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Documentary, The Victorian Slum - S01E01
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00:00And as the country thrived, London, the beating heart of empire, became the world's richest city.
00:08But just as it is now, Victorian London was a city divided by extremes of wealth and want.
00:15This is the story of one poor community living in London's East End.
00:21In the heart of modern Stratford, a Victorian slum has been recreated.
00:27And a group of 21st century people are moving in.
00:32Oh, absolutely awful.
00:37I'm just a bit dumbstruck.
00:38Like the original slum dwellers, they'll have to work to keep a roof over their heads.
00:43It's absolutely shattering.
00:48Hey, for the air, daddy!
00:50And put food on the table.
00:52I'm starving.
00:52That's what's making me a bit emotional, to be honest.
00:54They'll explore the lives of their own East End ancestors.
01:00I needed to be here.
01:02I need to find these people.
01:04I wish they could be here to see me do this.
01:06Discover the history of their trades.
01:08So this is a workshop, yeah?
01:11And experience firsthand what life was like.
01:14You will call me mum.
01:15For those at the bottom of the economic pile.
01:18If they were disabled, they couldn't do it.
01:19They didn't eat.
01:20They didn't eat.
01:20They died.
01:20They'll live through five decades of turbulent history.
01:25Look at the newspaper!
01:27From the 1860s, when the poor knew their place.
01:30It's just another nail in the coffin.
01:32You might as well be dead.
01:34Through depressions.
01:35How many people have to live like this all their life?
01:38Revolutions.
01:39I am proud to be an East End suffragette.
01:43And seismic social change.
01:46Julie!
01:46The Irish are moving up.
01:49To the turn of the century.
01:51Death of the Queen.
01:52Long end, the King!
01:53When the people who powered Britain's industrial success finally found their voice.
01:58The poor will not be trodden on.
02:00Power to the people.
02:01And the foundations were laid for lasting change.
02:05Victory!
02:06This is the story of how a quarter of a million slum dwellers in the East End changed our attitude
02:12to poverty forever.
02:13This is the slum.
02:26Fueled by the Industrial Revolution, in 1860, London's economy was booming.
02:31Here in the West End, the city as we know it now was taking shape.
02:36There was new housing, grand railway stations, and the streets were filled with smart shops,
02:41all showcasing London's wealth.
02:43As today, people came to London in search of work.
02:46In fact, the population tripled in just 50 years.
02:49But this was a city divided.
02:52For the first time, geographical lines were drawn between those enjoying the nation's wealth
02:57in the West
02:58and those who weren't in the East.
03:07Hidden away from public view, people lived lives of almost unimaginable poverty, packed
03:13into dilapidated buildings and the crammed courtyards of the East End slums.
03:18This was the industrial heart of the city.
03:23The air here would have been heavily polluted by the tanneries and by the gas works.
03:27But despite that, people came from all over, desperately in search of work.
03:32The three miles between Allgate and Bow held one of the highest concentrations of working
03:37poor in Britain.
03:39This was the underbelly of the Industrial Revolution.
03:42This corner of modern Stratford, a stone's throw from the Olympic Park, has been taken
03:48back to the 1860s.
03:50The slum was a microcosm, a mixture of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers, all living
03:57together in tumble-down terraces and tenements.
03:59Recreated from historical accounts of slums, like the notorious, deprived Old Nickel in
04:05Shoreditch, this tenement building typifies the abject poverty which was rife in Victorian
04:10cities just over a century ago.
04:13From the smallest, barest rooms at the top of the building, to larger, more expensive dwellings
04:19at the bottom.
04:20People got by with a bare minimum.
04:22The courtyard houses a single communal water pump, a stove and shared privies.
04:30There are businesses here too, a lodging house known as the Doss House, for those who couldn't
04:35afford to rent a room, and a small shop, the lifeblood of the slum community.
04:41Now, a new group of residents are moving in to bring the forgotten world of the Victorian
04:46poor back to life.
04:48First to arrive is the Potter family.
04:56Wow.
04:56Oh my God.
04:57Look at all the mood.
04:59So do you think you can live in this?
05:00No.
05:01Do you think you've got a choice?
05:02No.
05:03The Potters are a close-knit clan from Derby.
05:08Fish and chips!
05:10Mum Alison lives around the corner, from Grandad Graham and Grandma Heather.
05:15Thank you!
05:16They're hot.
05:17Heather's ancestors are from Bethnal Green in London's East End.
05:21All my life I've felt that my roots were not in Derby.
05:25A couple of years ago I started to search my ancestry, but it's more than just getting
05:32dates and names and numbers.
05:34I want to go back and I want to know the people.
05:36I want to do it for Nan because it's very, very important to her and it will help her learn
05:45more about our Victorian ancestors.
05:47This is it.
05:49Oh my goodness.
05:51Like many Victorian EastEnders, Heather's ancestors were unskilled workers who could only afford
05:57basic accommodation.
05:58Another bed.
05:59The family of five will live in just one room.
06:04They have two beds, a table and chair and little else.
06:08But even housing this austere would have cost a Victorian labourer over a third of their
06:13weekly wage.
06:13If we have this bed, would you and the girls be okay with that one?
06:20Yeah.
06:20Are you going to sleep though?
06:21Because there's three of you, isn't there?
06:23Oh, we'll work it out between us.
06:24You can go in the middle.
06:25Yeah.
06:26What do you think?
06:26Uh, I'm just a bit dumbstruck, I think.
06:31I just think it's very sad that people have to live like this.
06:36It's a bit bleak, isn't it?
06:37Yeah.
06:38Yeah.
06:38Very bleak.
06:40As well as unskilled workers, the EastEnd was also home to many who had a trade.
06:46Moving into one of the larger dwellings downstairs is the Howarth family.
06:51Oh my God.
06:53Dad Russell is a tailor.
