The man who plays the role of the rent collector lost one of his legs in a sporting accident, and learns how impossible life would be for a poor, disabled person during this time period.Īs it happens, watching people subject themselves to near-starvation while freezing in tiny, rundown rooms and working their tails off to barely survive might seem like self-imposed torture to many, especially as it includes children, but it does make good television.Īnd it's not all dire: the show also demonstrates how extreme difficulties can bring families closer together. A single mom with almost no options for earning money (the host Michael Mosley mentions that 1 in 12 Victorian women turned to prostitution), faces debt and eviction with her two small children. One family has to send their young daughters to work when the bread-winning grandfather throws out his back after a full day of manual labor. What starts as a charming idea soon becomes a rude wakeup call.įorced to find work that would have been available during the time period, their challenges start to sound like a Charles Dickens story. Several of the participating families' ancestors lived in London's East End during the Victorian era and, many of them expressed, what better way to get to know and connect with their forebears than by experiencing life as they did? MST, brings the poverty of the 1860s-1900s to life.
This five-part reality series, premiering Tuesday, May 2 at 7 p.m. In the new show "Victorian Slum House," average British families recreate what life was like for Victorian London slum dwellers. PBS is taking family history education to a new, slightly cruel level.
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