Being a digger for Time Team

Experienced archaeologist David Thorpe has gained a reputation for being fiercely enthusiastic about his work. But his background is in the archaeology of places like Jordan and other dusty desert sites in the east. How did he become a Time Team digger and what's his first series been like?

'I was working as a field supervisor on a site in London after working abroad,' says David. 'Time Team happened to be making a documentary on the site when some painted Roman wall plaster was discovered in the area I was responsible for. That was the first time I had a camera in my face.

'Later on, some more Roman material was found on another site and they asked me if I would like to have a look at it. The crew came over and that was when I first met Simon Raikes (the Time Team series editor). Basically, when this series started I was roped in to go down to Bristol and meet Tim Taylor (the series producer) and it was there that I was asked to join this year's excavation team.'

David's first programme for the 2003 series was made back in March 2002 at Raunds, in Northamptonshire. Digging trenches and making an archaeology programme at the same time offers plenty of scope for conflicting priorities as two jobs are having to be done together, each with different requirements. But David has found that it all works out quite nicely.

'You would imagine that there are times when the archaeologists and TV people have different agendas, but the whole thing works really well in my experience,' he says. 'There's a job to be done and I can sincerely say that no archaeology is compromised to make the programme. Everyone understands the situation and the whole set-up is like one big family. We also have lots of laughs together when the filming stops at the end of the day.'

So what's been his best shoot so far?

'That's a difficult question to answer,' David says. 'Probably, because of the archaeology. I would have to say the Dinnington, Somerset, programme. We just found the most fantastic archaeology. We also had the bonus of being taken up in the helicopter at the end. However, for the most fun and camaraderie it has to be the Shetland shoot. It was absolutely fantastic to be there, and the people were brilliant. We stayed in a crofter's cottage and were treated like royalty and had to get a ferry to work each day.'

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