06:56As a skilled worker, he would have been able to afford double the potter's rent.
07:01For that, they get the relative comfort of two rooms.
07:04It's bigger than I thought.
07:06Tin bath and, unlike their poorer neighbours, a small stove to cook their own food.
07:12You can't cook with that.
07:13Well, I'm going to have to.
07:15Ooh.
07:16Look at the filth on it.
07:17I know.
07:18The filth on the walls.
07:19I just can't get my head around.
07:22This is our home now.
07:23For some, like the Howarth, the slums provided an opportunity of sorts.
07:30They had the skills and the means to make money.
07:34Others weren't so lucky.
07:37Wow.
07:38The slums were home to thousands of lone parents, usually widowed or abandoned women, with nowhere else to go.
07:45What do you think, Saudi?
07:46What's this?
07:48That's just our bedding, I think.
07:50It's so dirty.
07:52Shazida and her twins may be moving into the smallest room.
07:55But even so, finding the rent on one income will be tough.
08:00Very basic, isn't it?
08:02Very basic.
08:04How many people have to live like this all their life?
08:06In the 1860s, 90% of Victorians rented their homes.
08:13Now, if you were poor, you moved to an area like the East End, where you would rent a room rather than a whole house.
08:19The one advantage of living in an area like this is you didn't have to provide proof of employment or good character, as you would have had to do elsewhere.
08:26The slums drew people from the fringes of society.
08:31Low-paid workers, immigrants, even fallen aristocrats.
08:35Driven to the East End by hard times.
08:38Poverty and misfortune sent people here by the thousand.
08:41There were very few safety nets.
08:43This was a time before welfare benefits, the NHS, or the minimum wage.
08:48The poorest of all couldn't even afford to rent their own room.
08:53Some paid to sleep in other people's beds.
08:55Others opted for the Doss House.
08:58In 1860, 50,000 people had no option but to pay fourpence a night to sleep in rows of what were known as coffin beds.
09:07In charge of this Doss House is 39-year-old Andy Gardner from Oxfordshire.
09:12It looks like Victorian flat pack.
09:16Most slums were owned by absent landlords who employed local men like Andy to run the Doss House and collect rent from the other tenants.
09:24Oh, dear me.
09:25That's one way of ingratiating yourself with the group, isn't it?
09:28Hi, guys.
09:29Nice to meet you.
09:29Give me your money.
09:31I'm going to kick you out your room.
09:32As rent collector, Andy gets free accommodation.
09:39Here we are, then.
09:41But he'll need an income from the Doss House or find other work to pay for food.
09:46There's not a lot here.
09:48I've got something to keep warm.
09:50I've got somewhere to sit down and eat.
09:52Somewhere to wash.
09:53Somewhere to sleep.
09:54I mean, this is a lap of luxury, really, compared to the Doss House.
10:02The residents are exploring their new surroundings.
10:05Oh, look at the mud everywhere.
10:07Lovely.
10:07Lovely.
10:08Lovely.
10:08Love it.
10:09Hello.
10:10Hi.
10:11And meeting their neighbours.
10:13What's your room like?
10:14Bigger or smaller?
10:15It's a lot of smaller.
10:16I think it's half of this size.
10:17Yeah.
10:19Welcome.
10:20I'm your local rent man.
10:22How are you?
10:23Mum, get the rolling pin ready.
10:25Get the rolling pin ready.
10:26Otherwise, you'll be down here.
10:27Have you seen how they sleep in here?
10:29No.
10:30Is this the Doss House?
10:31This is the Doss House.
10:31This is the Doss House.
10:33If you can't afford the coffin bed for four pence, you'll like the other one.
10:36Can I sit down on the bench?
10:37OK.
10:41Hello there.
10:42Yeah.
10:43That is disgusting for a human being to actually even pay.
10:47It's either that or the street.
10:53This is the Tuppany Hangover, where people slept upright, supported only by a rope.
10:59Something the residents could experience if they fail to pay Andy at the end of the week.
11:04So if you can't afford the rent on that day, would you come back again another day?
11:09No.
11:10So it's that day or nothing?
11:11Other people would be waiting to go in there.
11:13That's harsh.
11:14Yeah.
11:15Very.
11:16Really harsh.
11:16Extremely harsh.
11:18We've come to work then, won't we?
11:19Right.
11:19You need to work really hard.
11:21And you can't get us into debt.
11:23No.
11:23For the Victorian poor, keeping a roof over your head was the absolute priority.
11:31After that came food.
11:33And in the 1860s, food was surprisingly expensive.
11:36It consumed an average of two-thirds of a slum dweller's income.
11:39So, a reasonable living could be made from keeping the slum fed.
11:44Ah, do we have a business?
11:47A job which falls to Adrian and Wiebke Bird.
11:51Oh.
11:52Aha.
11:53We're going to be grocers.
11:54Adrian and Wiebke have homes in rural Hertfordshire and Wales.
12:00Their family histories echo the mass migrations of the 19th century.
12:04Migration's a really big theme in my own life, living in the States and then coming to the UK,
12:08and also in my parents' lives, growing up in Germany and migrating to the United States.
12:13I want to know what it was like for people to be moving from the countryside to the cities for opportunity.
12:18In Victorian times, country folk were moving to towns in their droves,
12:23and handyman Adrian's passion for rural craft should stand him in good stead.
12:28I think I'm prepared.
12:30I think the skills I've got will be very well suited to the slum.
12:33I'm going to have to draw on all that I've learnt over the last number of years
12:37to be able to keep us going and keep us fed.
12:43Oh, my.
12:45Wow.
12:45Look at the raw paper.
12:47This is home.
12:48With a shop and a room to rent, the birds have the highest outgoings of all.
12:53Right where we're living in luxury.
12:55But they also have a stove on which to cook and the fanciest furnishings.
13:00As shopkeepers, they have decent earning potential.
