The Worst Jobs in History Episode Guide

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Episode Guide

The Worst Jobs in History: Season 2 (2006)

  • Season 2 Episode 5: The Worst Rural Jobs in History

    In the final programme of the series, Tony Robinson explores some of the most terrible employment opportunities available to those living in rural areas in the past. He tries his hand at being a shepherd boy, nettle harvester, chaff-box boy, sedge cutter and sin eater, and comes across one of his most terrifying jobs - steeplejack - as he tackles the highest spire in Oxford

    Sunday 13th December 7:00am EST - History
  • Season 2 Episode 4: The Worst Maritime Jobs in History

    Tony Robinson examines some of history's least pleasant employment opportunities at sea. He investigates the unenviable roles of liar, underdog, midshipman, flying man, lighthouse builder, gut-girl and stoker, before exploring why some took on the voluntary but extremely dangerous position of lifeboat man

  • Season 2 Episode 3: The Worst Industrial Jobs in History

    Tony Robinson examines some of the worst industry-based employment opportunities in history. He tries his hand at positions such as bridge-builder, soap-boiler, glass-blower, presser, legger and saggar-maker's bottom-knocker, before heading down the mines to experience life as a child hurrier

  • Season 2 Episode 2: The Worst Royal Jobs in History

    Tony Robinson examines the history of employment opportunities in the royal court, including such roles as lance-maker, laundry woman, fireworker and hall boy. He also offers an insight into one of the worst posts - purple maker - in which the worker was given the task of creating purple items by extracting the colour created when shellfish rotted in urine

  • Season 2 Episode 1: The Worst Urban Jobs in History

    Tony Robinson examines some of the terrible tasks in Britain's past, and tries them out to find the worst. He begins with the country's urban history, as he gets a bloody nose as a fighting woman, works as a water caddy and confronts his fear of heights as a fireman

    Sunday 20th December 7:00am EST - History

The Worst Jobs in History: Season 1 (2004)

  • Season 1 Episode 6: Victorians

    Grim occupations in Victorian Britain. Tony Robinson explains that the workhouse was possibly the most infamous place of employment in the 19th century, and a day of picking oakum reveals the full horror of this sinister location. He also tries his hand at digging railways and rat-catching, as well as perhaps the worst job of them all, the tanner - a vocation that brought with it an intolerable stench and guaranteed social rejection

  • Season 1 Episode 5: Georgians

    Tony Robinson examines employment opportunities during Georgian times, from the riding officer whose job was to enforce customs laws, to artists' nude models who were forced to remain in painful positions for hours. Also under scrutiny are the orphaned children obliged to work as scavengers in the Manchester cotton mills, who risked being crushed to death under the enormous machines

  • Season 1 Episode 4: Stuart Times

    Tony Robinson examines employment opportunities during Stuart times, including saltpetre men who collected urine and dug up latrines to gather the gunpowder ingredient potassium nitrate. He also looks at the petardier's assistant, who had to blow the gates off besieged castles, and discovers the modern violin was only made possible because string-makers rummaged for their raw materials in dead sheep's guts

  • Season 1 Episode 3: The Tudors

    Dubious employment opportunities available during Tudor times. Being roasted in a hot kitchen as a spit boy is among the unenviable positions explored by the intrepid Tony Robinson, while the smell of greasepaint did not have much allure for a young actor at Shakespeare's Globe. Not quite at the bottom of the pecking order was the charmingly named groom of the stool - with the sole responsibility of wiping Henry VIII's behind

  • Season 1 Episode 2: Middle Ages

    Some of the least pleasant employment opportunities open to people in the Middle Ages. Tony Robinson discovers how fullers spent their working lives stomping on newly woven cloth in vats of stale urine, while leech collectors risked infection by wading into marshes and letting the bloodsuckers cling to their legs

  • Season 1 Episode 1: Dark Ages

    Tony Robinson presents a series examining some of history's least pleasant employment opportunities. He begins in the first millennium, trying his hand at everyday tasks including back-breaking mining by ancient Roman methods and Saxon ploughing using wooden implements and oxen. He also enters the world of the Viking egg collector, which involved scaling cliff faces in search of guillemot eggs

The Worst Jobs in History: