Walking Through History with Tony Robinson (working title)

Channel 4 Factual Commissioning Editor Sara Ramsden has commissioned Wildfire Television to make Walking Through History with Tony Robinson (working title), due for transmission on Channel 4 in 2013.  Appealing to history buffs and dedicated ramblers alike, in this four-part series Tony Robinson takes the viewer on a series of visually spectacular walks through some of Britain's most historic landscapes in search of the richest stories from Britain's past.

In each programme Tony will follow a newly created bespoke route that will allow him to explore on foot both the history of a particularly colourful historical period or event, and the spectacular landscape in which those events unfolded.  So, in the series he'll seek out the origins of the Industrial Revolution in the Derwent Valley, explore Britan's secret WWII frontline in Dorset, reveal the hidden stories of Henry VIII's court in the Weald, and track traces of the Jacobites in the remote Western Highlands of Scotland

The walks are proper expeditions with each one taking Tony a week; and they will be rewarding not just for the history but also as genuinely pleasurable walks, complete with B&Bs, pubs, views ...and fellow walkers.

With various experts he encounters on the way, Tony will reveal and discover places and their hidden stories that ordinary walkers and ramblers might otherwise miss.   And, as well as the history, Tony will infuse each walk with an appreciation of some of the striking landscapes and geographical features Britain contains.

Commissioning Editor Sara Ramsden says: "Millions of British people go hiking every weekend, it's the nations favourite outdoor pursuit. In this new series Channel 4 is offering a way to enjoy wonderful new hiking trails and find out amazing stories from the past. Tony Robinson will be bringing history  to life as he explores  various locations. From the place where Henry VIII wooed Anne Boleyn, to where Barnes Wallis tested the bouncing bomb to the location of Britain's first proper factory, the series will celebrate Britain's wonderful history and show how we can all immerse ourselves in the past."

Executive producer, Simon Raikes says: "The history of Britain is written not just in books but in our landscape.  It is literally all around us but, because most of us don't know what we're looking at when we're out and about, much of it remains hidden in plain view.  So the purpose of this series was to offer a new take on both British history and the great British walk; to offer those interested in the past a new means of exploring it; and to offer keen walkers an extra purpose to their adventures.  And what better guide than Tony Robinson, who's spent most of his adult life criss-crossing Britain in pursuit of the best stories from our past  - but who, all the while, has been itching to get out of his car, put on his walking boots, and simply follow his nose?"