13:03For a slum, this must have been one of the nicest places.
13:06This must have been the top of the heap.
13:09I'm beginning to think we're probably doing OK.
13:12Many slum dwellers had no way to cook for themselves.
13:15Oh, that's rank. That's strong.
13:16So shops like these were pivotal to the community.
13:19Hello there. Come on in.
13:22With most residents living day-to-day and hand-to-mouth, cash flow was a major problem.
13:27What can we do for you guys this evening?
13:29So slum shops sold them only what they could afford.
13:32Bread by the slice, tea by the spoonful and small portions of hot food.
13:37They'd even rent a bowl and a spoon to eat it with.
13:40We have to say now that we haven't got any money right now.
13:43We know the situation. You're all in the same boat.
13:45Do your tick till Friday.
13:47OK.
13:47And then your bills due Friday, please.
13:48Friday.
13:49OK.
13:50Tick was a system of credit based on trust and it kept the slum economy moving.
13:55I'll put that in the book for you.
13:56OK.
13:56Thanks.
13:57Bye-bye.
13:57Thank you. We'll see you tomorrow.
13:58Bye-bye.
13:59Bye-bye.
14:00Like many poor Victorians who came to the slums,
14:03these residents face starting their new life already in debt.
14:07Obviously.
14:08Not bread.
14:08That is a priority food, bread.
14:10Bread.
14:10And cheese.
14:11And cheese.
14:12It all depends how much it is.
14:13Yeah.
14:14I'm just worried because we don't know how much Dad's going to earn.
14:17And we've got rent to pay in four days' time.
14:19We've got rent.
14:20And if we don't pay the rent,
14:21I'm not going to live in one of those other rooms.
14:23We're going to have a bit of rope.
14:25It's not going to happen.
14:26There's no way you can sleep like that Doss house with a rope.
14:29Do you make do with the heat in that room tonight?
14:32Yeah, we'll just have to all cuddle up.
14:34We'll just have to make do.
14:35I'd rather be cold.
14:37And hungry.
14:38And hungry.
14:39And pay the rent.
14:42I'm going to put it on the tick for you
14:44as long as it's paid before Monday.
14:46Well, that's the rent day as well.
14:47That's our rent day too, that's why.
14:49We're all in the same boat, to be honest.
14:51You do feel as if you've got some responsibility
14:54to try and help these people.
14:56Definitely, yeah, that's it me.
14:58I feel a little bit more responsible than I thought I would.
15:02We decided not to have a fire
15:07because we didn't want to run up too much debt straight away.
15:11It feels scary that you feel like
15:13you're in debt before you even get anywhere,
15:17you know, before you do anything.
15:18We're already in debt.
15:19In 1860, London was a modern metropolis
15:25with a booming population.
15:27But there was little sympathy for those who were struggling.
15:29Poverty was seen as part of the natural order of things.
15:32You were either born poor
15:33or you fell into poverty
15:35because of your own moral failings.
15:37If you were poor,
15:38you simply had to work harder or endure.
15:40I'm struggling now.
15:48That's on day one.
15:49I am, I'm struggling now.
15:51I'm tired and I hurt
15:54and all I want to do is go to bed.
15:57It's not going to be very comfortable.
16:00It's going to be very cold.
16:02But hopefully we'll keep each other warm.
16:04I do feel very much isolated.
16:07The other families, they've got a male presence
16:09whereas it's just the three of us.
16:12So it's a lot tougher.
16:15Why are you jumping?
16:17Sharing your bed is definitely going to be a challenge.
16:19I'm going to have to rise to it
16:20because I've got no other choice.
16:22So I think we'll sort of band together as a family
16:24and we'll probably get closer, to be honest.
16:27A few minutes ago, I was just like,
16:28I was like, where's the biscuits?
16:30Then I just remember like,
16:32oh no, we can't afford biscuits.
16:34And then I just felt,
16:35I just felt a depressing feeling inside.
16:37Like I've just,
16:38like a ship's just sunk inside me.
16:48Come on, you three.
16:50Drop me again.
16:51Time to get up.
16:54It's their first morning in the slum.
16:58Oh, you all right?
16:59And with rent day already fast approaching...
17:02I'm going to go and find some work.
17:03OK.
17:04Everyone has the same priority.
17:07See you later.
17:09Drop.
17:09Bye.
17:10See you, girls.
17:10Goodbye, granddad.
17:11Bye.
17:12Good luck.
17:13New arrivals had to find work fast.
17:15It was the only way to keep a roof over your head
17:17and provide for your family.
17:19The money they earn and the money they spend
17:24is based on Victorian wages and prices,
17:26converted to modern-day money,
17:28so they can get a feeling for a Victorian cost of living.
17:31As man of the house, 59-year-old Graham would have been expected to provide for his family.
17:40In the 1860s, Britain produced half the world's iron and cotton cloth and two-thirds of its coal.
17:47The economy had made a seismic shift from rural to urban.
17:52People poured into London, Glasgow, Manchester,
17:55booming industrial hubs powered by an army of unskilled workers.
17:59In the east end of London alone, the 1861 census lists more than 10,000 men as general labourers.
18:08The work paid well, enough to keep a family warm and fed.
18:12But just as it is for some of today's zero-hour workers,
18:15there was no guarantee of work from one day to the next.
18:18I am feeling the pressure.
18:22Without me earning the money, there'll be no food for the girls, my wife and my daughter.
18:27Graham has a day of work at a local bell foundry.
18:30Here, church bells are made as they have been for the last 500 years,
18:36with every part of the process still done by hand.
18:40This is your first job. Dig these two cores out.
18:42OK.
18:43Use the crowbar to dig out the bricks. Don't break any of the bricks.
18:45Remove all the sand off the surface of the bell because we tune the bells
18:48and anything that's left will make the tools go blunt.
18:51OK.
18:51All right?
