The Unofficial website for Tony Robinson

News Archive

National Doodle Day: 27th February, 2009
Tony has entered another doodle for the National Doodle Day ebay auction in 2009.

More info here.

Click on the image to see a bigger version.

Cunning Night Out Tour DVD
So how did a man who made his name as a stinking, turnip-loving simpleton crawling through the trenches in Blackadder, hit the big time grubbing around in the mud trying to locate an Anglo Saxon burial ground in Time Team, before achieving superstar status by rolling up his trousers to wade through urine in the Worst Jobs in History?

Packed full of hilarious tales, tender family stories and entertaining historical anecdotes championing the little
guy, Tony Robinson's one man comedy show has sold out at venues throughout the UK. An uproarious, fast paced roller-coaster ride through the twists and turns of his life from the Artful Dodger to Baldrick and beyond.

Special Features include: a Q&A session with Tony including the 'Blackadder Question' and Any Old Iron?

This is available now from Acorn Media UK.

A special behind-the-scenes feature with videos, pictures and a clip from the dvd itself is online here

Click on the image to see a bigger version.

Cheltenham Science Festival 2008
Cheltenham Town Hall, Thursday 5 June, 8.30-9.30pm

Tickets: £10 (£8) Book via their website here.

Tony Robinson digs deep into the world of archaeology with Team Team friend Phil Harding. Share amusing anecdotes and historical tales with the team from Channel 4’s hugely popular series, and uncover a treasure trove of exclusive clips and behind-the-scenes stories.

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Tony Presents '15 years of Time Team'
On the evening of 6 June, 2008 from 7 p.m. onwards, Tony is talking at the World Monuments Fund Summer Party at St George’s Bloomsbury, on ‘15 Years of Time Team’.

There will be drinks and refreshments available on the Portico.
A chance to see the restored interior with rebuilt North Gallery, and a review of WMF projects.

Tickets are available at: £20, £25 and £30: details here.

Click on the image to see a bigger picture.

Tony's Laws - ASBO Poster
Tony says:

"This is a poster we used in 'Tony's Laws' (provisional title), a four-part
series on English Law which I'm currently filming at various locations
around Britain. In Bridlington, the local council has put up posters similar
to this in the town square to name and shame offenders who persistently
break their ASBOs, and we shot a scene comparing this policy with the Norman
custom of putting wrong-doers in the stocks.

I don't yet know when the show will be transmitted but I'll post details
when I have them."

Click on the image to see a bigger version.

Tony Re-opens Underground Passages in Exeter
On Friday 5th October, Tony will be attending the official reopening of the Underground Passages in Exeter.
For more details click here


UK Vaccine Industry Group Campaign Support
Recently Tony lent his support to the UK Vaccine Industry Group Campaign to increase the awareness of the importance of Immunisation.

For more details click here to download the press release.

Dorset Wildlife Trust Art Auction
Tony has contributed a to a celebrity art auction in support of the Dorset Wildlfe Trust.

More details about the Trust here.

Tony on the Radio
Tony on Classic FM

Classic FM had Tony presenting an hour long programme on Saturdays called “Tony Robinson’s Friendly Guide to Music.”

More details here.

Sightsavers Auction - Stars set their sights on reducing global blindness
A shocking 153 million people worldwide are in need of glasses.

George Michael, Ewan McGregor, Sir Michael Caine, Stephen Fry and Kate Silverton are among the list of celebrities who have donated their glasses to Sightsavers International for auction to highlight the plight of those living in darkness because they need a pair of spectacles.  A shocking 153 million people in the world are blind simply because they have no glasses; the majority live in developing countries.   

24 well-known names from the world of cinema, television, fashion and politics have lent their support to Sightsavers' Specs Appeal by donating their old glasses which will be auctioned online on eBay from 15 August.  The campaign has also encouraged the participating celebrities to think about what they would miss most without their specs.

