More4 to air tribute night to Time Team's Professor Mick Aston

More4 is to air a night of programmes in memory of Time Team’s archaeological director and one of the top archaeologists in the country, Professor Mick Aston, who died this week.

Professor Mick Aston, 66, appeared in the programme from 1994 to 2011.

The night will be a combination of classic Time Team episodes featuring Mick, and Mick’s former colleagues sharing their memories of him.

Channel 4's head of factual programming, Ralph Lee, said:  "We have been terribly saddened by death of Professor Mick Aston. We are broadcasting a tribute night, recognising his important contribution to Time Team over the years, and the key role he played in making archaeology so popular."

Time Team Executive Producer Philip Clarke said: “Mick was a one-off. He was really irreplaceable as the heart and soul of Time Team. Thousands of people were not only inspired by him but truly warmed to him and felt they knew him. He was a television natural whilst professing to have no interest in the medium. He lived for the thing he loved which was archaeology.

Sir Tony Robinson has said: "Mick Aston was a great British eccentric; an atheist whose life's work was medieval monasticism, an anarchist who for many decades loyally fulfilled the labyrinthine requirements of his university and British television, and a grumpy old curmudgeon with the kindest of hearts and a great capacity for friendship. His mission was sharing his passion for archaeology with ordinary people rather than keeping its secrets locked away behind the walls of Britain's universities. This made him a contentious figure among some of his contemporaries and he was deeply wounded by the vociferous attacks he suffered, particularly in the early years of Time Team. But archaeology is now a subject that tens of thousands of people enjoy and value, and this is almost solely down to him. I hope he'll receive belated recognition for that fact. He will be sorely missed by all of us who worked closely with him over the years."

Professor Mick Aston: A Time Team Tribute will be on More4 on 13 July.