18:51Yep.
18:52I'll leave you to it.
18:53OK.
18:54In the 21st century, Graham is retired from his job in a carpet shop.
18:58But for the Victorian poor, there was no such thing as retirement.
19:04It is going to be a hard day of labour, but, you know, we need money.
19:08Without this wage, we can do nothing.
19:09You know, we've got to use it to pay the rent and pay the shop,
19:13which we've already got debt there, so it's hard work.
19:17But we'll do it.
19:21In the slums, having an evil body was a clear advantage.
19:25Hi, Andy.
19:25Hello.
19:26Got a few bits and pieces here?
19:28In 2004, Andy, a professional golfer, had his right leg amputated below the knee.
19:34This is my specialist leg.
19:36This is what I use to compete and play all over Europe.
19:39So, I mean, this leg is really high-tech, really comfortable.
19:42I mean, I have a feel.
19:44It's a thing of beauty.
19:45It is a thing of beauty.
19:46Yeah.
19:46Andy wants to get a better understanding of what life would have been like for Victorians
19:51with a disability like his.
19:53This really is the Rolls-Royce of artificial legs of that time.
19:57Yeah, I mean, you can certainly see the craftsmanship that's gone into it.
20:00These high-tech legs would have cost 20 Victorian pounds in 1860, equivalent to more than two
20:05years' rent in the slums.
20:06Somebody in your circumstances could not remotely have afforded to buy this.
20:10In Victorian times, you could have your leg cut off free of charge, but they wouldn't
20:13actually provide you with anything.
20:15Disability was more common and visible in Victorian society than it is today.
20:20Poorly regulated factories and docks were crammed with dangerous machinery, and injuries accounted
20:26for many amputations.
20:29Without x-rays or antibiotics, there was only a 50-50 chance of surviving surgery.
20:34And afterwards, most poor amputees had to make do with crutches or the most basic wooden
20:39leg.
20:41What kind of got you interested in this in the first place?
20:43Just to see how somebody in my situation would have actually coped back then, what they
20:47had available, what they didn't have available, I think.
20:49This is the sort of thing they had available if you didn't have a lot of money?
20:52Yes, indeed.
20:53It doesn't look very comfortable, does it?
20:54Since you expressed an interest in actually trying one of these authentic ones, we got
20:58something which is kind of as close to authentic as we can make it, but which actually won't
21:01be too uncomfortable.
21:02So this is kind of a modern version of an old classic.
21:07Do you want to give it a go?
21:07I would love to give it a go.
21:09It's the same shape as a Victorian peg leg, but this one's fiberglass and specially designed
21:14for Andy's stump.
21:16What do you reckon, then?
21:16The cup is comfortable.
21:19For a Victorian, obviously, that would have been absolutely hideous.
21:21The fit would have been terrible.
21:22The thing they used to do, because it fitted so badly effectively, was they used to use
21:26turpentine to harden skin.
21:28You've heard of that.
21:29No, I hadn't heard of that.
21:30Can you imagine rubbing turpentine?
21:31That really doesn't sound pleasant at all.
21:32No.
21:33I guess if you've got a wooden thing there, you want as much protection and padding and
21:36whatever as you can get.
21:38So it's not uncomfortable?
21:39No, not uncomfortable at all.
21:40It's just weird?
21:41It's just weird and unstable.
21:44Yeah.
21:44I don't have a foot.
21:45Obviously, you use your foot to push off.
21:48Yeah.
21:49So I get no return from a foot.
21:52The whole point of doing this is to really see what it would have been like for myself
21:56in this time.
21:57Yeah.
21:57And this is the way to do it, isn't it?
21:59This is lesson number one.
22:00Lesson number one.
22:01It's not easy.
22:02Right.
22:02Next door, with Graham out at work, Heather and Alison Potter are learning what they would
22:10be doing in the 1860s to help make ends meet.
22:13Do you put quite a lot of glue on?
22:15I don't think I've got enough glue on.
22:17Slum rooms weren't just where people lived.
22:20These were the unofficial workshops of the city.
22:23Everything from buttonholes to billiard balls were made in people's rooms.
22:28This had its advantages for families like the Potters.
22:30Because though it was frowned upon for married women to go out to work, they could supplement
22:37their income from home.
22:39Which bit are you doing?
22:40The draw?
22:41The box?
22:42I think it's the box.
22:46In 1861, Bryant and May opened a match factory in nearby Bow.
22:51It quickly became the largest employer of casual female labour in the area.
22:56As well as factory workers, it also employed women to assemble matchboxes in their own homes.
23:03Called piecework, often whole families would get involved.
23:07Heather's great-grandmother, Annie, was a matchbox maker, and she would have been expected
23:12to make up to a thousand boxes a day.
23:14It overwhelms me a bit at the moment, because half of me sees this, and then in my head
23:20I have how I live now.
23:22I mean, I'd probably be sat on the settee reading a Kindle halfway through the morning.
23:27They must have just been real tough women, you know, fighters.
23:30They had to be, didn't they, to survive.
23:32Survive for themselves and for the children and families, really.
23:35For single mothers with children to look after, and fewer opportunities to earn,
23:42it's estimated that up to one in 12 Victorian women turned to prostitution.
23:48Piecework would have been one of the only ways to make an honest living.
23:53Shazida and the twins are making fancy boxes for things like perfume and cosmetics.
23:58So we need to start our production line here.
23:59In their modern lives, Shazida and 10-year-old twins, Sadie and Saudi, live in Scunthorpe.
24:09So what do we understand about the revolution?
24:11The creative machine.
24:12So it was a big change, wasn't it?
24:14Shazida works as an admin assistant and homeschools her children.
24:18We literally do everything together.
24:21And you could say that I pretty much kind of like dedicating my life to the twins.
24:24It's very difficult being a single mom in the 21st century,
24:27so I want to experience how the Victorian single mothers lived, how they survived.
