Talk / Reality / Documentary
In the show, selected applicants each present a curiosity, rarity or antique they have brought with them. Once they have received their expertise, they will have the opportunity on site to offer their exhibit to a changing five-person podium for sale and, ideally, to sell it to…


Self - Host

Voice

During the turbulent 19th century, a number of brilliant French artists developed the Romantic movement in Paris: writers Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, George Sand, Honoré de Balzac and Charles Baudelaire, painter Eugène Delacroix and composer Hector Berlioz, among others, changed the way of looking at art and created enduring works that have inspired the world to this day.

Modern day treasure hunter, Drew Pritchard is one of Britain's leading architectural salvage dealers, traveling the length and breadth of the country in search of weird and wonderful objects. Drew loves the thrill of the hunt and while he gets his hands dirty in the country's architectural backwaters, a crack team of restorers are back at base giving old and rare finds a new lease of life. We've seen them at work on Salvage Hunters, restoring, repairing and refining Drew's finds but for the first time, Salvage Hunters: The Restorers is going behind-the-scenes with this expert team to see what it really takes to transform junk into gems.

Architectural salvage expert Drew Pritchard looks back at the most eccentric characters, the hardest hagglers and the most extraordinary places he's hunted for antique treasure. Drew gives us the inside track on his wheeling and dealing, the stories behind his picks, as well as top tips about salvaging and how to get the best deals.

In his most personal project to date, Simon Schama looks back at the dramatic history that has played out in his lifetime. Best known for writing history, he has lived a fair bit of it too. Born in 1945, on the night of the bombing of Dresden, Simon grew up as part of a generation determined to rebuild the world from the ashes of war. In this film, he reveals the stories of artists and writers who have been at the forefront of the fight for truth and democracy, often at great personal cost.