The 1900 House 1999

     An English family is chosen from several volunteer families to spend three months in a Victorian house.  The house has been renovated to return it to the condition it would’ve been in 1900.  The house is located at 50 Elliscombe Road, Charlton, South-East London and it was built in the 1890’s.  The family must wear period clothes and not use any conveniences or products not available to a family of their social and financial class in 1900.  

     The family is the Bowlers, a married couple and four children.  Paul and Joyce are the parents, their children are Kathryn 16 years old, twins Ruth and Hilary 11 years old and Joe 9 years old.  The children were allowed to wear their regular uniforms to school.  Some of the problems they experienced were the inconsistencies of the stove for both cooking and heating hot water.  They missed modern toiletry items and found the period clothing restricting for women.  The corset was the biggest problem!!  Joyce was allowed to hire a ‘woman of all work’ because the cleaning chores were extensive.  I thought it was very interesting to experience life of this time period second hand!!  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

5 episodes, each episode 60 min, History, TV Drama produced by Alex Graham with the Bowler family and Elizabeth Lillington.

Note:  Imdb 8.1 out of 10, Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 60 reviews.

Special Note:  The 1940’s House followed this series in 2001.  A book titled 1900 House: Featuring Extracts from the Personal Diaries of Joyce and Paul Bowler and Their Family by Mark McCrum and Matthew Sturgis was published after the series aired.  Daru Rooke was the consultant historian and he helped the family adjust to a new way of living in London.  The series won a Peabody Award in 2000 for being humorous, perceptive and the realities of life in 1099 were accurately depicted.  The family needed perseverance, human adaptation and continuance of family dynamics.  After the completion of filming, the 1900 house was fully renovated with modern conveniences, it was sold and probably for an excellent price!!