Pot luck for Two Men In A Trench reunited

25 July 2012

One of Scotland’s biggest historical mysteries, the exact site of the Battle of Bannockburn, has two of television’s foremost archaeologists reunited and on the case – Neil Oliver and Dr Tony Pollard, who first came to fame together in Two Men in a Trench.

Neil Oliver will present a special two-part BBC Scotland series – alongside Dr Tony Pollard of University of Glasgow - on the archaeology at the Bannockburn site, which will go out in spring 2014 around the time of the 700th anniversary of the battle.

They join Derek Alexander, Head of Archaeological Services at the National Trust for Scotland, and will be filming for the next 18 months, as the archaeology continues, for the series which also include 3D graphics recreating the land at the time, as well as dramatic battle re-enactment footage.

As he joined Tony in the trenches for his first day of filming (July 25 at Monument Hill, Stirling) Neil Oliver said: “This has to be one of the most potentially exciting archaeological digs in Scotland that there has ever been.”

Dr Tony Pollard said: “This is a huge challenge, but we hope to be able to shed new light on the location of the actual battle and indeed provide fresh information about how the action unfolded.”

The project sees BBC Scotland working in tandem with the University of Glasgow, The National Trust for Scotland, GUARD Archaeology Ltd, Historic Scotland and Stirling Council.

Derek Alexander said: “Just as BBC Scotland today launched the new Bannockburn documentary which will be released in 2014 along with the new Battle of Bannockburn visitor centre, this morning we made our first find at the archaeological site dating back to medieval times - the base of a 13th or 14th century cooking pot."