TV that costs a few bob to present. Tony was very good at being the non-archeologist and I salute him! Just heard about the axing of Time Team what a shame! We shall mourn the loss of TT in Australia, although the episodes arrive on our screens years after they are made, which means well be watching them long after the series ends were still with the old format so I cant comment on the new look TT. Struck by how much could be learnt in a few hours, Tim wondered what could be achieved in a few days. Im tired of the idiots that run TV and Im ready for revolution.whos with me!!! I have been watching Time Team since its birth and can quite candidly say, I have never seen and enjoyed such a beautiful piece of television. Much has been said about this show on this site but I think that all of you would be best served by reading what Raksha had to say. I have scoured the Internet watching every episode I can find, some more than once. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the digs and finds discovered by the crew. ARE THEY NUTS? Poor second best but something is better than nothing. We also miss Stuart very much. and which would be the best way to alienate the people working on the programme. That doesnt work in the US. CHANNEL 4 you just do not know what you have done ! It would be nice if Channel 4 admitted its error and reinstated Time Team in its proper format. I love time team because it is filled with such enthusiasm and love for its subject. It brought the money and expertise to investigate sites that would otherwise never have been touched. I have been binge watching on YouTube whilst laid up with a medical issue. Start a letter writing campaign to bring it back. I do agree, bringing the new blood in(an ex model, who I dont think was all that good looking) without consulting certain long standing experts, was wrong. I love watching the old episodes, the ones where there was fantastic camaraderie between the team, excellent and atmospheric music in the background which always complemented the era of the dig and the extravagant clothing worn by the team. I think the only things we didnt like so much were the cleavage shots and the daft re-enactments. Screening 13 episodes a year, as well as live digs and specials the programme was ubiquitous. I enjoyed Time Team and I will miss it Carenza and the later Helen Geake were the highlights for me there was always a sense of tension when you heard a shout of Tony not knowing what find theyd unearthed. And anyway, why would we want Channel 4 to keep TT? You were apparently watching a different show than we were. Please bring back Time Team with Tony Robinson. Despite some great new people who learnt fast, expecting them to produce the same calibre of product immediately was just too big a demand. Its one of those few things in life that meant so much, really looked forward to every episode. Following the successful launch of a fan-led Patreon campaign in December, Time Team has now confirmed what could be the first of many digs. How amazing to see the history of England being unearthed. I would be very happy, if it was revived. My grandson is a budding archeologist and watches it over and over again. Yes, Upton Castle was a bit of a mess in terms of style, but it held our interest. Maybe it was better to end the show before they replaced the entire cast with celebrities from TOWIE. i never knew this show was available as the colonies never mentioned it. Channel 4 is a crude simulacrum of its original self and I agree that BBC 4 would be TTs natural home.Id love to see the old Time Team reunited Ill live in hope! This did happen in fact, but the show kept going with Mick Aston and (Sir) Tony Robinson always at the helm. How DARE they axe Time Team, it has been one of my few regular watches for a long time. And anyone who does not like Tony Robinson probably doesnt like Rowan Atkinson either, probably has not a read book over 30 pages in decades, and probably believes the Big Bang was what happened in their bedroom last night.. Started watching British TV while on exchange with the RAF. Robinson has been a superb presenter and long may he continue on historical based series . Its all happening ere Tony. We range in age from 8yrs to 82yrs and have loved Tony, Mick, Phil, Carenza, Helen, Faye, geophys John and most of all Stuart. Ive watched TT since it began & never missed an episode, I was in the 20s age group that they are now trying to attract when it started. against what channel 4 have done o no they will get a pat on the back and a good pay off for being stupid .. so sad we wont see friends like the time team on our t v screen again.,. I have enjoyed Tony Robinsons commentaries. Rather than targeting the palaces and castles of the rich and famous, individual episodes modestly sought to solve simple, local questions. Years earlier, Sir