''Britain's Best Buildings'' was a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

documentary series in which the TV presenter and

architectural historian An architectural historian is a person who studies and writes about the history of architecture, and is regarded as an authority on it. Professional requirements As many architectural historians are employed at universities and other facilities ...

Dan Cruickshank discussed his selection of the finest examples of British

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

. It was first broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

from 2 to 23 November 2002, and returned on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

from 5 May to 2 June 2004.

Episode list

Series one

#''

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule, Suspension bridge, suspension, and, until 1960, Cantilever bridge, cantilever bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones ...

'' 2 November 2002 #''

Blenheim Palace Blenheim Palace ( ) is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. Originally called Blenheim Castle, it has been known as Blenheim Palace since the 19th century. One of England's larg ...

'' 9 November 2002 #''

Durham Cathedral Durham Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the Mother Church#Cathedral, mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the ...

'' 16 November 2002 #''

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

'' 23 November 2002

Series two

#'' Harlech Castle'' 5 May 2004 #''

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

'' 12 May 2004 #''

Hardwick Hall Hardwick Hall is an architecturally significant Elizabethan architecture, Elizabethan-era country house in Derbyshire, England. A leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, the Renaissance architecture, Renaissance style home was bu ...

'' 19 May 2004 #''

The Circus, Bath The Circus is a historic ring of large townhouses in the city of Bath, Somerset, England, forming a circle with three entrances. Designed by architect John Wood, the Elder, it was built between 1754 and 1768, and is regarded as a pre-emi ...

'' 26 May 2004 #'' Forth Bridge'' 2 June 2004 Edited editions of the Palace of Westminster edition (ranging from 5–15 minutes) are often shown on the

BBC Parliament BBC Parliament is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel from the BBC that showcases parliamentary content from across the United Kingdom. It broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the British Parliament (House of Commons o ...

channel, when live coverage of the House of Commons, House of Lords, committees etc. ends early, before the beginning of the next programme. These edited editions are used to fill the gaps. The

UKTV UKTV Media Limited, trading as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through a join ...

channel Yesterday frequently repeats the series. However the episodes are shown in an edited 46 minute format to allow for commercials.

Copyright violation

In 2004, the BBC issued an apology and made a goodwill payment to television historian Michael Morris, after it emerged that Cruickshank had repeated phrases used by Morris in a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

documentary about Harlech Castle. The BBC re-edited the programme immediately afterwards and said that a researcher, not Cruickshank, was to blame for the error.

Companion book

The 2002 companion book to the series, also written by Cruickshank, covers the four buildings featured in the first series along with four additional buildings; these are Holyroodhouse,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

;

Cardiff Castle Cardiff Castle () is a medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion located in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The original motte and bailey castle was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top of a 3rd-century Roma ...

;

Midland Grand Hotel Midland may refer to: Places Australia * Midland, Western Australia Canada * Midland, Albert County, New Brunswick * Midland, Kings County, New Brunswick * Midland, Newfoundland and Labrador * Midland, Ontario India * Midland Ward, Kohima, Nagal ...

, St Pancras station,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

; and

Highpoint I Highpoint I was the first of two apartment blocks erected in the 1930s on one of the highest points in London, England, in Highgate. The architectural design was by the Georgian-British architect Berthold Lubetkin, the structural design by th ...

, London.

Selected editions

* *

References

External links

* *
Britain's Best Buildings
' BBC press release *
Choosing Britain's Best Buildings
'' by Dan Cruickshank at BBC History
Building Styles Gallery
at BBC History * 2002 British television series debuts 2004 British television series endings 2000s British documentary television series BBC television documentaries about history Documentary television series about architecture British English-language television shows Documentary television series about art Television shows about British architecture {{UK-nonfiction-tv-prog-stub