Time Team - Season 17

Surrounded by the sites and sounds of Parliament Square the archaeologists have three days to pin down the location of a lost sacristy and uncover the Anglo Saxon origins of the Abbey.

Time Team descend on the Isle of Mull at the invitation of two local amateur archaeologists to investigate a mysterious set of earthworks in a forest near Tobermory. Could they be the remains of a chapel from the time of St Columba?

Tony Robinson and the Team get their feet wet as they examine a stretch of the River Tees where local divers have found over 2000 Roman finds. With part of the site beneath the water some of Time Team's finest have to squeeze into wet suits and brave the fast flowing river. They are joined by English Heritage's Ben Robinson.

The Team tries to locate one of the rarest of archaeological sites – an Anglo Saxon royal complex. Aerial photos suggest this empty Oxfordshire field could have been the home of royalty over a thousand years ago, but is it ever that simple? The Team travel to Sutton Coutenay (actually Drayton, Oxfordshire) in Oxfordshire to excavate an old Saxon settlement. The area is known from photos of crop markings, and there is a suspicion the holy grail of archeology may be found, a royal Saxon Hall.

The team visit the remains of Hopton Castle in Shropshire and attempt to put together a piece-by-piece reconstruction of the battle which took place there during the English Civil War.  Hopton Castle was the site of a massacre during the English civil war. There is only one account of the battle and subsequent slaughter of the defenders. The Time Team decides to investigate the site and try to establish how much of the account is actually true.

The team have been unearthing the remains of Cunetio, a Roman town in Mildenhall. It is the first proper excavation of the town in over fifty years.  In 1940 aerial photos of a field revealed the location of a lost Roman town. Later huge coin hoards were found and the Time Team decide to explore why the money was there and what was the towns real function.

Tony, joined by English Heritage's Ben Robinson and others, explores the world's first built prisoner of war camp.  Norman Cross is possibly the world's first purpose built POW camp. Although the site was closed in 1816, no archaeological work has ever been done. The Time Team have three days to discover and map the shape of the camp and uncover what life was like for POWs during the time.

Tony Robinson and the Team find themselves lost in the mists of a Welsh forest as they investigate one of the biggest castles in Britain. Their task is to investigate the castle's mysterious interior and find out how this impressive structure fitted into a network of fortresses built by powerful English barons 700 years ago.  The team goes to an enigmatic castle site in Wales. The layout of the walls and the central keep are well understood at Tregruk Castle, but there are huge blank spaces within the wall that seem to have had no purpose.

The Team visit Portsmouth to try and uncover one of the city's oldest buildings - a medieval hospital. But after three days of bone-chilling weather and confusing archaeology can the Team work out what stood on Governor's Green over 500 years ago?  The Governor's Green is an historic part of the ancient city of Portsmouth. Before the Governors house was built in the 18th century a series of churches and pilgrims hospitals were on the site. And this is what Time Team wants to explore.

The Team descend upon the Oxfordshire town of Burford to respond to very special challenge - from Time Team's own Professor Mick Aston. They have just three days to uncover a medieval hospital under the front lawn whilst searching for Anglo Saxons in the vegetable garden.  After a chance discovery of Saxon pottery in the town Burford, the Time Team attempt to unravel the history of this medieval town. With the help of a group of school children they put together a time line 1500 years long.

But has 18th-century quarrying destroyed all meaninful evidence? Ben Robinson supervises this dig in the absence of Mick Aston. The end results are shown to the appreciative villagers.  A hundred years ago digging in an open field suggested the remains of a large Roman villa could be found near the town of Litlington. As always nothing is as it seems when the Time Team become involved.

Tony and the Time Team climb a remote Herefordshire hill to investigate one of the biggest prehistoric sites ever featured. Was Dinmore Hill the site of a vast Iron Age hill fort? Needless to say Stewart doesn't think so. He is going with a much earlier cross-ridge dyke. To prove it one way or the other they need dateable finds. But the dig is hampered by torrential rain. Despite this they uncover a huge, magnificent ditch, which must have been dug by thousands of people during the Iron Age. The team are joined by historian Bettany Hughes, Hereford county archaeologist Keith Ray and environmental archaeologist Mike Allen.

An eagle-eyed forest ranger spotted bits of Roman building poking out from the forest floor in Cambridgeshire's Bedford Purlieus Wood. And cutting-edge aerial visualisations reveal evidence of a complex of building foundations hidden in the woods. Tony and the Team investigate what these buildings were and why they were here. It's a straightforward question, but the dig is one of the most challenging of the series: it's almost impossible for geophysics to operate in the cramped woodland environment; the diggers can't see each other's trenches for the trees; and a thick layer of autumn leaves add to the general disorientation. But the Team manage to uncover substantial buildings, intricate finds and what looks suspiciously like a statue. Over three days they piece together a tale of Roman industry and trade, and what may be the key to understanding the site: the presence of a fancy bath-house.