Digging for Britain Catch up, Series 12: 3. Island Treasures on BBC 4

Digging for Britain

Series 12: 3. Island Treasures

In this episode, we make a special journey to some of the most exciting archaeological digs on Britain’s spectacular islands. Alice joins a team of archaeologists in Orkney, investigating a tomb as old as the great pyramids in Egypt. The team reveal burial chambers crammed full of whole skeletons, buried nearly 5,000 years ago. \n\nNext, the discovery of a historically important warship 50 miles off the coast of the Isles of Scilly sparks an international effort to preserve and save the wreck. The USS Jacob Jones was the first US ship sunk by enemy action during World War I. So, a dedicated team of archaeologists work with the Ministry of Defence to raise and recover the symbolically important ship’s bell, whilst historian Yasmin Khan investigates exactly what happened on the tragic day when the ship was sunk.\n\nTwo miles offshore in Jersey, a team of archaeologists investigate an intertidal reef known as the Violet Bank - a hidden landscape of jagged rocks and shallow pools, only accessible at the extremely low spring tides twice a month. \n\nMuch further north, in the middle of the treacherous North Sea, we join a team of archaeologists on the Shetland islands, excavating one of the most inaccessible archaeological sites in the whole of Britain - a 38-metre-high rocky headland jutting out into the sea. Precariously balanced on the very top are mysterious traces of an ancient settlement, thought to be either an isolated Christian monastery or a Viking stronghold. And finally, a team of archaeologists make some incredible discoveries about life inside a mysterious Iron Age tower, known as a broch.

Source: BBC 4

Most recent episodes of Digging for Britain

Digging For Britain

Series 11: 6. Forgotten Fortresses And Lost Villages

Digs in the west of Britain reveal a forgotten fortress teetering on the edge of a cliff, evidence of the oldest house in Cardiff and a discovery at a Roman mosaic that shocks t ...

19-08-2026

BBC 4

All episodes

Digging For Britain

Series 11: 3. A Norman Panic Room And A Mesolithic Fish Trap

In the west of Britain, there's a rare medieval cemetery, a disappearing Mesolithic landscape, a mysterious Iron Age burial and the ruins of a Gothic masterpiece.

06-08-2026

BBC 4

All episodes

Digging For Britain

Series 11: 2. Anglo-saxon Gold And Rebellious Nuns

In central England, an RAF airbase with a Roman past, a forgotten medieval nunnery, a gold pendant from a 7th-century grave and a pub with a very long history of hospitality.

30-07-2026

BBC 4

All episodes

Digging For Britain

Series 11: 1. The Roman Emperor’s Bathhouse

Digs in northern Britain reveal a Roman emperor’s lost bathhouse, the sunken treasures of medieval pilgrims and a formidable fortress perched on top of a Scottish mountain.

23-07-2026

BBC 4

All episodes

Digging For Britain

Series 10: 2. Arthur's Stone And A Georgian Mine

In the west of the UK, a spectacular monument older than Stonehenge, a 200-year-old mine trapped in time and a lost medieval friary.

14-07-2026

BBC 4

All episodes

Digging For Britain

Series 10: 1. Roman Towns And Tudor Shipwrecks

Digs in southern England reveal a previously unknown Roman town, a Tudor ship buried beneath a quarry and evidence of Henry VIII’s financial\nforgery under the Tower of Lo ...

07-07-2026

BBC 4

All episodes

Digging For Britain

Series 7: 3. East

Professor Alice Roberts explores this year’s most exciting archaeological finds from the east of Britain. Every new discovery was filmed by the archaeologists themselves, ...

23-06-2026

BBC 4

All episodes

Digging For Britain

Series 7: 2. West

Professor Alice Robert explores this year’s most exciting archaeological finds from the west of Britain. Every new discovery was filmed by the archaeologists themselves, g ...

16-06-2026

BBC 4

All episodes

Digging For Britain

Series 7: 1. North

Professor Alice Roberts celebrates the biggest and best archaeological discoveries of 2018 from the north of the UK. Each digging team has been filming its own excavations, givi ...

01-06-2026

BBC 4

All episodes

Digging For Britain

Series 6: 4. The Horsemen Of Hadrian's Wall

In this special, Professor Alice Roberts reveals the forgotten story of the Roman Army's secret weapon in Britain - their cavalry. These fearsome horsemen were the key to defend ...

25-05-2026

BBC 4

All episodes