''Time Crashers'' is a British entertainment television programme co-produced by

Wall to Wall Media Wall to Wall Media, part of Warner Bros. Television Studios UK (formerly Shed Media Group), is an independent television production company that produces event specials and drama, factual entertainment, science and history programmes for bro ...

and GroupM Entertainment for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. The programme's format sees ten celebrities transported to different historical settings where they experience the life of the 'lower' classes and are set tasks relating to that era. It is presented by

Tony Robinson Sir Anthony Robinson (born 15 August 1946) is an English actor, author, broadcaster, comedian, presenter, and political activist. He played Baldrick in the BBC television series ''Blackadder'' and has presented several historical documentarie ...

and historian

Cassie Newland Cassie Newland is a British archaeologist, Public history, public historian and academic. She is Associate Professor in Cultural Heritage and Director of the Cultural Heritage Institute at the Royal Agricultural University, Royal Agricultural Uni ...

. The first series premiered on Channel 4 on 23 August 2015. The series contained six episodes that were broadcast on consecutive Sundays at 8pm for six weeks.

Production

The production of the first series of ''Time Crashers'' was announced by Channel 4 in August 2014. It was initially described being a week-long celebrity game show with an ultimate winner crowned at the end of the series. By August 2015, Channel 4 described the programme's genre as "entertainment" and the competitive game show element was dropped. Instead, each episode would feature historical "tasks" for the celebrities to fulfil. In production, the Channel 4 factual commissioning department worked alongside the entertainment team to make sure the programme was historically accurate.

Participants

The following individuals were the participants in the premier run of the show: * Keith Allen *

Kirstie Alley Kirstie Louise Alley (January 12, 1951 – December 5, 2022) was an American actress. Her breakout role was as Rebecca Howe in the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1987–1993), for which she received an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 1991. From 1997 ...

Fern Britton Fern Britton (born 17 July 1957) is an English author and television presenter. She co-presented '' Breakfast Time'' in the 1980s, coming to mainstream national attention when hosting cookery game show ''Ready Steady Cook'' between 1994 and 200 ...

Charlie Condou Charlie Condou, (born 8 January 1973) is a British actor, columnist and LGBT rights activist. Condou secured a series of television movie roles during his teenage years in the 1980s. He later had guest roles in British television series during th ...

Meg Mathews Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed N ...

Jermaine Jenas Jermaine Anthony Jenas ( ; born 18 February 1983) is an English television presenter, football pundit and former professional footballer. He played as a central midfielder for English club sides Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hot ...

Louise Minchin Louise Mary Minchin (born September 1968) is a British television presenter, journalist and former news presenter who currently works freelance within the BBC. Beginning in 2012, Minchin was a regular anchor on the BBC One programme '' Breakfa ...

* Chris Ramsey * Greg Rutherford *

Zoe Smith Zoe Smith (born 26 April 1994) is an English weightlifter. In October 2010 she won a bronze medal in the Weightlifting at the 2010 Commonwealth Games – Women's 58 kg, women's 58kg division at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, her ...

Episodes

Each episode focuses on a different period in

British history The British Isles have witnessed intermittent periods of competition and cooperation between the people that occupy the various parts of Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Ireland, the Bailiwick of Guernsey, the Bailiwick of Jersey and th ...

Series 1

Reception

The first episode of ''Time Crashers'' attracted 1.33 million viewers on the Channel 4 HD and SD channels. The second episode attracted 730,000 viewers, and each subsequent episode attracted fewer than 790,000 viewers. Julia Raeside of

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

positively reviewed the first episode and described it as "simple entertainment perfection". She also praised the casting as "outstanding ..These are proper people all and quite the mix." Amy Burns of

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

also gave a positive review of the first episode, calling the programme's format "truly engaging". Michael Hogan of '' The Telegraph'' gave the first episode two out of five stars, saying the programme "wasn’t educational, nor entertaining, and felt stitched together for novelty value". ''Time Crashers'' was featured in Series 6 Episode 1 of the Channel 4 reality show ''

Gogglebox ''Gogglebox'' is a British reality television series created by Stephen Lambert, Tania Alexander and Tim Harcourt, and broadcast on Channel 4. The series documents families and groups of friends around the United Kingdom who are filmed for thei ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 4963252 2015 British television series debuts 2015 British television series endings 2010s British reality television series Channel 4 reality television shows English-language television shows Historical reality television series