The auction launched on eBay on Friday 15th August at 10am, closing Sunday 24th August at 10am.  The lots available can be viewed and bid for on the sightsavers website.   All glasses start from just £15, the equivalent of ten pairs of glasses in the developing world”. 

Tony has taken part in the campaign by donating a pair of his favourite specs in order to highlight the plight of all the people in the world who lack glasses.

Click on the image to see a bigger picture


Discover Archaeology LIVE: 2-4 May, 2008: Olympia, London
This show, which takes place alongside Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE, is the place to meet leading experts and TV personalities all engaged in this popular historical pursuit!

You'll have the chance to come face to face with leading organisations and groups involved in Archaeology including those that are able to examine and identify your finds.

Plus, we're delighted to have Time Team presenter Tony Robinson making a special appearance at the show to talk about his passion in the subject.

Tony Robinson will be appearing on Sat 3rd May.

National Doodle Day: Friday March 7, 2008
Tony's been doodling for charity again.

Click on the image to see his picture more clearly.

Tony to Open BTTF 2008: 11th & 12th March 2008, in Hall 17 at the NEC Birmingham
British Travel Trade Fair (BTTF), the leading travel trade show promoting tourism in the UK and Ireland, has enlisted Tony Robinson to open this year’s event at the NEC, Birmingham.

Actor and scriptwriter Tony commented: "Britain has been welcoming visitors since the days of the druids, and we're still one of the world's most popular destinations today.

“But often it is people from abroad who explore what Britain has to offer more than we do, which is daft, because the opportunities are endless! It also helps the economy to support our tourism industry, because when we holiday at home a huge range of businesses benefit, from those who provide the accommodation, to local tour guides, bus drivers, restaurateurs, shopkeepers and of course entertainers!

“And don’t forget when you holiday in Britain rather than jetting off to the Continent, you’re doing your bit for the environment!”

BTTF will be officially opened by Tony Robinson along with Margaret Hodge, Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism, and Christopher Rodrigues, Chairman of VisitBritain, at 11am on Tuesday 11 March.


Tony on Tour

Tony Robinson's Cunning Night Out

Tony will be touring again in 2007 with his excellent show.

Click here to go to the Cunning Night Out section for all the latest info.

Tony on TV
The Secrets of Stonehenge - A Time Team Special: Channel 4: Monday, 1st June, 2009, 9pm

For the past 6 years Stonehenge and the surrounding landscape have been at the heart of the world's biggest archaelogical project.
In this Time Team Special we follow Mike Parker Pearson's ground-breaking work and uncover for the first time the story of the entire iconic landscape - and more importantly unveil the who, what, when, where and why of Stonehenge - a monument to the ancestors.
Henry VIII's Lost Palaces: A Time Team Special: Channel 4: Monday 13 April, 2009, 7.30pm

Henry VIII was the most prolific palace builder in the history of the monarchy but four of his five palaces have disappeared.
Marking the 500th anniversary of Henry's accession, Time Team explores the sites of all 5 of these lost Tudor palaces.

The Radio times says:

"Tony Robinson and his experts set out to uncover relics of Henry VIII. Press notes promise the team will reveal surprises about "Henry the architect, designer, sportsman, devout Churchman and European statesman - far from his bad-tempered, murderous and overweight image." (Notice how that suggests rumours of Henry's murderousness and size are no more than tittle-tattle.) If it sounds less nuanced than the Starkey portrait that follows, it will have the advantage of Robinson's engaging style and some interesting digs, including one at Beaulieu in Essex, the first palace Henry built for himself."

Click on an image to see a bigger version of the transmission card.
Time Team: Series 16: Channel 4: Starting Sunday, 4th January, 2009 at 5.40pm.

Tony Robinson leads his legendary troop of archaeologists and experts into battle for their 16th series. This first of 13 new episodes - over which the team increase their tally to digging 175 sites across the country - starts the series on a high.

