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Victorian Life

In this six-part course, discover everything you need to know about Victorian Britain, guided by historian Ruth Goodman and filmed on location at Black Country Living Museum.

Nov 4, 20241 seasons6 episodesEndedEN

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Ruth Goodman

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Seasons

Season 1

6 episodes

Premiered Nov 4, 2024

Episodes

1–6 of 6

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Ep 1

Victorian Life

Nov 4, 2024

Historian Ruth Goodman discusses the normal routines of life in Victorian Britain – from washing and dressing, to eating and sleeping – and how this differed for people from different walks of life.

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Ep 2

Victorian Leisure

Nov 11, 2024

Historian Ruth Goodman explores exactly how little leisure time most people had in the 19th century – and what they did with those precious snatched hours.

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Ep 3

Victorian Education and School

Nov 19, 2024

It was in the Victorian period that school shifted to becoming a more universal experience. Ruth Goodman explores the Ragged school movement, the social mobility that schooling offered and how the classroom was a different experience depending on whether you were a boy or a girl.

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Ep 4

Victorian Healthcare

Nov 26, 2024

In week four of our course on Victorian Britain, Ruth Goodman explores the great strides in healthcare that took place in the 19th century – from the move towards clean water supplies and improved waste disposal, to antiseptics in hospitals and in the home and the impact of germ theory on life expectancy.

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Ep 5

Victorian Working Life

Dec 5, 2024

In week five of our course on life in Victorian Britain, Ruth Goodman explores how the 19th century saw work change for most of the population, with shift working made possible by gas light, a new adherence to fixed hours of work and a fierce concentration upon a smaller number of tasks whilst at work. She also looks at the slow movement towards protection for workers, including children.

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Ep 6

Victorian Family Life

Dec 11, 2024

In the 19th century, men took more control at home than at any other time in history. In the final episode of our course on Victorian life, Ruth Goodman discusses the ‘male breadwinner pattern’, the employment of boys and its impact on family life, as well as how Victorians controlled the size of their families.