Wartime Farm - Couverture rigide

Peter, Ruth and Alex bring history to life literally. By recreating authentic, working farms from different eras they ve succeeded in captivating audiences with 'Edwardian Farm' and the award-winning 'Victorian Farm' and giving us a greater understanding and context to these fascinating times. They also presented 'Tales from the Green Valley' (all programs are from BBC2). But their lives surrounding these shows are as captivating as their work on screen.

Peter Ginn has swum the Rio Grande during a flash flood, been forced up a pyramid at gun point, avoided the attentions of an illicit antiquities dealer and set fire to himself (twice) a life in archaeology can throw up many surprises. Peter studied at University College London and has a passion for making the past accessible to all. Wartime Farm is the latest project in his career of avoiding a proper job .

Ruth Goodman is an independent scholar and historian, specialising in social and domestic history. She works with a wide range of museums and other academic institutions exploring the past of ordinary people and their activities. Her passion was initially heavily rooted in the 16th century but it now sends tendrils out throughout British history. As well as her involvement with the Farm series, Ruth makes frequent appearances on TV s The One Show , on Coast and in other media.

Alex Langlands is an archaeologist and historian. He has worked as an archaeologist on sites all over Europe and has studied farming practices and craft processes from prehistory through to the modern age. Alex s current area of research is of the landscape of early medieval Wessex. When he is not excavating, researching or writing he is invariably found in his garden growing food, making baskets and chatting to his bees and chickens.

What if the most demanding battle of World War II wasn't on the front line but back home in Britain's countryside?

When war broke out in 1939, 70% of Britain's food was imported. A German blockade would have meant disaster and Great Britain would have been starved into submission. Huge and rapid changes were required to reshape Britain's food production and this had enormous impact on both the agricultural and the domestic scenes.

Accompanying an 8-part BBC series and written by the three presenters, Wartime Farm sets these changes within a historical context and looks at the day-to-day life of that time. Following the footsteps of their World War II predecessors Peter, Ruth and Alex must move more land than ever under cultivation, switch from livestock to arable farming, get to grips with new-fangled machinery and look to Land Girls and other unfamiliar forms of labour to help them grow that crucial food.

Wartime Farm offers compelling insight into:

• How agriculture was changed dramatically in order to produce more food
• How people were mobilised, from Land Girls to POWs
• Life in the wartime kitchen and garden, from digging for victory to making the most of rations