Back in Time for...

Lore & Background

The first series, Back in Time for Dinner, aired from 17 March 2015 and centred on the Robshaw family trying foods from the second half of the twentieth century. Each hour-long programme covers one decade, and the family's own kitchen, dining, and living rooms were re-designed each week. The second series, Back in Time for the Weekend, featured the Ashby Hawkins family experiencing leisure time from the 1950s to the 1990s. A two-part Christmas special titled Back in Time for Christmas was broadcast on 14 and 15 December 2015, featuring the Robshaw family trying Christmas food from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s (Episode 1) and the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (Episode 2).

Reader's Guide

The series expanded to cover diverse perspectives. A special edition titled Back in Time for Brixton, aired in November 2016, focused on a black British family called the Irwins through 60 years of cultural and social shifts, charting the story of African-Caribbean immigration. Further Back in Time for Dinner returned to the Robshaws, pushing them half a century earlier from 1900 to 1949. Back in Time for Tea focused on working-class Northern households, exemplified by the Ellis family, from post-World War I through the 1990s. Later series included Back in Time for the Factory (2018), Back in Time for School (2019), Back in Time for the Corner Shop (2020), and Back in Time for Birmingham (2022), which followed a modern-day family of South Asian Brits. International adaptations were produced in Australia and Canada.

Did You Know?

• A special edition titled Back in Time for Brixton and consisting of two episodes, aired on BBC Two in November 2016.
• The eighth series, Back in Time for Birmingham was broadcast on BBC Two, and ran for four episodes (over consecutive nights) Monday 20 June till Thursday 23 June 2022.
• An Australian version of Back in Time for Dinner premiered on ABC on 29 May 2018.

Core Concept and Production Method

At its heart, the series drops a representative family or small group into a specific historical period and lets them live it. The production team physically reconfigures the participants' own kitchens, dining areas, and living rooms each week so the space mirrors the look, materials, and routines of a particular decade. Most episodes are structured around a single decade, though the Factory series narrowed the focus to individual years within the 1960s through 1980s. The Robshaw family in the inaugural series, for example, cooked and dined as a middle-class household would have in the latter half of the twentieth century. The experience is deliberately tactile: participants prepare period-appropriate meals, adopt the era's domestic rhythms, and confront its social conventions firsthand. This hands-on transformation of a real family home into a period-accurate environment sets the format apart from conventional historical documentary, turning the audience's living room into a time capsule rather than a lecture hall.

Broadening Scope Across Communities and Decades

The franchise began in March 2015 with the Robshaw family exploring mid-century food and domestic life, but quickly expanded well beyond the dinner table. The second series followed the Ashby-Hawkins family through leisure and weekend culture from the 1950s to the 1990s. A two-part Christmas special in December 2015 returned to the Robshaws for festive meals spanning six decades. In November 2016, the Brixton special placed the Irwin family, a black British household, at the centre of sixty years of African-Caribbean immigration and its cultural impact. Further Back in Time for Dinner pushed the Robshaws to 1900–1949. Back in Time for Tea (February 2018) highlighted working-class Northern life through Bradford's Ellis family. The Factory series (September 2018) followed Rhondda's Brabon family through garment manufacturing. Back in Time for School (January 2019) sent fifteen pupils and three teachers through seven eras from the 1890s. The Corner Shop series (February 2020) featured the Ardern family, and Back in Time for Birmingham (June 2022) traced the Sharma family's South Asian British heritage from the 1950s onward.

Presenters and Creative Team

Wall to Wall produced the series for BBC Two, and the on-screen talent shifted to match each series' subject. Restaurant critic Giles Coren and food historian Polly Russell co-presented the first three series, giving the early food-focused episodes a blend of critical commentary and academic context. Polly Russell remained a fixture through the franchise, reappearing in Back in Time for Tea, where Sara Cox took the co-presenter role, and again in the Corner Shop series. The Factory series was fronted by Alex Jones, while the Birmingham series brought in Noreen Khan as host alongside social historian Yasmin Khan, a pairing that reflected the show's focus on South Asian British heritage. The Brixton special similarly matched its presenting team to the community it explored. This deliberate rotation of presenters allowed each instalment to find a voice and perspective that resonated with its particular subject, whether that was food criticism, social history, or community storytelling, ensuring the show never felt formulaic despite its recurring structural template.

International Broadcast and Australian Adaptation

Although the original ran exclusively on BBC Two in the United Kingdom from March 2015 to June 2022, the format crossed borders relatively quickly. In Australia, the series first appeared on The LifeStyle Channel on 24 September 2015, only six months after its UK premiere. A more substantial localisation followed when ABC commissioned an Australian version of Back in Time for Dinner, hosted by Annabel Crabb, which premiered on 29 May 2018. That adaptation followed the Ferrone family—mother Carol, father Peter, and their three children Julian, Sienna, and Olivia—as they explored Australian domestic life beginning in 1950 across a seven-part run. A second season, Further Back in Time for Dinner, was subsequently produced for the same audience. The success of the format in a distinctly different national and cultural context demonstrated that the core premise of immersing a family in a bygone era resonated far beyond British borders, confirming the broad appeal of experiential historical storytelling.

Gallery