Countryfile: The River Leven Through Time
08:05 am - 09:00 am, Sunday, May 24 on BBC Two England (2)
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About this Broadcast
The River Leven Through Time
Season 2026, Episode 1
Anita Rani and Joe Crowley explore the River Leven in Fife, revealing how this industrial waterway shaped communities for centuries and how it is being transformed. Anita joins archaeologists on a major new excavation digging into the river's hidden past, before meeting the people helping reconnect local communities with the water for the first time in generations. At Loch Leven, Joe gets hands-on with one of the river's last working sluices to discover how its waters powered industry, and why it still plays an important role today. Meanwhile, on his farm in the Cotswolds, Adam Henson's annual spring plant surveys reveal how the landscape is changing, year by year
HD
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16x9
Education/Science/Factual Topics
Nature/Animals/Environment
Rural/Agricultural
Cast & Crew
Joe Crowley
(Presenter)
Anita Rani
(Presenter)
Adam Henson
(Presenter)
Mark Beech
(Series editor)
Becky Pratt
(Series producer)
More Information
Did You Know..
Joe Crowley
(Presenter)
Anita Rani
(Presenter)
Born:
October 25, 1977
in
Bradford
Best Known For:
Various presenting roles.
Early-life:
Born Ahita Rahi Nazran in Bradford on October 25, 1977. Anita enjoyed an early taste of broadcasting when she hosted her own show on Sunrise Radio at the age of 14. She went on to attend the University of Leeds before landing work as a TV researcher for the BBC and various independent TV companies.
Career:
Rani soon began to make a name for herself in front of the camera on shows such as The Edit on Channel 5, The State We're In and Poetry Slam on BBC Three and Desi DNA on BBC Two. In 2005, she was a regular reporter on The Cricket Show on Channel 4 and a year later, she co-presented Cricket AM on Sky Sports. In 2009, she began co-presenting Watchdog on BBC One. She took on the role of presenting Four Rooms on Channel 4 in 2011. She has also collaborated with Justin Rowlatt on the documentary travelogues India on Four Wheels, China on Four Wheels and Russia on Four Wheels. In August 2015, it was announced that she would be a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing.
Quote:
'To get to experience a different country in any way is a pleasure and privilege.'
Trivia:
In 2012, Rani won the BBC's Great Sport Relief Bake Off.
Adam Henson
(Presenter)
Best Known For:
Countryfile.
Early-life:
Adam was born in 1966 on the farm where he now works, Bemborough Farm near Guiting Power, Gloucestershire. He spent some time on the Chatsworth Estate before attending Seale-Hayne Agricultural College in Newton Abbot. After graduating, he spent a year travelling through Australia with his friend and later business partner Duncan Andrews. They worked on sheep and arable stations and a kiwi plantation in New Zealand before returning to Australia to plant tea in Queensland.
Career:
Henson's father started the Cotswold Farm Park that he now runs with Andrews. It attracts more than 70,000 visitors a year. Henson made the move to TV in 2001 when he began presenting on Countryfile. Since then, he has worked on Countryfile Summer Diaries, Inside Out, Lambing Live and Radio 4's On Your Farm and Farming Today. In 2013, he worked with culinary writer Nigel Slater on Nigel and Adam's Farm Kitchen. Slater cooked fresh versions of supermarket favourites using produce grown by Henson.
Quote:
'There's not much chance of me becoming a media darling when I have to come back (to the farm) and muck out the pigs after filming!'
Trivia:
In his spare time, Henson enjoys shopping for clothes.
Mark Beech
(Series editor)
Becky Pratt
(Series producer)
