| Genre: | Living history |
| Producer: | James Peters |
| Director: | Chris Parkin |
| Executive Producer: | Rachel Morgan |
| Company: | Darlow Smithson Productions |
| Num Series: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 4 |
| Network: | BBC One |
24 Hours in the Past is a BBC One living history TV series first broadcast in 2015. Six celebrities were immersed in a recreation of impoverished life in Victorian Britain. Each of the four episodes represented 24 hours living and working in four different occupations.[1]
A key part of the series was its immersive nature. The four episodes were ostensibly filmed in direct sequence, and the participants lived, ate and slept in the often filthy conditions portrayed.[2]
Living history had become a popular theme in UK TV series at the time, usually involving Ruth Goodman and regular collaborators in a long-term series, filmed in intermittent episodes with a cast of historians. This series took a different pitch, using a continuous filming technique without the respite of hotels between episodes and cast with "the randomest collection of participants" to create an air of surprise at their conditions.
Critical reception was muted. The most scathing description as "frustrating and pointless watching" came from The Guardian.[3]
The most best-known cast member was Ann Widdecombe, a cabinet minister in the Back to Basics government of John Major. Some reviewers saw it as ironic that she took the role of a labour organiser protesting against oppressive employers.[4] [5] Widdecombe denied that any part was scripted and confirmed that all of the grim accommodation was genuine.[6]
Viewing figures were unimpressive. Although it did well against other programming in that slot, its series average of 3.3m (16%) was below the BBC1's slot average of 4.9m for the previous year. Viewing figures for the series dropped from 3.8m for the first episode[7] to 3.2m.[8]