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Site Wrestle Reflections: Helen Geake (Patreon)

Published:
2021-02-28 13:04:59
Edited:
2021-03-30 18:27:22
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Videos

Content

As the dust settles on the opening round of Site Wrestles, Series Producer Tim Taylor catches up with Helen Geake to reflect upon what they've learnt. Quite a lot, as it turns out!

There's been much debate (among the team and Patrons) around the pros and cons of Time Team's traditional format, as well as the opportunity to explore different approaches in this new era. Tim and Helen tease out these ideas further, considering the value in taking a longer view on certain sites.

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Comments

Bob Pockney

Yes, that sounds like an excellent approach. We tend to always think in the normal 3-day Time Team project setup. John is obviously keen to see what GPR can do.

Matthew Adams

This is great to hear. The approach feels like it might be more generally applied, too. The idea that you would gradually build up towards a standard 3 day TT over many months (perhaps geophys, establishing practical relationships with local groups through test-pitting, field walking, alongside the landscape/maps, documents/history that you would want to do as part of project design anyway), is a very strong one. With planned follow-up afterwards it would give plenty of content that can be presented through Patreon in these smaller videos, alongside the "real" program and give the overall effort more presence for comparatively little additional effort/expense. Not to mention the benefit to the 3 day programme itself.

Mark Cooke

I still thinks the momentum, team on site mostly at the same time using the skill of others mainly works due to a tight deadline its a focus and aim

Richard Thomas

Completely agree with this approach. As Helen points out, the need to present a regimented series of TV programmes no longer exists. The Youtube/Patreon technology enables a progression of short, diverse steps as you are proving with the wrestles! And this need not just facilitate a single long project, one could intersperse short bursts of different things as well, such as the limited survey of the long barrow (which might then just stop, or continue into something else if the results justify it). I think what is becoming clear to me is that Time Team means the people, not the format.

William F. Campbell

What an absolutely wonderful segment! I am over the top getting to listen to conversations like this. Start-ups are fun but many don't progress beyond a twinkle in someone's eye. Simply mentioning funding raises my anticipation that this start-up is going to work and is worth me investing more per month to help out. Well done to everyone involved!

William Bode

I always figured that it was the tempo, discovery, and team size that seemed to produce an excitement. A sort of looking over the shoulder of the best experts in the field made a three day format like a weekend away uncovering new and interesting things while getting a great education. And because the bulk of the work was restricted to three days the cost could be controlled. Time is money. If it is given more time and a more piece meal approach it is very hard to manage and harder to convey the team work. Logistics actually could be harder. When it has to be done within a strict time frame you get concentration and discipline that slips when people are distracted by many other projects and priorities.

Anne Collinson

So interesting. This sounds such a good plan

Phelim McIntyre

Thank God for amateurs. How people who work for commercial archaeology companies such as Wessex Archaeology, universities, museums and similar will be able to do the extended format that people seem to think would be a great approach without using up most of not all their holiday time does not appear to have been thought about. Yes we need the prior research, but this approach stops Time Team being what it intended to be - a 3 day evaluation.

Phelim McIntyre

Agree totally. Other than those employed specifically by Time Team on the production side the team did TT as secondments from their proper jobs. This is why, at first, they were done at weekends. How many will be able to give their time from the commercial companies, universities, and museums? Long term projects target a different bit of the sight each year, the discussed approach doesn't appear to be doing that.

Robert Wise

And … among the benefits from revisiting Time Team One sites? Some of the work will already have been done … old footage can (perhaps ?) be used to some degree … the work done by Time Team One may help in generating precisely focused goals for the new episode. I love the idea of exploring a site in more than one episode! To avoid overloading viewers’ thread processing abilities … I’d guess it’s better if the episodes from each site are presented contiguously? I favor sending GeoPhys in early, including their work in the episode of course, and including them during the episode to fill in blanks, generate more detail, etc.. How about some "after the dig is over" shots? I’d like to see the clean up as well?

Anne

I think the idea of a series of programmes is an interesting concept. Perhaps along the lines of before - preparatory work, geophys & field walking, then during - the 3 day format and after - the follow up of discoveries & results of dating. As technology has moved on there may not be the need to stay with the tried & tested formula, but however it is done I’ll definitely be watching.

Amy Fisher

Thank you for including us in all the shop talk. Fascinating. Also, thanks for the pin and pen etc. I was over the moon like a kid finding the prize in my cereal box.

Paul Brekke

The first part of the conversation where you touch on the Abbey Habit episode made me think of one of my other favourite TV series: Grand Designs, which among its derivative programs had a series called "Grand Designs Revisited", where they - obviously - revisited earlier builds to see how they ended up and how they worked. A "Time Team Revisited" format where you summarise the first three-day dig, hopefully add some behind-the scenes stuff we've never seen from the original series (there must have been a lot on the cutting room floor?), and then add on to the story with what's happened since, perhaps some new geophys or other visualisations, restored finds etc, would be really nice. A "Revisited" series of programmes wouldn't have to follow the three day format. A "Previsit" series on sites that need a bit more exploration before the whole team descends for a three day dig would tie the whole thing together :-)

David Boon

I love the idea. I think being wedded to the old way of doing Time Team restricts what can be achieved.

John Matthew IV

We all loved Time Team and the three-day restriction but with the reboot, we don't have to keep to that schedule. I love the idea of some ongoing projects, especially since it will produce better work. But we still need to have some three-day digs!

