Full Steam Ahead

About this Broadcast

Season 1, Episode 5

The historians explore the life of the South Devon branch line before the Beeching cuts of the 1960s. Peter Ginn joins a footplate crew and receives coal-shovelling tips from a veteran steam engine driver of 63 years' experience, and with Alex he learns about one of Scotland's most lucrative exports. Ruth Goodman finds out about the dangers involved in working on the Victorian railways, and how those who lost limbs were catered for by a dedicated prosthetics workshop. She also discovers how the railways came to the rescue when a deadly disease wiped out almost the entire stock of London cattle

Education/Science/Factual Topics History

Cast & Crew

Ruth Goodman (Presenter)

Alex Langlands (Presenter)

Peter Ginn (Presenter)

Emma Randle-Caprez (Producer)

Georgina Stewart (Producer)

Stuart Elliott (Series producer)

Nick Catliff (Executive producer)

Guy Scutter (Editor)

More Information

Did You Know..

Ruth Goodman (Presenter)

Best Known For: Victorian Farm.

Early-life: Ruth was born in 1963. She made her TV debut in Tales from the Green Valley, which saw her spending a year reconstructing and maintaining a 17th-century farm with archaeologists Peter Ginn and Alex Langlands.

Career: In 2009, Goodman was part of a team that recreated everyday life on a small farm in Shropshire in the mid-19th century in popular BBC series Victorian Farm. Her other TV projects on similar lines include Edwardian Farm, Tudor Monastery Farm and Wartime Farm. She has also presented Coast and 24 Hours in the Past. Away from her TV work, Goodman works with a range of institutions and museums such as The Weald and Downland, The Globe Theatre, and the National Trust.

Quote: 'We matter. How our ancestors - ordinary men, women and children - solved the nitty gritty problems of everyday life made the world what it is today.'

Trivia: In 2012, Goodman was awarded an Honorary Degree from Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln.