The Worst Jobs in History

Series & Episodes

• Worst Christmas Jobs in History

  First broadcast: Sunday 13 December 2009, 7.30PM on Channel 4

  Tony Robinson takes a slide down the festive career ladder to investigate The Worst Christmas Jobs in History.

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• Industrial jobs

  Tony experiences the jobs that made Watt, Stephenson and Brunel what they are today.

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• Maritime jobs

  Tony's all at sea as liar, underdog, midshipman, fusée-chain maker, flying man, lighthouse builder and keeper, gut-girl, stoker and trimmer.

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• Royal jobs

  Life at court wasn't much fun for the lance maker, armourer, falconer, fireworker, food taster, whipping boy, laundry woman, groom of the chamber, hall boy or the royal messenger.

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• Rural jobs

  This green and pleasant land was forged by people willing to do some terrible jobs. After Tony samples life as a shepherd boy, nettle harvester, reddleman, thresher, chaff-box boy, sedge cutter, sin eater, pole man, lead-white maker and featherie man, what could be worse?

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• Urban jobs

  Tony does the back-breaking job of water caddy, confronts his fear of heights as a fireman, suffers the ignominy of clearing up dog excrement as a pure collector and even risks a bloody nose earning a living as a fighting woman.

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