David Olusoga says series six of A House Through Time goes to air this month. That lands almost a decade after the first series was filmed for Two, a gap that turned a one-off-looking history format into something viewers now recognise in the street.
62 Falkner Street and the first run
Almost a decade ago, the first series focused on 62 Falkner Street in Liverpool’s Georgian Quarter. The programme has since reached 24 hour-long episodes, and its route has widened across Liverpool, Newcastle, Bristol, Leeds, London, Berlin and Edinburgh.
At first, he worried that only historians would find A House Through Time compelling. He had already been making TV since his late 20s, and he has been involved in a number of first series that ended up being the only series.
Street questions for Olusoga
Fans of A House Through Time stop him in the street to ask when they can watch more. The first question is almost always when the next series is coming out, which says more about audience attachment than any commissioning memo can.
Olusoga said he had underestimated the audience. That is the real business story here: a factual series that began with one Liverpool house now has enough public recall that viewers treat each return as an event, not just another slot on TV.
Series six this month
Series six goes to air this month. Olusoga has not set out the specific broadcast date here, and the remaining hook is the new house in Edinburgh, the next chapter in a run that has already taken in Britain and Europe.
