The shopkeepers begin their journey in the 1870s, when the high street was born.

Victorian

Factual

Historical

A group of shop-keeping families are transported back to the birth of the high street in the 1870s, and propelled through a century of change, right up to the modern era and the 1970s.

Turn Back Time: The High Street

Series 1

A group of shop-keeping families are transported back to the birth of the high street...

Night Vision

Dermot O'Leary's Taste of Ireland

Dermot O'Leary discovers Ireland's best kept delicious secrets.

Dermot travels south to the coastal enclave of Kinsale, which is known as the gourmet capital of Ireland, to learn about seaweed and go foraging for wild garlic.

The shopkeepers move into the Edwardian era, where the butcher, the baker, the grocer and the ironmonger are joined by a dressmaker. Together they must provide a modern town with the exceptional service and luxuriant shop displays worthy of the Edwardians.

Edwardian

The shopkeepers move into the 1930s, where nostalgia boosts sales for the grocers, while the dressmaker attempts to sell thirties glamour to the town. A fierce rivalry builds between the grocers and the butchers, undermining the community spirit of the high street.

1930s

The shopkeepers and their customers are plunged into World War Two, and for the first time profit isn't everything. The shopkeepers find themselves dealing with rationing, promoting make do and mend, and trying to persuade an entire town to pull together as it would have done sixty years ago.

World War Two

A group of modern shopkeepers live and trade through six key eras of history. It's the end of the journey for the shopkeepers and their customers as they move into the 1970s.

1970s

The shopkeepers and their customers move into the swinging sixties, where big changes hit the high street. The bakers find themselves running a milk bar, the butcher sells hardware and the dressmaker is now running a hair salon. As the shopkeepers struggle with the changes, the town sees first-hand why Britain turned its back on traditional shops and embraced the supermarket.