English Heritage

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•2009

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Episodes

1. A Very Grand Design

When new English Heritage chief executive Simon Thurley decided to buy Apethorpe Hall, a crumbling Jacobean palace hidden away in the Northamptonshire countryside, he was hoping to recoup an enormous investment of public money. But this behind-the-scenes look at the organisation shows that the experiment has been far from a roaring success. Four years down the line, having spent millions, Simon grudgingly admits the scale of the task has completely defeated him. With the state of the house as it is and the state of the property market, English Heritage can't sell it at any price and are now looking at a multimillion-pound loss.

2. Romancing the Stone

Chief executive Simon Thurley's programme of modernisation leads to the project of saving Sheffield's Park Hill Estate, a crumbling 1950s monolith that dominated the city's skyline. The decision to list the site proved highly unpopular with the local population and plunged English Heritage into a bitter dispute, costing the taxpayer over ~£40 million. It also brought one of the UK's major property developers to the brink of collapse after the onset of the credit crunch meant they ran out of money. Could Thurley find a way forward to restore this eyesore?

3. The Queen, Her Lover and His Castle

Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire is not much more than a picturesque ruin but once it was home to Lord Robert Dudley who, in 1575, built a garden for a visit by Elizabeth I. Only one piece of written evidence survives about how it looked, which includes details of an obelisk and a fountain as the centrepiece, so in an attempt by English Heritage to re-create the original, problems of all sorts have arisen. Has the historical validity of the exercise been undermined?

4. Full Steam Ahead

The restoration of London's King's Cross is the biggest infrastructure project in Europe. On one side stands Clare Brady, English Heritage case officer, who is trying to preserve fragments of the Grade I-listed station's historic past. On the other is Roger Madelin, chief executive of the developer Argent, and Network Rail architect John McAslan, who argue their case in favour of sleek modernity. Whose preferences will come out on top?

Overview

An observational documentary series made over four years, following four stories of properties whose conservation falls under the guardianship of English Heritage and its controversial chief executive, Simon Thurley.