Canals: The Making of a Nation

BBC Four HD

12:50 AM to 1:20 AM

Wednesday 4 December

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Liz McIvor tells the story of the people who operated the canal boats, carrying fuel and goods around the country. During the Victorian era they gained reputations for criminality, violence and drinking, but was such a reputation deserved? Liz discovers grisly canal crimes, investigates health and welfare on-board working boats, and looks at why canal children were last on the list to be offered safeguards and formal education. She reveals the campaigners who set out to tackle this injustice, including George Smith of Coalville, Leicestershire, and Sister Mary Ward of Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire