Remembering Kerry (Patreon)

It is with great sadness that Time Team says goodbye, and sleep well, to our wonderful and irreplaceable friend, Kerry Ely, who passed away peacefully on Monday 8th December.

Fans will know him not only as an archaeologist, but as the “Mr Logistics” who kept the whole show on the road through thick and thin. The entire team would like to send our love and sympathies to his family at this time. We would also like to celebrate the life of a truly unique and generous man. As well as being our rock, he will be remembered for his many elaborate pranks and his mischievous humour. He was like no other, and he will be sorely missed.

Below, our Creator and Executive Producer, Tim Taylor, shares his tribute:

“Whenever we started planning for a Time Team, one of the first calls I’d make was to be sure Kerry was in place. He was a key element in TT’s strange, humorous and often chaotic passage to getting a programme done. He carried a perpetual wry grin which seemed to indicate a somewhat mysterious reason about how he managed to get involved with such an enterprise.

He’d been initially recommended by Mick, a high recommendation indeed. Mick indicated that Kerry was the sort of chap behind whom a bomb could be exploded and would result in nothing more than a raised eyebrow, which was a very useful qualification for working with TT!

This ability to tolerate the unexpected went along with his incredible experience of archaeological sites. If a key trench needed digging and we were short on skilled diggers, Kerry was the man to call on. Anything which was needed to solve a problem could be sorted out by Kerry with minimal fuss and good humour.

It was just as well you stayed on the right side of Kerry because he had a prodigious memory for apparent misdemeanours and a mischievous sense of humour which was never malicious. A victim could find himself taped to a bed in the wrong bedroom, or driving a car in the middle of the night transformed into a police car, and a number of other events that became part of TT’s history. We will all remember the moment when Stewart’s pedal bike ended up 80 feet in the sky, or John’s valuable geophysics kit was apparently run down by a digger!

In a tight corner, with a storm coming in and a completely intractable military canvas tent threatening to take off, Kerry could be relied on.

The pleasure of knowing he was there and enjoying his warm humour was for me one of the highlights of a TT programme.

I shall miss him personally and professionally. And I send my profound condolences to his family.”— Tim

Members of the Time Team family have also shared their memories of Kerry:

Sir Tony Robinson:Kerry was my friend. He teased me like a brother about my driving, my archaeological skills, about everything really. We texted each other most weekends about how rubbish each other’s football team was. I respected him deeply and knew I could always rely on him. I wish I had been more like him and I suspect most of his male (and female) friends feel the same. I loved him, and so did Lou. We are so sorry he’s gone.

Matt Williams:In many ways Kerry was like the foundations of one of the Roman villas we dug with him. He was the first in, making everything okay for everyone… and he was always the last one left, long after all the fancy filming had finished.

Dr Helen Geake:The most solid, wise, reliable yet naughty man I’ve ever met. He will be missed so much and remembered forever.