Saving Britain's Past

Series charting the development of the conservation movement in Britain since the Second World War. Architectural critic Tom Dyckhoff describes how Bath, widely regarded as Britain's most beautiful city, was almost destroyed by Hitler's bombs, before narrowly escaping further damage from developers. Plus, a look at the birth of the listings system.

Series charting the development of the conservation movement in Britain since the Second World War. Architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff visits the most controversial listed building in Britain: the Park Hill flats in Sheffield. Once heralded as the most pioneering public housing scheme in Britain, decades of decline and neglect transformed it into a grim sink estate. Now it's protected by English Heritage and raises questions about what we should be saving for the nation.

Series charting the development of the conservation movement in Britain since the Second World War. Architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff explores the decline of the country house and its fight for survival. He visits Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire to see how its owners have saved a family home from destruction. Features interviews with Sir Roy Strong and the Dowager, Duchess of Devonshire.

Series charting the development of the conservation movement in Britain since the Second World War. Architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff tells the story of the battle for Covent Garden market and how its residents and workers took on the planners and won. For the first time in over forty years, we hear from the main protagonists in the Covent Garden story, all still passionate about telling their side of the story.

Series charting the development of the conservation movement in Britain since the Second World War. Architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff visits Big Pit in South Wales to see how a mining community used industrial heritage to reinvent itself and ended up becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Series charting the development of the conservation movement in Britain since the Second World War. Architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff visits Assynt, a small community in the highlands of Scotland, where the land reform movement began in the 90s. Their struggle to end a centuries old system of private land ownership has raised new problems as they attempt to develop one of the most beautiful parts of the UK.

Series charting the development of the conservation movement in Britain since the Second World War. This is the story of an extraordinary London street. Often fractious, never dull, Brick Lane encapsulates everything that 21st-century multicultural Britain should be. Tom Dyckhoff tells its rollercoaster story through the people who have lived, worked and played there, and asks whose street it is anyway.