24:33It must have been really difficult.
24:35That's not going to stick together, is it?
24:37Try putting a bit more.
24:40In 1860, there were peace workers on every street in London's East End.
24:46A box maker would have worked a 16-hour day
24:49and been paid enough to buy a loaf of bread.
24:53It wasn't only women who worked from home.
25:00Although his rent is covered with no-one in the Doss house,
25:03Andy needs an income to pay for food.
25:06I am making handles for tools.
25:09Furniture making, cane chair repairing and woodturning
25:12were all common types of peace work done by men.
25:15This is one of my first attempts.
25:18I'm quite pleased with that, to be honest.
25:20It's going to take a lot of getting used to, to using this.
25:22It's hard on the leg.
25:24It's very hard on the leg.
25:30Alongside the slum's unskilled workforce,
25:32East London was also a hub for trades,
25:35like tanning, embroidery and tailoring.
25:37Russell and his son James are off to find out
25:41how their Victorian predecessors made their living.
25:47A bespoke tailor of high-end suits,
25:50Russell works in the heart of the City of London.
25:55I love my trade of tailoring.
25:57I really am passionate about it
25:58and I really want to find out how hard it was tailoring in the 1800s.
26:01It's a really good experience.
26:02I can't wait to do it.
26:03The family live in Essex,
26:05where mum Mandy combines a part-time job in human resources
26:08with looking after children, James and Rebecca.
26:11I would like to say, like, yeah,
26:12we spend loads of time together as a family,
26:14but when you think about it, we don't.
26:18So I'd just love to spend more time together, you know what I mean?
26:21Mandy's from a long line of Jewish tailors
26:23and her family history is firmly rooted in the East End.
26:26For me, it's just about understanding how the Victorians lived,
26:30how our ancestors lived.
26:31I really want to understand their struggles
26:33and spending proper time with Russell and the children
26:36and seeing how we cope.
26:38Yes, or not, the case may be.
26:39Or not, as the case may be, yeah.
26:41Hello.
26:42Nice to meet you.
26:44Dr Vivian Richmond is an expert in the Victorian textile trades.
26:48This is Petticoat Lane.
26:50This is the heart of the rag trade.
26:54Home to a street market since the 17th century,
26:57Petticoat Lane is where generations of tailors have bought their raw materials.
27:03While West End tailors worked with expensive fabrics,
27:06new clothes would have been alien to the East End poor.
27:09So you're now in the rag trade and your job will be to take these clothes away
27:16and make them into something else or to mend them.
27:19This stuff here, these waistcoats, they'd be made into cloth caps.
27:24Down here we have some trousers.
27:26They don't look savable to me.
27:27You're going for practicality, not aesthetics here.
27:31It's a shock.
27:32I thought they'd be doing more technical stuff,
27:33more making stuff or altering stuff.
27:35The difficulty for Jewish tailors was that in their home countries
27:39they were very often highly trained, highly skilled,
27:43but they arrive in England with nothing, literally nothing, many of them.
27:48And so they're going to be right down the bottom of the pile
27:50and hence doing this kind of translating work
27:53and transformatory work with clothing.
27:58By the 1860s, around 20,000 Jewish people lived in London,
28:03with more arriving from Europe all the time.
28:06Almost half made their living through tailoring.
28:10Shocked.
28:11Really shocked I'd be given a bunch of rags
28:14trying to turn into something to buy.
28:15I'm horrified.
28:17I mean, this is a different end of the scale
28:18to what I'm used to working on.
28:19I mean, we normally make sort of a court dress and towel coats
28:22and this stuff, we just...
28:24The bottom end, when people have actually finished wearing it
28:26and then we've got to make it for people to wear again,
28:28it's going to be a challenge, I think.
28:35Graham has been hard at work at the Bell Foundry.
28:38He's done four hours without a break.
28:41I never thought it would be this physical.
28:47It's absolutely shattering.
28:50I think to finish the full day with nothing to eat this morning
28:53on an empty stomach is going to be really, really tough.
28:56I didn't realise how difficult it would be.
28:58So what's keeping me going is the family at home.
29:04I've got to do it.
29:05I've just got to carry on.
29:12Man.
29:13Yeah?
29:13The last lot.
29:14Can we divide up the stuff into the...
29:15What's got me done?
29:16That's what I was just going to say.
29:17That's what I've just been doing.
29:19I'm already ahead of you.
29:20Oh, yeah?
29:20Okay.
29:21Look, waistcoats all in this pile
29:22and washing, just throw on the floor.
29:25What is that?
29:26Probably sick.
29:27Oh!
29:27Is that a pipe?
29:28He's blood.
29:28Joking.
29:29Just put it in the washing.
29:31And I've got to wash that?
29:32Yeah.
29:33Russell hasn't hand-stitched anything for years.
29:36But although he won't have modern machines,
29:39he will have help.
29:41In the 21st century,
29:42Rebecca and James go to private school.
29:44Here, they'll be put to work.
29:46We're going to do all the caps first.
29:48Then we'll start working on the trousers.
29:49And the shoes, I think, are just a polish-up
29:51and a bit of cardboard at the end.
29:52Yes, boss.
29:54Rather than repaired,
29:55shoes were simply patched up
29:57and painted black to hide the holes.
30:00In my shop, I've got all the machinery,
30:01correct tools for the job.
30:03They're all fit for purpose.
30:04Here, in your slump,
30:05they're using the bare minimum of stuff.
30:08It's all done by hand.
30:09It's been really tough for them,
30:11as I'm finding out myself now.
30:16Andy is also finding out
30:18just how hard slum work would have been.
30:22One little slip,
30:25and it's ruined.
30:27It's absolutely ruined.
30:29If I feel like I've failed,
30:31I feel like I've failed.
30:32I don't like failing at anything.
30:33Nothing.
