Great Western Coffee Shop

DOCUMENTARY: Full Steam Ahead
 On: BBC 2 (2)
 Date: Thursday 21st July 2016
 Time: 20:00 to 21:00 (1 hour long)
 
 Series exploring the golden age of steam. Historians Ruth Goodman, Alex
 Langlands and Peter Ginn explore how the introduction of steam railways in
 the early 19th century changed Britain. 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.
 (Stereo, Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, Episode 1)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Excerpt taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from


 

According to Radio Times there are six episodes in the series (at weekly intervals).

Now that Digiguide have stopped their weekly highlights email I'm guessing that you either stumbled upon this by accident or heard from another source. I miss those emails. I now have to scan the schedules in case there's something I might want to watch or record. I hope I don't miss too many good programmes.

I spotted it in the new Radio Times and then looked on Digiguide for more information.

Recording machine set!

This has also been heavily trailed on BBC2 and BBC4 for a few weeks now.

Full marks for full steam ahead ! I thought it was excellent in every detail. From long lost working and domestic practices to great period detail and super shots of moving steam trains. For someone who is more interested in the social history and effect of the coming of the railways, rather than every nut and bolt in engineering, it was right up my street !

No spoilers please - I haven't watched it yet.

There is a 'spoiler' button that the Admins might make available - it hides all test within the parameter, so can be exposed by clicking on the button, but stats hidden to those that don't click.

Tip-top.

Rather put that Trainspotting programme into perspective. What a load of rubbish that was. Mind you I only gave it ten minutes by which time I was behind the sofa in embarrassment, and then switched over for a bit of culture - Big Bang Theory, or at least it seemed like culture after that ! Never saw a good word written about it.

That would be a patch on the version we're running.  I'm not inclined to start patching the code for this;  yes, of course it would be nice but members are hardly banging at my door looking for it, or liking your suggestion.

....reminds me of the famous edition of "The Likely Lads" when Terry and Bob were desperately trying to avoid finding out the football results!  ;D

Errr.....well, maybe stay away from this thread until you have then? :-)

Which  I did, meaning that I saw the very good programme before reading your by then redundant advice

Every bit as good as programme 1. No spoilers this time. And what a way to bring up my 600th post !

Episode 2 very good, but did I pick up a slip of the tongue?

When showing a still the commentator said you had to be careful if you distilled alcohol because you got Ethanol which makes you blind. If I remember back to school chemistry lessons I thought it was Methanol which caused all the problems.

I've played it back once and I'm sure he said Ethanol!

He did - poor proof-reading (or is it proof-listening?).

If ethanol had that effect there would be a lot of blind people around since that is the alcohol we drink normally.  It is methanol - or rather its metabolites, that causes blindness. 

And yes I agree he did say ethanol.

Definitely said ethanol! I am now up to date with the two episodes - nothing we didn't know before, but very enjoyable.

Thought I would let the series finish before I made any further comment. I found the whole series hugely enjoyable and it was a refreshing change to have the social impact of railways examined so entertainingly. The last episode tied up so many loose ends very successfully and I thought the presenters were very knowledgeable and very well chosen. The carefully staged sets, and attention to detail were well thought out, and really did make that awful trainspotting live programme look shambolic and amateurish. I now have the book (£8 from Amazon instead of £25 from the Beeb/OU).

You are apparently very chuffed, chuffed!  ;) :D ;D

Not as as chuffed as me because I will borrow it from him for free!  ;D ;D ;D

I too thought it a really first class programme and learned things I didn't know which is always a bonus.  The production values were high and the research up to the standard of something part financed by the OU.

My only irritation was with the director who seemed to insist that when not engaged with each other, the presenters talked to someone just off camera and not to the viewer.  Not sure what that was all about. Nevertheless, a most enjoyable series, which no doubt contributed to the coffers of the large number of heritage railways that were used.

It seems to be a technique used by some, not by others. If you watch a Jamie Oliver cookery programme, you'll see it there too.