Do you ever 'cheat' and take longer than the three days?

The three-day limit has only ever been extended once – and even then most of the team still packed up and went home at the end of the third day. This was in the 2000 series dig looking for evidence of Coventry's first cathedral. A body was found at the end of the third day, with not enough time to excavate it properly, so a small team of diggers and a camera crew stayed behind for an extra day. Time Team also went back to Coventry to catch up with the excavations for a Time Team Special screened in 2001.

Of course a great deal of research is undertaken before the three days of digging – and much of the archaeological work, including recording and interpreting what has been uncovered, takes place after the cameras have departed. But what you see on television is what really happens in the three days. Time Team doesn't 'cheat'!