S4C is partnering with Sky History for a documentary about the origins and use of a mysterious 500-year-old vessel discovered in Wales.
Made by regional indie One Tribe TV, A Ship Through Time is a 2 x 60-minute series documenting the 2002 unearthing of the vessel in the mud of the River Usk in Newport. It had been buried since the 15th century and is the world’s best-preserved ship from that era, with 2,000 pieces discovered by the team building Newport’s Riverside Theatre.
Archaeologists have spent the past 20 years painstakingly stabilising and preserving the ship’s timbers while also retrieving 1,000 medieval artifacts.
Hosted by Good Morning Britain and Countryfile presenter Sean Fletcher, the documentary aims to unlock the ship’s mysteries, bringing viewers on a journey across Europe to the forests of Spain and the coast of Portugal. Almost a century older than the Mary Rose, the boat is a time capsule that offers a glimpse into life onboard a cargo ship, as well as to the lives of its crew and wider Medieval European society.
A Ship Through Time will air on S4C and Sky History. It was commissioned for the former by Iwan England, head of unscripted, and for Hearst Networks EMEA by Dan Korn, vice-president of programming.
One Tribe’s Tom Cunningham and Dale Templar exec produce the documentary, with Catrin Evans serving as director and series producer. Sphere Abacus is handling global distribution and has so far sold it to BBC Select for North America.
Cunningham told Broadcast the vessel’s discovery is “one of the most interesting” archaeological finds of the past 60 years, explaining how it shows established trade links with the European continent and was one of the last to be built in that style.
“If this ship has been found in the Thames, it would now be on display in a huge museum like the Mary Rose…It just exists in this little warehouse in Newport,” he said.
“This is a really international story: every European country is touched by this ship. Another thing to note is that it’s a precursor to Columbus’ ship. This is the last one built in this old style and what they learn from this ship [becomes] the next iteration of the vessel that Columbus then goes on to use.”
Though A Ship Through Time is a factual programme, it is presented as a mystery to be unravelled. Cunningham said this was emblematic of S4C’s bold commissioning.
“S4C is probably the [only] channel making really risky TV, it could have been so easy to just do this as a normal history programme because it’s got the gravitas of a national treasure.
“Iwan at S4C has given us this task and said ‘we want this to be a little bit different, it’s not your normal history doc. It’s got to offer some elements that are going to bring in a different audience than might come to history normally’.”
