How the Victorians Built Britain

Michael begins his journey by exploring the massive explosion in house-building in the early Victorian period. He reveals how Victorians introduced gas power to the home, transforming the kitchen, lighting, heating and even home entertainment.

Michael Buerk looks at the creation of mass manufacturing, which meant that goods could be produced at a rate that had never been seen before. In Manchester, he learns how engineer George Stephenson created the first intercity railway, so that cotton could be transported quickly and cheaply from Liverpool docks to Manchester's mills. Michael also discovers how the sewing machine - newly created in 1851 - created the rag trade, and visits what was probably the first shopping mall in the UK, the Burlington Arcade in London.