For the last 15 years, finding even one Roman temple has eluded the team. They are rare and they are often small, lost in the shadows of other larger Roman structures. So when the team travel to a field in Hertfordshire, near the old Roman Road of Watling Street, armed with 30-year-old aerial photographs, they are as enthusiastic as ever....

Pages to accompany the new series will appear here in time for each programme.

Click on an image to see this years transmission card more clearly.
A Time Team Special:

The Lost WW1 Bunker: Monday 10th November 2008, Channel 4, 9pm

Deep beneath one of the bloodiest battlefields of the First World War, Tony joins a team of archaeologists as they excavate a lost British bunker - untouched since the last soldier left it 90 years ago.

They hope the bunker will reveal the secrets of a brutal, bloody and forgotten war, fought deep underground by a secretive and heroic cadre of specialist troops.

Click on an image to see a bigger version of the transmission card.

Unexplained: Channel 4: 29th, 30th and 31st, December, 2008 at 9pm

Tony Robinson and science journalist Becky McCall step into the unknown to investigate whether past paranormal events should be taken seriously or dumped into history's litterbin in this new three-part series. From the archaeological secrets of Glastonbury Abbey to the Bath housewives who claimed to be possessed by the spirits of a 13th Century religious sect, Robinson and McCall try to get to the bottom of classic mysteries with the help of historians, scientists and archaeologists. And, throughout the series, Tony tries out some psychic experiences himself including past-life regression, psychometry, séances and automatic writing.

The Blitz Witch

"Whenever we look at the past, whether it's through history or archaeology, there always has to be a logical, sensible reason why anything happened," says Robinson. "But sometimes you come across an event where, however hard you try, you can't find a normal reason for it, which is why we call these events paranormal. I'm going to look at these phenomena in a really open-minded way to see if I can find out what the truth is."

In tonight's opener, Robinson and McCall investigate the case of Helen Duncan - the Second World War Portsmouth-based psychic who was one of the last people to be jailed under the Witchcraft Act of 1735.

Uncannily accurate, her claims were taken so seriously that MI5 became involved. But was she really a threat to national security and were the ghosts of wartime servicemen telling her secrets she should never have known?
In 1941 Duncan held a séance in which she reportedly revealed secrets about the HMS Barham, a ship that had been torpedoed by a German submarine and went down with all hands. Duncan claimed to have been told that the ship had sunk by a spirit called "Sid" - a sailor from the Barham whose mother was in the séance audience. At this time, the news of the loss of the Barham was a state secret - so how could Duncan have possibly known?

When Duncan revealed that the HMS Hood had sunk - a fact not even known by the Admiralty - the authorities took action. Duncan was arrested and then tried under the Witchcraft Act of 1735 in a show trial at the Old Bailey.
Consulting scientists and psychologists and thoroughly examining the historical data, Robinson and McCall try to get closer to the truth about Duncan. Was she a fraud or simply an elderly lady who had no idea of the implications of the secrets she revealed?

The Ghosts of Glastonbury

Tony Robinson and science journalist Becky McCall continue their investigations into past paranormal events with a look at one of the most controversial archaeological claims of the 20th century in The Ghosts of Glastonbury Abbey. In the early part of last century, respected antiquarian Frederick Bligh Bond published details of his excavations at Glastonbury Abbey and then sensationally claimed they were guided by communications from dead monks.


The Medieval Reincarnation

Tony Robinson and science journalist Becky McCall conclude their investigations into paranormal puzzles from the past with a look at a mysterious claim of mass reincarnation. In the sixties a group of unconnected people recounted their 'past life' dreams to a local Bath psychiatrist.

Click on the image to see a bigger version of the transmission card.
Tony Robinson's Crime and Punishment:

Four-part series in which Tony Robinson goes on a fascinating and sometimes bizarre journey, starting two thousand years ago, to discover the origins of our laws and what we do to people when they break them

Channel 4 Sunday, June 1st, 2008 7:00pm to 8:00pm

Feud Glorious Feud.