30:34But this has beat me.
30:36Back in 1860,
30:37if they were disabled
30:38and doing something like this,
30:40they couldn't do it.
30:40They're gone.
30:41How do these guys
30:42did 600 or 1,000 of these
30:43every single day?
30:46I've done seven.
30:48And these guys did it,
30:49and if they didn't do it,
30:50they didn't eat.
30:51They didn't eat.
30:51They died.
30:55Graham is finishing his shift.
30:57He's earned Ā£10,
30:59the equivalent of a Victorian labourer's daily wage.
31:02There's your wages for today.
31:03Nearly enough
31:05for his Ā£13 rent.
31:07Any work tomorrow?
31:08Be here at quarter to eight.
31:09Don't be late.
31:10OK.
31:10Thanks.
31:11But after eight hours' hard labour,
31:14he's on his last legs.
31:20Hello.
31:21Are you all right?
31:22Yes.
31:23Yeah, so,
31:24did you get any money?
31:25Yes.
31:26Ā£10.
31:26Oh, amazing.
31:27How was your day?
31:30Hard work.
31:31Very hard, yeah.
31:33Yeah.
31:33Never worked like that before in my life.
31:36But it's the hardest thing I've ever done.
31:38Really?
31:38Yeah.
31:39The sweat was absolutely pouring off me.
31:40Oh.
31:41It was dripping down.
31:43Oh.
31:43You did well.
31:46Yeah.
31:53For everyone else,
31:54slum life is in full swing.
31:56Life in a Victorian slum
31:59was undoubtedly harsh,
32:01but it wasn't all doom and gloom.
32:05Teeming with people.
32:06Yes.
32:08It was noisy.
32:12Filthy.
32:14And smelly.
32:19Humans and animals lived
32:20cheek by jowl.
32:23Every room and yard
32:24was used for work.
32:26The birds are making
32:30a cheap East End classic,
32:31smoked kippers.
32:33These were often made
32:34in privies,
32:35an ideal makeshift smokehouse
32:37with the added bonus
32:38of disguising the smell
32:40of human waste.
32:42I was thinking
32:42Ā£1.20 a portion.
32:44I know,
32:45but we don't want to put anything
32:46more on tick, you see?
32:47No.
32:47OK, then.
32:48Is it aftermarket?
32:49And I don't like it, this.
32:50And he doesn't like kippers.
32:51Oh, Shaz, how's it going?
32:56All right?
32:57Yeah.
32:57We were going to do
32:58a kipper,
33:00if you wanted one.
33:00All right, um,
33:01yeah, you can put me down.
33:03Okey-dokey, no problem.
33:04I'll see you later.
33:05Shaz wants to put
33:07Ā£1.20 on the tick
33:09for one dinner.
33:10Yeah.
33:11And she's sure she wants that?
33:12Yeah.
33:14And you want to take that risk?
33:16OK.
33:16That's what you want to do?
33:17Yeah.
33:25All right.
33:26First one, finished.
33:27Yay!
33:27It's really good!
33:29Brilliant!
33:29With no way of earning anything
33:32until the weekend market,
33:34the Howas are keeping
33:35their debts to a minimum.
33:37I'm really hungry right now.
33:39This morning,
33:40the bread we had left
33:40from the night
33:41before we gave to the kids,
33:43so Russ and I
33:43haven't actually eaten anything
33:45since yesterday evening
33:47when we had
33:48a quarter of a slice of bread.
33:50I actually feel exhausted,
33:52but we've got so much to do
33:53ready for market
33:54that I'm not even sure
33:55if Russ and I
33:55are going to have time
33:56to get to bed
33:58at a decent hour
33:59because we've got to
34:00get all this stuff done.
34:10You've no idea
34:11how good
34:12an egg sandwich can taste.
34:18I've got a half slice
34:19of bread with butter.
34:21It is good to it
34:22because I'm hungry.
34:30It's early,
34:31but the Howas have already
34:31been up and working
34:32for an hour.
34:34Halfway through.
34:35That's it.
34:36And Taylor Russell
34:37has turned teacher.
34:38That's it.
34:38Lovely. Perfect.
34:39Oh, like that.
34:40That's it.
34:41Too much?
34:42That's fine.
34:43We've pulled together.
34:45He's taught me how to sew.
34:47He's taken the patience
34:48and the time.
34:50Whereas in our real life,
34:51we're so busy
34:52that we're like ships
34:54in the night
34:54and now we've come
34:56together again
34:56and actually realise
34:57we still do love each other
34:58and we still do like each other
34:59which is great.
35:01It's actually quite nice
35:02the two of us
35:02just sitting here.
35:03Yeah.
35:04Just sewing.
35:09I've got to stand up.
35:10I'm sorry.
35:11Are you standing up?
35:12Yeah, I've got to.
35:13Upstairs,
35:14things aren't going
35:15so well for the potters.
35:18Graham's back
35:19has seized up
35:20and there's no way
35:21he'll be able
35:22to go back to work
35:23at the Bell Foundry.
35:25Their only other
35:26potential income
35:27is from the matchboxes
35:28which is unlikely
35:30to pay the rent.
35:31I've made one,
35:32two, three, four,
35:34five, six.
35:35They take a whole day
35:36to dry.
35:38No, it's just
35:39not going to happen.
35:40In the 1860s,
35:41the loss of the main
35:42breadwinner
35:43accounted for nearly
35:44two-thirds of families
35:45forced to seek help
35:46from the Victorian authorities.
35:49What is
35:49enlightening is
35:51how quickly
35:52your situation
35:54can change.
35:55Dad can't work today
35:56because he's injured
35:57and the matchboxes
35:59were a bit of a failure.
36:01We've got to start
36:02thinking how
36:03we're going to find
36:04the next
36:05few pennies.
36:10The family
36:10is in dire straits.
