Restoring England's Heritage

Historian Tom Holland visits an endangered windmill stranded in a back garden in East Sussex and a dockyard church in Sheerness, both battling for survival and on the English Heritage 'at risk' list in the South East. Tom also spends a night in Hadlow Tower, a heritage success story. Taller than Nelson's Column it was close to collapse in the year 2000 but after an imaginative rescue plan it's now earning its keep as luxury holiday accommodation.

Should we save the beautiful or the useful? Chris Jackson sets out to investigate how we decide which of our historic buildings should be preserved for future generations. Gayle Mill in Wensleydale, a finalist in the 2004 Restoration series, shows what can be done to bring history back to life. In a journey across the North, Chris assesses the plans for Dunston Staithes in Gateshead, The Old Station Goods Yard in Hexham, the Union Bridge in Horncliffe, and Kirklinton Hall in Cumbria.

John Sergeant finds out what's being done to save some of our best loved heritage at risk. Windmills, wartime defences, seaside landmarks and churches are all part of what makes the East special. But it's a challenge to find a future for old buildings which may have out-lived their original purpose. John Sergeant goes in search of the people who are passionate about our built heritage and finds out how they are saving it. Bawdsey Radar Station in Suffolk just missed out on winning the BBC Restoration programme, in which the audience selected which buildings to support, 10 years ago. We return there to find out if the local community has finally managed to secure its future. John travels to Great Yarmouth in Norfolk to uncover the remarkable story of the Winter Gardens and the ingenious solutions to save it. He also visits Stevens Mill in Burwell Cambridgeshire, where traditional skills and enthusiasm have helped secure a future for an iconic landmark and Clophill in Bedfordshire to see how eco tourism has given a new life to a ruined church.

The bell is tolling for hundreds of historic buildings in a desperate state of decay and dereliction - but can they be saved in time? Selina Scott looks at the East Midlands buildings that are on the restoration critical list and examines what the future holds for them.

Alistair McGowan journeys through the West Midlands to uncover iconic and historic buildings which are in critical need of renovation. In Restoring England's heritage he goes on a personal crusade to the cinema in Evesham he and his sister spent Saturday mornings in, an arts school in Birmingham and a tea pot factory in Staffordshire.

With hundreds of London's historic buildings at risk of destruction, Gyles Brandreth reports on the battle to save the capital's rich heritage from the scrap heap.

Historian Tom Holland visits a hospital built in memory of an explorer killed by an elephant, the location of the earliest iron industry in the country and a Portsmouth theatre with an unexpected connection to Ayers Rock in Australia - three important sites on the English Heritage at risk list in the South and all fighting for survival.

With limited public funds available for restoration, architect Jeremy Gould tours Devon and Cornwall's crumbling historic buildings and asks what's worth keeping and what should be left to go to ruin.

The West of England is home to some of the nation's most treasured historical buildings, but also some of its most endangered. Jules Hudson visits some of the most at-risk buildings in the region to explore whether there is any hope for their restoration, particularly at a time when public and private money is in short supply.

In a special report Louise Minchin investigates our heritage at risk in the North West, and asks is it too late to save some of the regions finest historic buildings from ruin. Along the way she joins the congregation who meet in a tent inside Liverpool's oldest church; the ancient monument in a St Helens supermarket car park, and the fight to save the forgotten First World War aircraft hangars in a field in Ellesmere Port.

John Sergeant goes on a journey through Yorkshire and Lincolnshire to look at some of its endangered historic buildings and some which have been restored to their former glory. He travels from Whorlton Castle in North Yorkshire to Wentworth Castle near Barnsley. He discovers a campaign to save the country's only ice factory in Grimsby and visits a lovingly restored mill near Spalding.