In this first programme, Tony looks at the first millennium AD and the waves of foreign invaders that left their mark on the way we organise ourselves and sort out disputes, from Anglo Saxon family blood feuds in which it was perfectly legal to bump off a rival, to a surprisingly sophisticated system of courts and written laws established by King Alfred.

More info in the Telegraph here.
 
The Real Knights of the Round Table, A Time Team Special

Monday 25th February, 2008: Channel 4, 9.00pm

650 years ago Edward III built a huge round building in Windsor Castle. Two years ago Time Team found it. And discovered the Real Knights of the Round Table.

Click on an image to see the transmission card more clearly.
Time Team: Series 15: Starting Sunday January 6, 2008 at 5.45pm

The Time Team industry is in full flow with this new series of 13 programmes subtitled " A national treasure".

Pages to accompany the new series will appear here in time for each programme.

Click on an image to see this years transmission card more clearly.
Codename: Ainsbrook - A Time Team Special - Monday 14th January 2008, Channel 4 at 8.00pm

Two metal detectorists find a huge collection of treasure in a field. This is the story of
what happened next.


Click on an image to see the transmission card more clearly.
Jamestown: America's Birthplace: Tuesday 1st May, 2007: Channel 4: 9.00pm

A Time Team Special.

Click on the image to see the transmission card more clearly.
Britain's Drowned World: Tuesday 24th April, 2007: Channel 4: 9.00pm

A Time Team Special that follows archaeologists as they investigate the lost world of the sunken landscapes under the waters around Britain.

Click on the image to see the transmission card more clearly.
Pugin: The God of Gothic: Thursday 1st March, 2007 at 9.00pm

A Time Team Special

Tony looks at the life and work of Augustus Pugin, one of this country's greatest architects.

Click on an image to see the transmission card more clearly.
Tony's Voice over for the Australian Honda Jazz commercial is now online.

In perhaps one of the most interesting matches of product and 'celebrity' of recent times, Honda has enlisted the services of Tony Robinson to help sell its facelifted Jazz small car.
The new Honda campaign hits Australian televisions to coincide with the launch of the new Thai-built, facelifted 2006 Jazz range this month. Tony Robinson voices the Jazz and other toy cars in the 60-second commercial. The delivery and theme is reminscient of the Thomas the Tank Engine childrens program.

Click here to see it.

Terry Pratchett's Hogfather - Sun 17 December, 2006, 8.05pm & Mon 18 December, 8pm

At last someone has tried and succeeded in filming one of Terry Pratchett's extraordinary Discworld books.

Pratchett's massively popular fantasy fiction books have always seemed too wildly imaginative to be filmed, but advances in special effects have brought Discworld within reach. Pratchett himself is delighted with Sky One's approach to The Hogfather, especially with Sir David Jason playing Albert and Ian Richardson as the voice of Death.

Lavishly produced at a cost of around £6million, the story revolves around the Hogfather, the creature responsible for delivering presents to the world's children during the winter festival of Hogswatch. But this particular year the Hogfather is nowhere to be found. And if the children's presents aren't delivered, the sun won't rise in the morning. And then where will we be?

Luckily help is at hand in the form of Death. Yes, Death. Death is going to don a festive beard, and aided by his trusty manservant, Albert (Jason) he mounts his pig-driven sleigh and sets about getting down the chimneys of all the expectant boys and girls. It's not a role that comes easily to Death, which makes it all the more amusing.

It's a wonderful, original story, beautifully told, full of Pratchett charm and humour. It's a real treat, a different kind of Christmas tale. A seasonal spectacular that will thrill adults and children alike.
Codex:Channel 4 from Sunday 12 November 6.45pm & More4 Sunday 19 November 11.45am

Locked in the British Museum overnight, a team of intrepid contestants must turn historical detectives to crack the mysterious Codex. Along the way they need to solve puzzles based around some of the world's most important and mysterious treasures, including the Rosetta Stone and the Flood Tablet.