36:13They've no option left
36:14but to send the children
36:15out to work.
36:17How confident
36:17that we'll get
36:18the rest of the rent today.
36:20Yeah, I'm confident
36:21you will as well.
36:21Oh, she's amazing.
36:24Good girl.
36:26Heather and Olivia
36:27are going to bunch
36:28and sell
36:29watercress.
36:30Now we know
36:31how much we have to earn
36:32and just determined
36:33to get that much money
36:34and I think we will.
36:38Children were considered
36:39economically viable
36:41by the age of
36:41seven or eight
36:42and were as important
36:44to the East End
36:45workforce as their parents.
36:48Places like
36:48Covent Garden,
36:49Victorian London's
36:50main fruit and veg market,
36:52were filled with street sellers,
36:53many of them children.
36:56Watercress
36:56was a popular street food
36:58that could be bought
36:59for pennies
36:59and sold
37:00for a slim profit.
37:03Excuse me,
37:04would you like to buy
37:05any watercress?
37:06Their working day
37:07would have begun
37:07as early as 4am
37:09and gone on
37:10for up to 16 hours.
37:12Watercress,
37:12nine pence a bunch.
37:14Thank you so much.
37:16Bye-bye.
37:18It's so good.
37:20I'm doing this
37:21at uni.
37:21I think I'll do it.
37:22Oh, yeah, yeah.
37:24Hi, excuse me,
37:25would you like
37:25to buy any watercress?
37:28There you go.
37:28Cheers.
37:29Must have been hard
37:29seeing your children
37:30go out
37:31and knowing that
37:31they've got to do this.
37:33Is that all right?
37:35It makes me feel
37:36angry
37:37because
37:38if it was snowing
37:40and there weren't
37:40many people out,
37:41you just had to do it anyway.
37:43We've done really well.
37:44We've got a little bit
37:44of money to take back.
37:46Whoa, look at that.
37:47I know.
37:47It doesn't really work.
37:51Back at the slum,
37:54Shaz and the twins
37:55have been making
37:56fancy boxes all day.
37:59She'll be paid
38:00at the end of the week
38:00for each box
38:01which meets
38:02the required standard.
38:03Good evening.
38:04I'm good, thank you.
38:05Good.
38:05I've come for some soup.
38:07Right.
38:08How did your boxes sell
38:09any yet, have you?
38:09I haven't sold any yet
38:10so I've just been making them.
38:11Oh, hard work, isn't it?
38:13Yeah, it is, yeah.
38:14Right.
38:14So what I'm trying to do
38:15is sort of get a grip
38:16as you can see
38:17with how much we've
38:17put on the tick so far
38:19and how much we can
38:20really sort of lay out again
38:21until everybody
38:22starts getting paid.
38:23Right.
38:23I'm hoping
38:24that we'll be able
38:25to sell all the boxes
38:26so we should be able
38:27to pay off the debt.
38:28Right.
38:29Hi there, how are you?
38:30Good evening.
38:30I'm fine, thank you.
38:31We can do one cup of broth
38:33on top of this
38:35but I really can't
38:35go much further than that.
38:37We're really going to need
38:37to be careful from now on.
38:38Right.
38:39Okay, yeah.
38:40Okay.
38:41With their own rent
38:42due at the end of the week
38:43the birds are wrestling
38:44with their responsibilities.
38:46Okay, if we had put it on...
38:47We'll have to keep our eye on them
38:49and see what they make today
38:50and hopefully they can move
38:52those goods.
38:53Yeah, but this is the sort of thing
38:54that would have happened
38:54a lot of us, isn't it?
38:56Yeah.
38:56What do you do?
38:56It's a gamble.
38:57Single mum with two children
38:58and they have to eat
38:59and they have to have
39:00the wherewithal to make money.
39:02How do you...
39:03What if they can't pay
39:04at the end?
39:05What do you do?
39:08I don't know.
39:09Hmm.
39:12Hello.
39:13Come on.
39:13The Potter girls are back
39:16from Covent Garden.
39:17We've got Ā£10.
39:20Good work.
39:22We can pay our rent now.
39:23We did all right.
39:23We've done really well.
39:25And to get Ā£10,
39:26I mean, that's made me feel
39:27a little bit easier.
39:29Much better.
39:31Much better.
39:31I think you've done good, missus.
39:34Good evening, Potters.
39:35How are you?
39:36The family celebrate
39:37with their first hot food in days.
39:39We've got some soup on today
39:41which hopefully you'll like to purchase.
39:43We made Ā£10 selling Crest.
39:45Ā£10, that's nice to know.
39:47So would you like to pay up tonight
39:48for what you already owe?
39:50We haven't brought any money down with us.
39:52You're more than welcome
39:53to go and get it.
39:55Paying off their tick
39:56has cost the Potters
39:57Ā£7.96,
39:59putting them short
40:00of their rent once more.
40:05I think that's the circle
40:06you can't get out of
40:08because these things just happen
40:10and that's the ongoing misery
40:13because at the end of the day
40:14you know you've got to
40:16wake up into it
40:17again the next morning
40:18and it's another fight
40:19then to survive.
40:30It's market day.
40:31There we go.
40:40We went to bed quite late last night
40:42and then so we're up early again
40:44this morning
40:44because time is money
40:46and I'm shattered
40:47so unbelievably tired.
40:49What we've got finished
40:50is what we can sell
40:51and we have to make rent
40:52and we have to pay the grocer.
40:54We've got quite a bit to get done.
40:55Mandy's working on the shoes
40:56I'm working on the cap
40:57and I've got some alterations
40:58to do afterwards.
40:59Hopefully we'll sell it.
41:01And we haven't eaten yet
41:02and actually it's non-negotiable.
41:03You just give the children the food
41:05and I'm sure my ancestors
41:06would be more concerned
41:07for my grandparents.
