A House Through Time - Episode Guide

In the first episode of this series, David follows the stories of the first inhabitants of the house, those who lived there in the 1840s and 1850s.

In a remarkable piece of historical detective work David discovers how the house came to be built as a merchant's residence by a canny property developer at a time when Liverpool was one of the great trading ports of the British Empire.

He then uncovers the story of the very first tenant, a customs clerk with a taste for fine furniture and the high life, and explores what happened to his lavish lifestyle when the money dried up.

David uncovers the extraordinary stories of a woman widowed in a cholera epidemic who turns the house from a single dwelling into a boarding house.

He follows the trail of an ambitious Jewish immigrant from Denmark, struggling to stay afloat in the midst of a global financial crisis, and then sees what happens to a wheeler-dealer whose job is to enable hundreds of people to make new lives in America.

David also traces the extraordinary story of the Robinsons - a seemingly successful couple in the watchmaking business. For them, the house is the backdrop to a family drama involving violence, infidelity and a tangle with the divorce courts. The story ends on the banks of the River Mersey, where an unidentified body dragged from the water has surprising connections to the house.

Historian David Olusoga follows the story of the house in Liverpool from 1891 to 1945, a turbulent 50-year period encompassing two World Wars and the Great Depression.

He tracks the story of the Snewings, a large family of saddlers who live in the house for over four decades, and follows their business through challenging times - death in the family, cut-throat competition, the First World War and the age of the motorcar.

On the Snewings' death, the Great Depression takes hold and Liverpool's inner city housing begins to decline. David sees the house become a shabby lodging house rented out to low income tenants. Amongs the multiple residents who share the house at the start of the Second World War he discovers Jack Greenall - a docker keeping a secret from his employers - who works in one of the city's most dangerous environments during the height of the Liverpool Blitz.

Finally, David uncovers the poignant story of Robert and Sarah Ann Duffy. Robert, son of a lowly cotton porter, is born in the slums; his wife Sarah Ann, has had an unhappy childhood with her abusive mother. But the two meet and marry, and carve out a successful career in the tailoring business, eventually transcending the tragic circumstances of their pasts.

The story of those who lived in one house, from the time it was built until now. David Olusoga follows the story of the house in Liverpool from 1891 to 1945, a turbulent 50-year period encompassing two World Wars and the Great Depression. He tracks the story of the Snewings, a large family of saddlers who lived in the house for over four decades, and follows their business through challenging times. On the Snewings' death, the Great Depression takes hold and Liverpool's inner city housing begins to decline. David sees the house become a shabby lodging house rented out to low-income tenants. Finally, David uncovers the poignant story of Robert and Sarah Ann Duffy. Robert, son of a lowly cotton porter, is born in the slums. His wife Sarah Ann has had an unhappy childhood with her abusive mother. But the two meet and marry, and carve out a successful career in the tailoring business, eventually transcending the tragic circumstances of their pasts.

David Olusoga pays his first visit to Ravensworth Terrace and investigates a vengeful lawyer, a scientist faced with financial ruin and a doctor entangled in a workhouse scandal.

In episode two, David Olusoga tracks the lives of the residents of Ravensworth Terrace through the turbulent decades from the 1860s to the 1900s.

In this episode, David Olusoga follows the residents of the house through the early 20th century. The house is now being run as a boarding house by 41-year-old single mum Grace Eagle, who lives there with two of her children, Henry and Leonora. Curious to find out more about Grace's circumstances, David uncovers a series of newspaper articles which reveal a furious public dispute about money between Grace and her estranged husband, Henry Eagle.

The final episode begins in 1946. The householders are John Walter and Florence Smyth. They live here with their daughter Myra and rent rooms to lodgers. A collection of family photos picture John Walter and Florence as a well-to-do couple who dote on little Myra. But there is another child in the photograph collection - an unidentified older girl pictured alongside Florence. David is keen to find out who she is.

David Olusoga traces the history of an 18th-century sea captain's house near Bristol's docks with links to the slave trade. Bristol was a major port in the transportation of slaves from Africa's Guinea Coast to the Caribbean, and both the man who built the house and its first full-time resident were heavily involved in the trade. David uncovers stories of piracy, abandoned babies, a household slave who made a daring escape from the property, and a protest on the doorstep as the abolitionist movement gained momentum.

David Olusoga traces the house's fortunes in the 18th and 19th centuries. He begins by investigating the death of owner Joseph Holbrook, and discovering why his daughter was written out of the will. A later resident of the home rises to become mayor in the 1830s, but had to find a way to prevent riots that had ravaged the city years earlier from occurring again. David also delves into the life of a servant who worked in the house in the 1870s, only to leave domestic servitude for an abusive marriage, and discovers how a successful teacher who later owned the house ended up committed to an asylum.

David Olusoga explores the house's history from the 1880s to the First World War, a period that saw the property sliding down the social scale and turning from a family home to a multiple occupancy. He discovers how a resident responded to the death of his baby daughter by opening a milk bar for the temperance movement, only to get into legal trouble for watering down his product. David also discovers the story behind a mysterious occupant who lived in the house under a pseudonym and learns how the battle of Passchendaele changed the residents' lives forever.

David Olusoga traces the lives of 10 Guinea Street's occupants through the Second World War to the present day, discovering stories of love, loss and renewal. In the run-up to the war, the house is occupied by the younger generation of the Wallingtons, the long-term owners of number 10, who move back to the house after several years living in the rural Somerset. The Wallingtons are letting rooms to lodgers when war is declared in 1939, and would have sheltered in their cellar as German bombs rained down on Bristol. Over the 10 months of the Bristol Blitz, the ancient city is devastated and 3,000 houses destroyed. Number 10 itself is almost among them, as a bomb falls directly on Guinea Street, only missing the house by a whisker.

David discovers our house's first resident - idealistic Victorian lawyer William Bruce, who tries and fails to save the life of a man convicted to hang for murder. Decades later Bruce is serving as a Leeds magistrate when a similar case comes before him - can he save a young man's life this time?

Tracking our house forward, David uncovers the remarkable rags-to-riches story of Ann Dawson, who went from working on the factory floor to living in style in Grosvenor Mount. When her husband's business collapses, Ann looks set to lose it all.

Finally, David learns that our house was next home to master builder William Nicholson, founder of a famous dynasty that built Leeds landmarks, including County Arcade. William hands his business down to the next generation, but when Leeds train station is destroyed by fire, can William's grandson ride to the rescue?

A ruthless factory owner is hit by an arson attack, a pacifist couple make a stand and one man sets sail for a life on the glamourous Atlantic liners.

David follows the trails of a traumatised soldier on the run, a family man at breaking point and one resident who developed an interest in the paranormal.

The Second World War puts our residents in danger. Leeds is a shock to a Greek war bride with a tragic past and a return for students who lived here at the Millennium.

David meets the residents of two apartment blocks in London and Berlin. From the ashes of World War I, the Nazi Party emerges, putting some of the families in terrible danger.

In Berlin, an SS officer arrives in the building, and another resident sees the Nazis arrest her new husband. War throws the lives of two London residents into turmoil.

A young poet takes to the skies as bombs rain down on London. In Berlin, one family attempts to flee the country as the persecution of Jewish people intensifies.

One Berlin resident falls under suspicion when a plot to kill Hitler is exposed. In London, one woman waits patiently for news when her husband is captured by the Japanese.