Grave Trade

T. Cribb and Sons celebrate their 130th anniversary with an open day but how will the public react and crucially, will anyone actually turn up? Funeral director Marcus is put to the test as he conducts one of the biggest East End funerals of the year, with over 500 people in attendance. Meanwhile, an archaeology team in West Bromwich unearth the secrets of burials from the past. They uncover a mortsafe, a device designed to protect a coffin from body snatchers in a Victorian graveyard.

The relationship between money and death stretches back to the beginnings of our history. Whilst the team at Cribb’s are tasked with the biggest East End send-off money can buy with a gold-plated coffin costing over £20,000, archaeologists in Cambridgeshire uncover an ancient burial site that could be stuffed with treasures.

Every generation and culture has its own rituals when it comes to death. Whilst the staff at Cribb’s arrange an all-night traditional Filipino vigil and the funeral for a man who is to be interred in a catacomb, archaeologists in the heart of London reveal the historical rites of passage in the ancient burial grounds beneath London’s streets. Meanwhile, Cribb’s offer newcomer Jodie an eye-opening experience as she carries out her first embalming procedure.

Death is very much a family affair; whilst archaeologists in Cheshire unearth a remarkable double burial in a medieval site, Cribb’s must orchestrate a double funeral for elderly sweethearts who died within days of each other. Meanwhile, a new member of the Cribb’s team faces an emotional test in his first time as a funeral conductor in the UK. Patrick has chosen to conduct the service of his own uncle, but with his family to guide and a eulogy to read, will he cope with the emotion of the occasion?

Death becomes a celebration of life, as Cribb’s hold a funeral for a famous son of the East End, whilst archaeologists in Wales unearth the secrets of a 6,000 year old tomb and discover how our ancestors celebrated their dead. Back in London, Cribb’s look to invest in the changing style of funerals, spending over 1.5 million pounds on a new fleet of hearses.

In Winchester archaeologists uncover the beginnings of a modern approach to death at the site of a 12th century leper hospital, whilst in London Cribb’s look to the future. The team embraces the demands of the multicultural world around them, conducting a traditional gypsy funeral and organising a repatriation to Nigeria. Meanwhile, the next generation is put to the test as funeral director Carlene opens her own branch.