Ruth, Peter and Tom look at the ingenious features medieval castle-builders came up with to withstand attack from an ever more formidable array of siege engines.

Tony Robinson takes on the worst jobs from 43 AD to 400 AD. What do you do to get a piece of crust? Tony Robinson presents some of the worst jobs ever from various historical periods in England, ranging from the dark ages through the Victorian era. Season one focuses on historical periods, while season two combines places, social status and periods of time (for example, rural, urban, maritime, etc.). From the channel 4 website: "The history we are taught usually features the lives and times of the great and the good, of the haves but not the have-nots. However, the monarchs, aristocrats and magnates could not have existed without the battalions of minions who performed the tasks that were beneath their masters and mistresses."

Tony Robinson examines some of the terrible tasks in Britain's past, and tries them out to find the worst. He begins with the country's urban history, as he gets a bloody nose as a fighting woman, works as a water caddy and confronts his fear of heights as a fireman.

Tony Robinson researches jobs from the Georgian period (1714-1837).