Full Steam Ahead - Season 1
Season 1
Episodes
Episode 1
In the middle of winter, the team arrive at the Ffestiniog Railway in Snowdonia to find out how millions of tons of slate were moved down the mountain. Underground, Alex experiences the brutal conditions faced by miners in Llechwedd quarry who would have endured 12-hour shifts suspended from iron chains. At Foxfields Railway in Staffordshire, built to transport coal to the nearby mainline, Ruth gets on the loco's footplate as it is driven up the steepest railway in Britain. Coal was to change everything in our day-to-day lives, right down to the way we cooked, the shape of our pots and the role of women who had to deal with the tyranny of keeping clothes clean in this dirty industrial world.
Episode 2
Series exploring how the expansion of railways in the Victorian era transformed Britain. Historians Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn visit Beamish in County Durham to examine how railway companies began to develop ways of moving people, rather than just stone, coal and iron, around the country. The comfort of the early passenger wagons are put to the test. The team then visit a refreshment room, discover the downside of compartment-only carriages and investigate how travellers made do without modern conveniences. There is also a look at the impact of railway construction on cottage industries, the important role of the train guard, and the harsh life of navvies who grafted tirelessly to lay the miles of track.
Episode 3
Series exploring how the expansion of railways in the Victorian era transformed Britain. Historians Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn find out how the railways transformed the British diet, rescuing a nation that was struggling to feed itself. Alex and Peter load a flock of sheep onto a train, discovering how the mass transportation of livestock by rail transformed the quality and quantity of meat available to Victorian consumers. Ruth follows in the footsteps of Britain's herring girls, revealing how the North Yorkshire Moors Railway revived the fortunes of Whitby, turning it into a thriving fishing town. Alex looks at how pioneering farmers attempted to use steam power to increase production. Peter discovers how steam-powered engines revolutionised production at Britain's oldest brewery. In Yorkshire, Ruth sees how farmers created a monopoly on rhubarb. Meanwhile, Alex boards a locomotive on the watercress line in Hampshire.
Episode 4
At the National Railway Museum, Alex and Peter help get the most famous locomotive in the world, the Flying Scotsman, into steam. The team take a ride of a lifetime as the loco travels along its original route, connecting London and Edinburgh, and Alex finds out what it is like for catering staff with 250 hungry mouths to feed. Peter heads to the Great Central Railway to find out how the railways revolutionised the delivery of mail right across Britain and is put to task on the travelling post office. Ruth finds out what the role of the wheel-tapper entailed and helps to tyre a wheel with a steel band at the South Devon Railway workshop. In Bristol, Alex discovers how the railways were responsible for bringing the nation into sync, as he visits a clock with two minute hands. Meanwhile, Peter learns how the railways brought Britain current news for the first time.
Episode 5
In this episode, the team head to the South Devon Railway to explore the life of the branch line before the Beeching cuts of the 1960s. Ruth hand-milks a local breed of cow and discovers how the railways came to the rescue when a deadly disease wiped out almost the entire stock of London cattle.
After undergoing an eyesight test, Victorian-style, Peter joins the footplate crew on the South Devon line. But it is not all plain sailing when it comes to driving the milk train through the night. We meet Dave Knowling, a steam-engine driver of 63 years' experience, who shows Peter how it is done and why it is so important to keep one eye closed when shovelling coal. Working on the Victorian railways was dangerous - 500 lost their lives and 16,000 were injured in one year alone. Ruth discovers those who lost a limb on the Great Western Railway were catered for by a special prosthetic limbs workshop.
Alex and Peter take a trip to Strathspey Railway and find out about one of Scotland's most lucrative exports, while at the Gwili Line, Ruth finds out why a young, Welsh entrepreneur became the first person to introduce mail order catalogues - thanks to the railways.
Episode 6
In the final episode, the team find out how the combination of increased leisure time and affordable rail transport brought a new kind of freedom for working-class Victorians. Ruth travels along the beautiful south Devon coast from Paignton to Kingswear, where she helps get a paddle steamer prepared for a journey up the River Dart.
At Swanage, Peter finds out what it was like to work on the excursion trains and the impact mass tourism had to the area. Alex discovers how railways enabled geologists and amateur fossil-hunters to explore Britain's prehistoric past. In the heart of the capital, Ruth visits the landmark hotel built by the Midland Railway at St Pancras Station and finds out how the railways made London a tourist destination before embarking on a Victorian shopping spree. The steam fair comes to town and Peter helps prepare the gallopers while Alex takes to the road in a steam car and discovers just how fast they could go.
Recently Updated Shows
Animal Control
Animal Control is a workplace comedy following a group of Animal Control workers whose lives are complicated by the fact that animals are simple, but humans are not.
Doc
Doc centers on the hard-charging, brilliant Dr. Amy Elias, Chief of Internal and Family Medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis. After a brain injury erases the last eight years of her life, Amy must navigate an unfamiliar world where she has no recollection of patients she's treated, colleagues she's crossed, the soulmate she divorced, the man she now loves and the tragedy that caused her to push everyone away. She can rely only on her estranged 17-year-old daughter, whom she remembers as a 9-year-old, and a handful of devoted friends, as she struggles to continue practicing medicine, despite having lost nearly a decade of knowledge and experience.
Ridley
Ridley follows charismatic Detective Inspector Alex Ridley, who is retiring from the police after years of dedicated service. After twenty-five years as a homicide copper, Ridley has been nudged out of the job he loves. But the prospect of retirement is not a particularly welcome one as he's been cut off in his prime. Ridley's replacement is Acting DI Carol Farman, his former protégée whom Ridley mentored for many years. When he's enlisted by Carol as a police consultant on a complex and compelling murder case, the investigation takes a dark and unexpected turn. Turning to her old mentor for support, Carol is keen to access Ridley's unique insight into crime-solving which has served them so well in the past.
Super Pumped
The Battle For Uber tells the story of one of Silicon Valley's most successful and most destructive unicorns, Uber. The season pivots on Travis Kalanick, Uber's hard-charging CEO who was ultimately ousted in a boardroom coup, and his sometimes tumultuous relationship with his mentor Bill Gurley, the plainspoken, brilliant Texan venture capitalist who bets his sterling reputation on Uber's success - and then has to live with the consequences.
Unforgotten
Unforgotten focuses on ‘cold' murder cases. Each series deals with a new case, introducing seemingly unconnected characters who are gradually revealed to have some relationship with the victim. As the murder mystery unfolds, the emotional ramifications of the crime on the lives of those affected are also explored.