Time Team, the highly successful archaeology tv program on Channel 4 has announced a possible return to the trenches with a crowdfunding Patreon campaign to relaunch the show.
Rumours have been circulating since a statement appeared on the Time Team social media accounts earlier this week, alluding to something “big”.
Time Team first appeared on British television in early 1994, lasting two whole decades until it was cancelled in 2014. The show was created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Sir Tony Robinson, with each episode featuring a team of archaeologists carrying out an excavation over a period of three days.
Over the show’s duration, the most consistent archaeologists and specialists included Mick Aston, Carenza Lewis, John Gater, Francis Pryor, Stewart Ainsworth, and Phil Harding.
When previously quizzed on the possibility of a Time Team return, Francis Pryor told TimeTeamDigital: “I think there certainly is, in a different format perhaps, but there is definitely still a need. There is a huge public interest in archaeology, and I think it should come back.”
Stewart Ainsworth also stated: “Time Team has probably been one of the biggest things that has happened to archaeology for many years – to make archaeology and history accessible, and we need to keep that profile going whatever way we can.”
Tim Taylor, series producer and creator of Time Team made the announcement on the official TimeTeam Youtube channel, which despite the hiatus of the show has still held a loyal strong following. Taylor explained that “firstly, many of you have asked us for a way to bring Time Team back, well, we think we’ve found a way to do this.”
From December 6th, programs from series 12 to 16 will be released on a new Youtube channel called “Time Team Classics” for free, supported with interviews, masterclasses, and insights into how the programs were made, presented by key staff from Time Team on Patreon which will be on subscription.
Taylor added “The more subscribers we get, the more research and development we can invest in the next Time Team, and the more material we can produce. We already have a potential number of sites waiting that we hope to share with you, we hope this will be a start to a great adventure as we discover the secrets of the past and explore new sites, some of which could be in a field near you. Using Patreon and Youtube, gives us the freedom to develop the show the way we, and you want it to go, free from the restrictions of the usual broadcast model.”
Time Team Patreon – Click Here
