David Olusoga, presenter of BBC Two's A House Through Time, has reflected on the show's enduring appeal as its sixth series prepares to air. Nearly a decade after the first series was commissioned, Olusoga admits he initially doubted whether audiences would find a programme focused on a single house compelling.
From Doubt to Devotion
Olusoga, who studied urban history for his master's degree, was drawn to the show's central premise: exploring the histories of Britain's great cities through the people who lived in one house. However, during filming of the first series, set in 62 Falkner Street in Liverpool's Georgian Quarter, he worried that only historians would find it interesting.
He was wrong. Fans now stop him in the street to ask when the next series will air, a question he says is almost always the first one asked. Even his appearance on The Celebrity Traitors has not overshadowed the show's popularity.
What Makes Old Houses Magical
Olusoga says he now understands what he missed a decade ago: the deep connection people feel to homes with long histories. He describes such houses as magical places, where residents wonder about the lives of those who came before them.
The show reveals human stories in incredible detail, reminding viewers that houses outlive their inhabitants. Each person's time in a home is just one chapter in its longer story.
Only TV Could Make This Show
Olusoga also appreciates that A House Through Time is a programme only television, specifically public service TV, could produce. It invests time and money to uncover history at a granular level, believing that stories of ordinary people can grip millions.
The show assembles teams of researchers and producers who track down thousands of documents, often making breakthroughs in the final weeks of filming. This pattern continues in the new series, set in an 18th-century house on Calton Hill in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh's Unique Setting
Olusoga had long wanted to bring the show to Scotland. Edinburgh, with its castle atop an extinct volcano and dramatic topography, rivals Cape Town, Hong Kong, and Rio de Janeiro. Its scarcity of space led to a vertical city of stone tenements, some over 10 floors, described as a medieval Manhattan.
The featured house is one of Edinburgh's smaller tenements, built over five floors. Its residents include a man involved in a bizarre trial, a woman who ran a house of ill-fame, and a sculptor whose monuments still dot the cityscape.
The series plays a small part in the expansion of history, which now includes social, working-class, women's, and imperial history. Genealogy has turned millions into amateur historians, making all ancestors worthy of study. A House Through Time airs on BBC Two on Thursday 13 August at 9pm.