More info here.
The Doomsday Code, Saturday 16th September, 2006: 7pm

The Book of Revelation, with its apocalyptic imagery, is one of the most known books of the bible. The Anti-Christ, The Great Tribulation and the blood-soaked Battle of Armageddon are all part of St John's terrifying vision of the end of the world. Tony Robinson uncovers the realities behind the Book of Revelation.

Tony said:
"I travelled to New York, San Antonio, Uganda, the Greek Islands and Israel all in a month, in order to make the programme.
Its about the fact that a lot of right wing American Evangelical Christians believe in the literal truth of the book of Revelation.

This wouldn’t matter, if they were just a bunch of powerless cranks but many of them are key opinion makers in the U.S and have a particular influence on the Republican party in general and George Bush in particular.

For instance they believe that Jesus won’t come again until Israel reigns supreme and the rest of the Middle East is in turmoil. Consequently, they are opposed to any negotiated peace settlement.

In Africa, their missionaries preach that safe sex, school work, indeed anything to do with making this world a better place are not important, because all that matters is preparing yourself for Jesus’ second coming.

The documentary decodes the obscure writings of the book of Revelation, looks at what influence these evangelists have and explains how they have misinterpreted this extraordinary book."
Worst Jobs: Series 2: Channel 4: Sundays from April 23rd, 2006: 5.45pm

This new series of programmes begins transmission later this month...

Click on the image to see a bigger version of the transmission card.
Time Team 2006: Channel 4: Sundays, 2006: 5.55pm

The latest series (13 programmes)!
Of which Steve Platt says: "TT is an industry, not a TV programme."
More info here

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Me and My Mum: Channel 4: 27th March: 9pm

In an intensely moving film Tony Robinson looks at how we care for our parents as they get older. It's a deeply personal issue for Tony, whose 89-year-old mum Phyllis suffers from dementia and lives in a care home.

Tony looks candidly at a concern that will eventually face most of us, but which we prefer not to talk about: the reality of what we should do when our parents can no longer live independently. He explores his relationship with his own children, asking them about their views on his old age in order to examine the decisions he took regarding Phyllis.

Tony also talks to experts, organisations representing the elderly and politicians about the possible solutions. He faces all of this with honesty, wit and a determination to find a solution. And while Tony wonders whether more could be done for his mum, he also appreciates that it may happen to him in time.

Click on the Transmission Card images to see a bigger picture.
The Big Roman Villa: A Time Team Special: Channel 4: 8th January 2006 at 5.55pm

Tony Robinson presents the story of the excavation of a big Roman villa in Somerset, originally discovered by Time Team in 2002 and revisited in 2005. The programme demonstrates how the villa grew from a small farm building to a fine stone building, and how that was expanded again and turned round to face the busy new Fosse Way.
More info here

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The Worst Christmas Jobs in History: Channel 4: Monday 26th December: 8pm

Tony presents an alternative history of Christmas from the Roman puke collectors to the very first Christmas cracker joke writers.

More info here

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Tony Robinson’s Titanic Adventure: Channel 4: Tuesday 20th December: 9pm

Using the latest technology, Tony works with Titanic director James Cameron and his team to give history’s best look yet at the Titanic’s interior.
More info here

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Time Team Special: Journey to Stonehenge: Channel 4: Monday 28th November: 9pm

This summer Time Team filmed a documentary special about the excavations at Durrington Walls, the biggest henge in the country.
This is the third year of a 10 year project thats looking at Stonehenge and the area around and the digging involved mostly university students.
The programme also features what is probably Time Team's best ever reconstruction - the Southern Circle!

More web pages to go with this Time Team Special can be found here.
Click on the image to see a bigger picture
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Edinburgh Fringe Festival Hosts Tony Robinson's Cunning Night Out

Having spent years of his working life uttering the phrase 'I have a cunning plan!' Tony Robinson started to believe it. His one-man show will make you laugh, cry, sing along and retch.

