As an enthusiast for historic costumes and historic times, I found this programme eye-opening and - having become an amateur genealogist in the time since this programme aired, I can draw retrospective comparisons with at least one set of great-grandparents, who would have been rearing their families at this time.
We often look at old photographs - I do it myself - and think how elegant the sitters looked, but this programme almost breaks through the camera and shows us what the photograph can't. It had never occurred to me, for instance, how people washed their hair and - as I watched the Bowlers struggle with their eggy attempts at home-made shampoo - it strikes me that we are possibly more image conscious now than our ancestors could have been a century ago.
I loved watching the day-to-day things they had to contend with, the struggles they had with the confines of their Victorian life (and their clothes, in the case of Joyce and Kathryn) and also found it interesting that we have possibly become so reliant on electric and running water being available at all times that we don't think about the problems the people of the time could have had. (The Bowlers, I think, in one instance had difficulty getting the range to heat which resulted in a cake taking 14 hours to bake.) I was also fortunate enough to see an extra programme connected to The 1900 House during Christmas 2000, where they had a bit of extra footage on the families who volunteered, and I'm glad they chose the thoroughly modern Bowlers. One potential family (who I think was invited to comment on the Bowlers' experiences) presented themselves on the trial footage dressed in period clothing and acting the Victorian family for all they were worth. A family like that wouldn't have been as interesting, I feel, as putting a more modern-thinking, modern-living group in that situation.
If you get a chance, do see it. It was a good bit of TV from a time when "reality" TV was still fresh and interesting.
We often look at old photographs - I do it myself - and think how elegant the sitters looked, but this programme almost breaks through the camera and shows us what the photograph can't. It had never occurred to me, for instance, how people washed their hair and - as I watched the Bowlers struggle with their eggy attempts at home-made shampoo - it strikes me that we are possibly more image conscious now than our ancestors could have been a century ago.
I loved watching the day-to-day things they had to contend with, the struggles they had with the confines of their Victorian life (and their clothes, in the case of Joyce and Kathryn) and also found it interesting that we have possibly become so reliant on electric and running water being available at all times that we don't think about the problems the people of the time could have had. (The Bowlers, I think, in one instance had difficulty getting the range to heat which resulted in a cake taking 14 hours to bake.) I was also fortunate enough to see an extra programme connected to The 1900 House during Christmas 2000, where they had a bit of extra footage on the families who volunteered, and I'm glad they chose the thoroughly modern Bowlers. One potential family (who I think was invited to comment on the Bowlers' experiences) presented themselves on the trial footage dressed in period clothing and acting the Victorian family for all they were worth. A family like that wouldn't have been as interesting, I feel, as putting a more modern-thinking, modern-living group in that situation.
If you get a chance, do see it. It was a good bit of TV from a time when "reality" TV was still fresh and interesting.