Kani Flansburg

How fun that Poulton was mentioned. After viewing Time Team, I was able to hop over the Pond and spend 3 summers there. So much more than you were able to explore on the program.\

Jon Colcord

It sounds like we’re getting a lot closer to putting trowels in the ground again! That’s my take away, and all I truly care about! Turn on those cameras and dig!

Douglas Boyle

One thing to keep in mind Tim is that you've got more than just a TV audience to work to. A long term ongoing project is perfectly suited to a platform like Youtube and Patreon. Through these alternative platforms viewers and supporters could be getting contemporaneous updates and behind the scene look-ins as to how things are going from the people involved and possibly find ways to get involved themselves. Of course over the course of a series this would tie in nicely with whatever made it into broadcast episodes about it. Of course, this is just me being a tad selfish because I'm in America nd there's no telling when I'd get to see the new episodes that are on the tele ;)

Jill Hobbs

I feel that longer projects would be a great idea, more realistic and more rewarding for both the team and the viewer.

bil Jeschke

I like Dougleas' idea. Doing a longer term dig, or partnering with someone, would be a nice add on for people. Partner with a few long term digs for a weekly update of finds or the like would be immensely interesting.

SEAN STANLEY

Every dig employs has its own value and therefore can be approached and presented in a different way. May it be over the normal platform of three days or over a a longer period of time incorporating special or a joint venture.

Rachelle Gates

I believe with this new format that Time Team needs to move forward with how the team itself wants to develop you need to rethink everything you have done and wonder was this done according to what the TV channel wanted or was this what the team itself wanted. As I have watched most episodes from YouTube and not a TV provider the one thing I have noticed and I’m sure others have is that Time Team was basically geared to be bigger and better every season this was not always a bad thing but when you end up loosing the basic format to this great big product it was loosing its shine. I felt the first few seasons were better then the last few as it was way over the top. Maybe I would not have noticed this if I had just watched it year to year but when you binge watch a show you can definitely see it occur. Now with new technology and a chance to do what you really want and not have someone say no you have to do it this way I believe you have a better chance to tell a great story. I just want to say I watched Time Signs for the first time as we in the US did not get to see these and I thought wow out of this program developed so much. Well I’ll stop rattling on and wish you all the best I can’t wait to see what develops and hope for more greatness to come.

Robert Boudreau

This is a site I would so love to see done. The potential for learning something about the transitional periods seems strong here. If Helen can gather all the current information and make an analysis of it, if John can find something with his new kit, this would shoot towards the top in my vote. There is so little known about these transitional times, so much guesswork, anything that can be learned sheds a little more light into the "Dark Ages". Something I've personally always wondered: In British archaeology it's always said "the Anglo-Saxons often buried their dead near some earlier (barrow, ditch, sacred site)." It seems due to grave goods and burial style it's just assumed they're Anglo-Saxons. But are they? There's ample evidence they didn't wipe out or totally supplant the local populations. Local people would have good reason to use, reclaim perhaps, their ties to these earlier sites. So is it an Anglo-Saxon adaptation, or an earlier, Iron-Age and Romano-British tradition? With the nearby Roman remains, and being in East Anglia, this site seems to have such a great potential to answer some of these questions and more.

The Mabees

Yes, this is definitely been a thought I've have for a while. I would LOVE to see Time Team get back to it's roots, so to speak.

Mark Lund

Yep, quite agree with the idea of taking some sights with 'the longer view' being part of the strategy, or with that in mind if it turned out that way. Yes, certainly, maybe, keep the the old 3 day strategy for most, or some but there should be no need to restrict , or rule out interesting sights just because of what we all knew and loved, nostalgia. Would the aim ever to be, if this became as popular, seen to be as popular, for one of the channels to want to bring it back to mainstream TV?

Mark Lund

Ok, I wrote this before I saw the whole discussion...I was not aware, I guess I missed it somewhere, that this was hoping to be presented back to Ch4 eventually. And if they didnt want it...I'd have thought one of the big spenders would bite your hands off.

Terry Cox

YouTube is ideally suited towards recording longer term projects, with many channels finding an audience for builds that take years. There are advantages to a format in which you can visit an interesting point in a 15 minute slot without requiring initial commitment to an hour of someone’s attention. Each slot then becomes a potential entry point that draws in new subscribers to the ongoing saga. Two other elements spring to mind. Firstly, there was often a sense of lack of closure after a TV episode. Stuff that was sent off for dating but we never find out the result, etc. Secondly, viewers see things that are sometimes missed on the ground, or bring experience that wasn’t available at the time. This has the benefits of introducing valuable follow-up points that create more content, and gives you the audience interaction element that is a key part to triggering the YouTube algorithm to promote the content to a wider audience.

Tom Harrison

Hi Jill Hobbs are you in Calne?

Martin Packer

One of the bits I enjoyed most was Stewart's "Landscape Investigations". It happens to be one where patrons (or whatever we should be called) could join the investigation and debate. For example, how many of us have seen a straight line on a map and leapt to a conclusion about it? (In my case - South Oxfordshire - there's supposed to be a Roman road North of Streatley. But I can't see signs of it on the map or in the landscape.) So that is where the teamsters (that's us) :-) could come in - in the build up to the actual dig itself. Examining the maps and any other widely-available evidence.

Maria O'Leary

I have watched every season and episode of TimeTeam when I was taking care of my brother he loved it on YouTube and we got into watching a episode every day sometime two a day. After he passed I remembered the series while on lockdown from COVID-19 and I watched them all again I am pleased to be on this new adventure with you all. Glad to see some of the regulars coming back but will miss Mick in his colorful sweaters, hats and gloves lol and thanks to Tim for getting you all back to TimeTeam. I am glad to give my support