They were used for trade and acted as a catalyst to the industrial revolution between 1770s and 1830s, making a major contribution to transformation of the country. They gained a reputation as troublesome outsiders, fond of drinking and living a life of ungodly debauchery. But who were they? Unreliable heathens and outcasts, or unsung heroes who used might and muscle to build canals and railways? Today, canals are mainly used for our leisure and pleasure. There’s nothing lovelier and more British than pottering up and down on a canal boat on a summer’s evening taking in the idyllic countryside but, during their ‘golden age’, canals served a more serious purpose. Although so many use them, it can be hard to see how they relate to each other and get a sense of the rich history and culture they were, and remain, a part of. We wanted to open up the subject and act as a way in for people who were neither boat owners nor historians.” The early canal builders struggled with the rugged terrain of England's Pennine hills. Creating a network of canals in this landscape was an uphill challenge - sometimes literally! But connecting the powerhouses of Yorkshire and Lancashire was a great prize at the time of the industrial revolution. What should the engineers do? Should they build over, under or around the hills?

Presented by Liz McIvor, an expert in industrial history and curator at Bradford Industrial Museum, viewers will be taken on a journey that shows just how instrumental canals were in shaping our modern world and how they came to be. There are six episodes in total with themes including engineering, geology, capitalism, heritage, geology, the boat people and the workers.

The canal engineers

Two different engineering solutions presented themselves. Benjamin Outram’s plan was on the face of it rather simple: build a tunnel. He was consulting engineer for the pioneering Standedge tunnel on the Huddersfield narrow canal – at over 5km long and 200m above sea level, it’s still the both the longest and highest canal tunnel in the UK, and one of the so-called seven wonders of the waterways. Given the technology and understanding at that time, it was an extraordinary undertaking, with plenty of challenges along the way. The dig started from both sides of the hill, so getting the two tunnels to meet in the middle was an achievement in itself. Boats had to be powered by workers’ legs, walking along the tunnel walls, to get through the 5km stretch. Issues with money, excess water drainage, and losing their chief engineer, Outram, who left before construction was complete, threatened to derail the project. Thomas Telford, another visionary engineer, stepped in to finish the job however and the tunnel was a success.

Liz McIvor looks at who built the nation's canal network, who funded it, those who worked on it and how they were regenerated following WWII.​Our preview videos are intended for broadcasters looking to licence content from the Open University. The 1800s were a time of organised labour and campaigns for better working conditions. Friedrich Engels wrote The Condition of the Working Class in England in Manchester, where socialism and revolution were seen as an answer to the injustice faced by workers. By this time, the disparate and disorganised navvies had mostly moved across to the railway construction which had superseded the declining canal building industry. However, there was still the Manchester Ship Canal to complete - the swansong for the navvies and hailed as the greatest engineering feat of the Victorian Age. Civil engineering flourished in the era of canals, alongside advances in scientific understanding about the materials and methods engineers could use to build their industrial utopia. The money being made in the industrial revolution gave the early civil engineers a strong motivation to ‘make things work’ at all odds. The hills of the Pennines were a 2000ft high problem, and the hives of industry in Yorkshire and Lancashire needed to be connected – but how? The men who built our canals - the navigators or 'navvies' - were an 'army' of hard physical men who were capable of enduring tough labour for long hours. Many roved the countryside looking for work and a better deal. They gained a reputation as troublesome outsiders, fond of drinking and living a life of ungodly debauchery. But who were they? Unreliable heathens and outcasts, or unsung heroes who used might and muscle to build canals and railways?