CSSD Centenary Reunion, 2006

To mark their special year, Central School of Speech and Drama hosted a centenary celebration at the Old Vic on Sunday 4 June 2006.
Tony said it was a great event which he really enjoyed and was amazed at just how many people had started from there.

Find their website here.
The Bulmer's comedy festival 2006

The Bulmers Comedy Festival 2006 has been launched with the news that among other items announced and on sale now are live at the Olympia; Tony Robinson's Cunning Night Out, September 7th.


National Doodle Day Ebay Auction from February 23rd, 2007
Tony has been doodling again in a Baldrick type manner!
This is to be auctioned on ebay along with other celebrity doodles and all the proceeds go to charity. There is also a section on the organisers website where you can vote for your favourite doodle.

The National Doodle Day website is here.

Click on the image to see a bigger version.

From 16th April to 28th May, the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is auctioning on eBay more than 40 original, celebrity designed handprint paintings of butterflies. This is to raise money for conservation, and in particular work to protect the beautiful Chalkhill Blue butterfly

Famous names from the worlds of art, showbiz, journalism, and politics have donated their own handprints, transformed into butterflies by painterly effects and in some cases, humorous doodling.
And, of course a very nice picture by Tony...

Handprints by Damien Hirst, recently named the most powerful person in the international art world by ArtReview magazine; Bristol-based Nick Park whose film Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit has been released on DVD; and Jamie Cullum, the jazz maestro from Hullavington, near Chippenham, are among the butterflies that will be fluttering onto eBay during the auction, which will run for six weeks.


Tony Robinson designs Christmas tree decoration for Charity Auction
Phoenix House (a national charity that helps people overcome an addiction problem) has commissioned some of the UK's top celebrities to design a unique 'bird-in-flight' decoration to brighten up your Christmas tree, as part of their Festive Phoenix campaign.

With a selection of decorative pens, celebrities such as Tony Robinson have been flexing their creative muscles by decorating individual Christmas tree hangings to raise money for the work of Phoenix House.

Pictured is the unique 'Baldrick' design - what a fabulous Christmas present!
All tree hangings will be auctioned from 5th to 12th December 2005.

The Festive Phoenix campaign is supported by Altrix Healthcare Plc.

The final and winning bid for this was £12.27

Click on the image to see a bigger picture.

Devon Wildlife Trust Ebay Auction
News just in that an original signed drawing by Tony is going up for auction on Ebay week commencing 14th November.

The drawing has been donated to Devon Wildlife Trust in support of raising funds for wildlife and biodiversity in Devon.

More info available on the Devon Wildlife Trust Website.

The final and winning bid for this was £77

Click on the image to see a bigger picture..

DVD's
The Very Best Time Team Digs.

New DVD will be released on the 21st August 06

This exclusive 3 disc box set features the very best of those digs as chosen by the team themselves. These include; the discovery of the huge Roman villa at Turkdean, the Anglo-Saxon treasures uncovered at Breamore, Time Team's adventures in the Caribbean, an investigation into a crashed spitfire from World War 2, and the dig that no one will ever forget - the mysterious site at, Llygadwy in Wales, where the archaeology seemed just too good to be true. The Very Best Time Digs are introduced and reviewed by Tony and the Time Team.

Also included extra features:

Bonus digs: Turkdean 2 - the only site that was so good that Time Team went back to do more excavation, and Nevis Part 2 - the second half of the teams dig in the Caribbean

2 episodes of Time Team extra - the follow up history programme broadcast in 1998

A new film 'Geofizz Explained', aimed at guiding viewers through 3 very different geofizz techniques regularly used during the Time Team's digs

Click on the image to see a bigger picture.
The Real Da Vinci Code
The Channel 4 documentary film is now available on DVD.

Available from: Play.com