Comedian Hugh Dennis on site as Channel 4's Great British Dig comes to Bognor Regis

Now filming its third season, the show sees Dennis and a team of expert archaeologists excavating gardens up and down the country, attempting to uncover the history buried beneath our lawns.

It is produced by Strawberry Blond TV for Channel 4 and the pilot aired in April 2020. Since then, the show has gone from strength to strength, with rave reviews and a nomination for a Broadcast Digital Award under its belt.

The show’s archaeologists are excavating the site of an old home – a sister site to the nearby Sudley Lodge - on the playing fields of St Mary’s Catholic Primary School.

Tony Lucas, the chair of governors at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, said it was just one of a number of estates planned for the area throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

“Everyone talks about Sir Richard Hotham,” Mr Lucas, a keen historian himself, said. “But the generation after his were still really keen on Bognor. They were going to make it an incredibly high class resort. This house would have been a twin of Sudley Lodge, and there was going to be a great arc of homes leading down to the sea. It was a really exciting idea but, like with so many other things they ran out of money.”

Mr Lucas and the other governors hope the show opens the lid on the history of our town and, in particular, St Mary’s Catholic School.

Executive producer Audrey Neil said the site was a really exciting find for the team: “The house itself has a really interesting past in terms of the kinds of people who’ve lived in it. The fact it’s on a school playing field is great because it’s really important for us to engage with the community and make sure they get involved.”

That’s a philosophy the team put to emphatic practice during the shoot, inviting members of the public to chip in, ask questions and engage with the history on their doorstep.

“We’ve had lots of interest from the kids, and lots of help from members of the public,” she said. “Ultimately, this show wouldn’t happen without the co-operation of local communities.

“It’s not just about the archaeology under our feet, the history we can dig up and find. It’s also about the wider social story – of Bognor and seaside tourism at a certain point in time.”

Presenter Hugh Dennis had similarly kind words about his time in Bognor Regis: “I like it here, I used to live just over on the other side of Chichester, near the Downs, so I know this part of the country really quite well and it’s always nice to come here.

"It was really kind of the school to let us come down and dig, they’ve been great. We’ve also already found some artefacts – which is perfect. It’s exactly what you want, and it hasn’t rained too much!"

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