Further Back in Time for Dinner, BBC2: the Robshaw family relive the 1900s in South London

Social history experiment gives an entertaining insight into the past
Hindsight: the Robshaw family travel Further Back in Time for Dinner
BBC/Wall to Wall/Duncan Stingemore
Ben Travis24 January 2017

The brilliance of the BBC’s ‘Back in Time For…’ format is that it’s so entertaining that you don’t particularly notice you’re watching an educational programme.

Following a vital Brixton edition, the show is back with some familiar faces: the Robshaw family return to go back even further into British history.

After the last Back in Time for Dinner series traced changes in society via food through the 1960s to the present day, Further Back takes the family to the start of the 20th century.

The Robshaws venture to Tooting in South London to experience five decades of British life.

“In the first 50 years of the 20th century, middle class family life was transformed from a world dominated by strict rules of etiquette, where children were seen and not heard, to a more relaxed existence of the kind we enjoy today,” explain presenter Giles Coren.

“I think food was fundamental to those changes, so by sending the Robshaws back to 1900, and fast-forwarding them through five decades and two World Wars, I hope we’ll discover how the food we ate and the way we ate it helped shape the modern British family.”

As ever, there’s a lot to get used to for the family – especially considering how much gender roles have loosened in the last 117 years.

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“I’m a little bit anxious about what will be inside our new home,” admits mum Rochelle. “I’m worried I’m going to find myself, well… in the kitchen.”

Then there’s daughter Ros who is concerned about the lack of entertainment in the early decades: “I’m worried about having to sit and sew and cook, because that would just drive me absolutely mad.”

Getting the shortest straw is 19 year-old Debbie – who’s not part of the Robshaw family, but will act as their maid, cooking meals and taking on tasks and chores around the house.

Further Back in Time for Dinner is a trip worth taking – and the Robshaws are excellent company.

BBC Two, 9pm

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