Mortimer Wheeler did some Archaeology pgms on TV and they were always popular. Speak for your self! Is Phil Harding a Phd? I hate that its producers felt the need to change its face to meet the modern idea of glamour! There are only about a thousand signatures so far.Personally, although I have signed, I dont think it will do much good. Time Team (Collection 2) - 11-DVD Box Set : Tony Robinson, Phil Harding, John Gater, Stewart Ainsworth, Mick Aston, Victor Ambrus, Henry Chapman, Ian Powlesland, Matt . Real shame, feels like Ive lost my friends! My dad worked for the National Park Service and I was born quite near Chaco Canyon[(a universally important archeological site) in a Navajo mission(Christian) hospital]. Carenzas missing as is Helen, I see Mick walked out as I also presume Stewart has too. May be he could be a Lord? Nevis, West Indies: Part 1: Directed by Graham Dixon. Inspiring stuff. He is President of the Friends Of Epiacum, the Roman fort on the southern edge of Northumberland which he has surveyed and studied in depth. Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, Imagine spending an entire weekend with Time Team's Stewart Ainsworth Learning How to Decode the Landscape, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stewart_Ainsworth&oldid=1140539218, People of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 15:01. What idiot made this particular decision to cancel such an interesting and educational series! I am not sure who set it up, but you can find it by searching for Time Team FB page. Watching the archaeologists and seeing their enthusiasm at even the smallest find,is to me infectious. I am a mega fan of the show. my gosh, I am from Chula Vista Ca. I guess it was always going to happen when TV administrators who, judging by the few Ive seen interviewed, are challenged by words of more than two syllables come into contact with educated professionals. I started watching TT in 1998 (2 years after leaving school) and it showed that history can be not only interesting but also fun. anyone want to correspond about this i would like for them to write me. Hated that they axed Mick Aston and brought in other new people!!! Stewart has always been my top hero too, although I loved everyone without exception till the changes happened. It brings together entire families and to my mind, is of huge importance, in that it makes us aware of who we are and where we came from and the way it was presented to us was magical. Please bring Time Team back. i like everything about it. Dont judge based on the rubbish you get over there. I have just found out about the decision by C4 to axe Time Team, which was surely one of the best programmes on any television station anywhere. Perhaps one of the other channels will see the folly of C4s ways and pick up the program before its too late? I regularly tape the programmes as it is shown on a variety of stations, history,yesterday, and channel 4 being some. Thanks to you all. Stewart Ainsworth FSA (born 26 June 1951) is a British archaeological investigator who is regularly seen on Time Team the Channel 4 archaeological television series he joined in 1995. I dont know. If they wont reinstate Time Team ,then why not release All episodes in a DVD BOX set . All the best shows are taken off and all we are left with is the boring and so untrue Archers. Great memories sadly missed. Its our favoite show. It was the highlight of my life ! Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! What a hero! If Tim Taylor or anyone at Channel 4 ever got the itch in their pants to dig it all up again (pun intended) it would be so awesome. TT is without doubt, the best offering in British television. He said: The time had come to leave. Time team has been a part of tv watching since its beginning . Unlike many here, I think Mary Anne Ochota was a qualified addition to evolve and maintain the momentum of the series. After graduation she did some modelling, including shoots for Special K. She was the anthropologist on the BBCs Castaway Exposed and has presented a number of other programmes using her expertise. Time Teams legacy leaves much to celebrate. I too have enjoyed Time Team and am amazed that it has been scrapped. In my mind, one of the contributing factors to the programmes demise, were the increasing number of digs being done on behalf of professional bodies such as English Heritage, and local authorities. This is not the present series I wonder where you are watching? Hi Serena, you can find a complete episode and series guide of all 230 programmes plus the specials on this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Time_Team_episodes Plenty more to come for you yet, if only More 4 would stop repeating the same episodes over and over again and show some of the others they could keep you (and the rest of us) happy for years to come.