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Tuesday 8 July
9.00-10.00pm BBC ONE

The excavation of 14th century medieval soldiers alongside Saracen coinage in Somerset leads to the hunt for the True Cross.

Brilliant archaeologist Dr Gillian Magwilde has a passion for history and a hunger for the truth. She’s aided by her loyal team, forensic expert Dr Ben Ergha, eager new intern Viv Davis and the erudite but disreputable Professor Gregory Parton. Read the rest of this entry »

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Bones thought to belong to 18th- century slaves are discovered in the Bristol Channel, as the team of archaeologists, led by Professor Gillian Magwilde, uncover another compelling mystery.

A ship’s bell is also found in the mud flats, linking the bones with the ship The Somerset. Dr Adabankah, a charismatic academic from Ghana, demands that the bones are taken back to their homeland.

Gillian finds there are no records of The Somerset carrying slaves and accounts suggest the ship ended its days in North America, rather than the Bristol Channel. But pages from the ship’s ledger were tampered with in the Sixties. Read the rest of this entry »

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Professor Gillian Magwilde and her team of archaeologists uncover another compelling mystery this week, as the high-risk exploration of secret Celtic chambers beneath the Roman Baths unlocks a love story past and present. The ancient and tragic tale of Celtic Warrior Queen Boudicca and Roman soldier Quintanus is unravelled in the present by Gillian and Ben, who confront their own unresolved relationship amidst dark, claustrophobic chambers.

When an Earth tremor at the Roman Baths dislodges highly toxic gas and the area is evacuated, Gillian has the opportunity to prove to her team that Boudicca was captured and imprisoned by Quintanus. The team’s excavation uncovers 1st-century Celtic metalwork, a jawbone and an Iceni coin bearing the face of Boudicca. Gillian is positive that these are remnants of the Celtic villages described in an ancient text. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tuesday 15 July
9.00-10.00pm BBC ONE

Introduction

From the multi-award-winning co-creators of Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes comes a new BBC One drama that is groundbreaking in every sense.

Bonekickers is a highly original six-part series about a dynamic team of archaeologists, led by Professor Gillian Magwilde (Julie Graham) and featuring Dr Ben Ergha (Adrian Lester), Professor Gregory Parton (Hugh Bonneville), Viv Davis (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Professor Daniel Mastiff (Michael Maloney).

Set against the backdrop of Bath, a city steeped in 3,000 years of history, each week the Read the rest of this entry »

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Publicity-seeking, ambitious and utterly self-obsessed, Daniel Mastiff has slithered his way into the cushy post of Head of Archaeology which technically makes him the team’s boss.

However, secretly everyone knows the real boss is Gillian. Daniel will often attempt to steal Gillian’s thunder or throw spanners in the works but he’s cleverer than one might initially think.

The manner in which he inscrutably promotes his latest book, ‘Sex Rites Of The Ancients’ is indeed layered with egotistical self-interest but he often has another agenda - money and self-preservation for the department.

Daniel is a TV history pundit with a spurious academic background who has indeed re-invented his academic past with a double first.

However, deep down he has a good heart and generally the team find a way to avoid his oddities and continue their work without too much interference. What the team do not fully realise is quite how proud of them he actually is.

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Gugu Mbatha-Raw, best known for portraying Martha’s sister Trish Jones in Doctor Who, plays Viv. She is the new intern who joins Gillian’s group of archaeologists fresh out of university.

Viv is an idealistic enthusiast – wide-eyed and eager. But she also has another, secret agenda, which is linked to Gillian. Viv and Gillian’s destinies are intertwined, and Viv gradually becomes more mysterious and suspicious…

Gugu gives her own description of the character: “Viv tries hard to make a good impression on the team and to get as much experience as possible. So she’s very enthusiastic and keen to fit in. But her relationship Read the rest of this entry »

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Hugh Bonneville plays Gregory, the “walking library”, in Bonekickers.

The character has all the elements of someone who spends too much time at The Bodleian. He is also a womaniser and more than a recreational drinker. He is slightly locked in his own recreational world – like a lot of academics. But above all, he is desperately kind and sympathetic.

Hugh Bonneville has played a vast range of characters in his career, so what was it that drew him to playing Professor Gregory Parton?

Hugh says: “For Gregory, the past is a Read the rest of this entry »

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adrianlester.com

Adrian Lester plays Ben Ergha. Ben is the forensics expert in a formidable and eccentric team of University archaeologists headed up by the brilliant but maverick Gillian Magwilde (Julie Graham).

Ben is Gillian’s rock, a straight-down-the-line guy. They have a history together, which he seems happy to put behind him. However, you sense that he still holds a little candle for her.

Ben’s role is to add energy and moral guidance to the team. If there is a dilemma, he usually comes out on the Read the rest of this entry »

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Julie Graham, one of the most in-demand actresses on British TV, plays Gillian Magwilde, the feisty, inspirational Celt who is heading up the team of archaeologists working out of Bath University.

Gillian is a very instinctive archaeologist; she is unconventional and slightly awkward sometimes, but she always comes up trumps in her investigations.

In addition, she has a history with Ben (played by Adrian Lester), and there is a sense of unfinished business between them…

Julie, who has starred Read the rest of this entry »

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