- Title: The Worst Jobs In History - Series 1
- Date: 2nd October 2004
- Description:Tony Robinson looks at our history in a new light,instead of concentrating on the Roman Emperors or the Kings and Queens,this six-part series is about the people who literally made our history. Tony Robinson looks at the jobs on the lowest rungs of the historical ladder and when he has established what he considers to be the worst job in any particular era; he has a go at it himself. (episode six) Tony Robinson concludes his investigation of life in the underbelly of history,finding some rubbish Victorian careers. Dickens and co painted a grim picture of life in Victorian Britain,but the reality was even worse. Behind the triumph of industry and the railways lay a whole host of worst jobs. Tony exhausts himself as a navvy,digging the railways,and chokes as an engine cleaner in an ash-pit. In the poverty-stricken country he discovers stone-pickers,dibblers and bird-scarers,and the ultra-tedious job of herring calling. But even being a rat-catcher was preferable to the scavenging jobs on the streets of London. Tony treads the Thames foreshore in search of the workplace of mudlarks and toshers,and then visits the workhouse to see why people were willing to do almost anything rather than become an oakum-picker within its sinister walls. But the worst job,possibly of all time,beats them all. As social outcasts for centuries,the people who did this job had to endure the stench of a weird cocktail of dog faeces,raw animal hides and acrid lime. Put sunbeds out of your mind as Tony enters the revolting world of the tanner. Produced and directed by Brendan Hughes Presented by Tony Robinson
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Documentary and Factual
- Producer:Spire Films Ltd.
- Programme Episode:Episode 6
- Transmission Date:02/10/2004
- Rights:Worldwide
- Decade: 2000s