Table Of ContentLil.
Photographs by Chris Bennett
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DiGGinG THE DiRT wiTH
T i i h E TEAih
DiGGinG THE DiRT w iTH
T i l h E T E A i h
TIM TAYLOR
Photographs by Chris Bennett
For~t oubhshed 1n 100 t by Channel 4 Books. an 1rnpnnt of Pan Macm•llan Ltd.
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ISBN 0 7522 6161 4
Text @ Tim Taylor, 200 1
Photographs Cl Chns Bennett, 2001 (except page 186 t1 Peter Marsh and page 187 ICI Tim Taylor)
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Execut1ve producer Philip Clarke
Producer T1 m Taylor
j nTRODUCTion 6
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LEiGHTon. SHROPSHiRE
HiGH ERCALL. SHROPSHiRE 98
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CHESHUnT PARK, HERTFORDSHiRE 126
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GEAR FARfll CAER VALLACK, CoRnWALL 156
ConcLusion 184
inDEX 188
DiGGinG THE D iRT wiTH T rl'llE T EAI'Il
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InTRODUCTion:
THE REsEARc H CRisis
We always begin the research process with a lot of great potential sites but, as
the date for finalising the first eight or ten locations out of the thirteen Time
Team visits each year draws nearer, our questions become more rigorous. Each
possible site has to be forced through the filter of whether it will make good
television. Is there a story that will carry us through - an idea that viewers can
hold in their heads through the various circuitous routes the archaeology will take?
At the start of 2001 we had some classic and typical problems with the
sites for Series Nine. It was as if we were alchemists trying to make gold from
base metals-each location seemed to be a bundle of floating possibilities and
needed something radical to turn it into reality. It almost felt as though we
should hit the sites hard to see if they would stand up and turn into solid reality.
The programme we had begun to call the 'bronze bucket show' needed
careful political handling as conflicting archaeological interests were connected
with it. A site in Tara, with a set of geophysics results that John Gater described
as 'stonking', was hanging in the air because our Irish archaeological contact
had not yet been appointed as official contractor. A site at Vauxhall on the
Thames seemed likely to be overwhelmed by rising tidal levels that were
threatening to turn it into a dive site. A number of other possible sites were
held up by warring landowners, illegal metal detecting and, in one case, the
likelihood that digging behind a pub might make the walls collapse.
On 9 February the first major meeting with the directors was only twelve
days away and soon after that the production team would have to start
bookmg hotels, flights, etc. But too many sites were still in what you might call
the 'float' mode. At this point, as always, the researchers and I shared a range
of sensations and feelings. We all had a desperate need for what one of them
called 'closure' on the sites, yet we had to be sure that the choices we made
were the right ones before presenting them to the directors and Channel 4.
The previous year had started with a 'whimper' not a bang, and I did not
want this to happen again. The shoot by the railway line at Basildon, Berkshire
was supposed to find a Roman villa but it didn't and it's always a bit of a
disappointment when the first programme of the year fails to hit its target. In
the end they were all good viewing but the year began with a degree of
uncertainty that was only really dispelled by the heroic job the whole team did
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