41:09To be fair
41:10they were successful in that
41:11because my mum
41:12had a very nice life
41:14and I've got a very nice life
41:15so what they sacrificed there
41:16to work so hard
41:17and instill all that
41:18has paid off.
41:19It's just a shame
41:19they're not here to see it.
41:20Sorry.
41:22Sorry.
41:22Sorry, that came all of a sudden.
41:33Sorry.
41:36I wish they could be here
41:38to see me do this
41:39so that they know
41:40that I understood
41:40what they go through.
41:43I just need a tissue.
41:45I need a tissue.
41:46Low lining.
41:47Low lining.
41:50This will do.
41:51Right.
41:52Not going to use that, are you?
41:54You're not going to shout at me
41:55for this, isn't it?
41:55No, no, no.
41:55You're not going to use that bit.
41:57It's time.
41:59Okay, we need to get on.
42:06Andy's preparing the Doss House
42:08in the hope
42:09he'll soon have paying customers.
42:11So far, he's earned nothing
42:12and it's taking its toll.
42:15I'm starving.
42:16I've got some lunch.
42:19What I saved
42:20from yesterday.
42:23from my sandwich last night.
42:25A little bit of fluff.
42:27But, er,
42:29I don't want to get into
42:30too much debt.
42:31That's what's worrying me.
42:32That's what's making me
42:33a bit emotional,
42:34to be honest.
42:37Sorry.
42:39I really don't know how they...
42:40How they survived.
42:41This whole experience
42:42is massively humbling.
42:45When you think you've got it hard
42:46and you haven't...
42:47It's payday for the peace workers
42:57who would have hand-delivered
42:59finished goods
42:59to the factories.
43:00See you later, guys.
43:02Bye.
43:02See you later.
43:03Wages were low
43:04and standards high.
43:06Any products that didn't make
43:07the grade would be rejected.
43:09Most of Shaz's boxes
43:10weren't up to scratch.
43:12She's only made two pounds.
43:14I don't think it will cover my rent
43:16and I don't think I'll be able
43:17to pay off my food debt.
43:19When I feel really low,
43:20it's just really grinding me down now.
43:22I couldn't imagine
43:24living like this forever.
43:26No.
43:27It's unlivable.
43:29The potters, too,
43:30have been paid the going rate
43:32for the 25 matchboxes
43:34they did manage to make.
43:35He'll never guess
43:36how much we got.
43:40We got one pen.
43:42So we've got market day today.
43:44We've got kippers.
43:45We've got kippers.
43:45We've got two lots of soap.
43:48With their customers hard up,
43:49even the shopkeepers
43:50are feeling the pinch.
43:52It looks like the market
43:53is becoming more and more important
43:55for us to be able
43:56to earn enough to pay our rent.
43:58Everybody's being very conservative
43:59with what they're buying from us.
44:00We haven't sold very much.
44:02So that's going to make or break us,
44:03I think, at this point.
44:10The weekend market was crucial
44:12before rent day came round on Monday.
44:14It's nine pence for a bunch
44:16or we're selling four bunches
44:17for 34 pence?
44:20From leftover food...
44:22to second-hand shoes.
44:24These markets were a way
44:26to turn any meagre asset into cash.
44:29Right, are we on one or two?
44:31I'm two.
44:31Two cabbages.
44:32The birds are trying to shift
44:34their surplus stock.
44:35This has got tallow in it.
44:37Yeah, this has got tallow in it.
44:38The potters are hoping
44:39to scrape together
44:40the rest of their rent
44:41from the last of the watercress.
44:43It's looking a little bit dry now.
44:46Are these a hand-made?
44:47How much more for that?
44:48Ā£3.40.
44:50And after a week of hard work,
44:52it's been the house's first chance
44:54to earn.
44:55And I actually ironed this
44:56with a proper old hot iron.
44:59Thank you so much.
45:00That's really kind of you.
45:02These are all hands-in-the-itched
45:03hand-made from waistcoats.
45:04Lovely.
45:05I think it's because
45:06at East London,
45:07you forget it's like
45:07the working-class area.
45:09Obviously, a lot of people
45:09have moved in now
45:10and it's all up and coming
45:11and trendy,
45:12which is what we know of it.
45:14And you forget that actually
45:15this was how it started.
45:17It's just really interesting
45:19how they lived
45:20and the struggles they had
45:22day to day.
45:23What amazed me,
45:24they've got to think of their rent
45:25first before they can eat.
45:26Come on, miss.
45:27Go eat tonight.
45:29Ā£3.40.
45:30I felt a little bit sad
45:32and it made me think
45:34how lucky we are.
45:36And we take so much for granted.
45:38That's right.
45:39That's right, yeah.
45:39Thank you very much.
45:41Good help to you.
45:42I'm not even going to
45:42haggle you for the price.
45:43Cheers, mate.
45:44Thank you very much.
45:45Thanks.
45:46Nice.
45:47As the market draws to a close,
45:49everyone is counting up,
45:51ready for tomorrow's reckoning
45:52with the Rentman.
45:54Yes!
45:56Rent's fine.
45:57You've never been so happy.
46:00No, no.
46:00As a family together,
46:01a chevy something like that,
46:02it's just amazing.
46:03It's been immense.
46:04It's been absolutely immense.
46:07So we've got Ā£33.13.
46:10Rent covered.
46:11Just.
46:11Just.
46:12Well done.
46:15That is close, though.
46:16It is, isn't it?
46:17Yeah.
46:18It looks quite a bit,
46:19doesn't it, there?
46:20Yeah, we did really well.
46:2160, 70, 80, 90.
46:24Well done.
46:25Mine has 56.
46:2556 we've got.
46:26That's brilliant.
46:27Well done, you all.
46:28Well done.
46:29That's excellent.
46:30We've had a really good day,
46:31haven't we?
46:32Yes.
46:32I feel triumphant.
46:34What's that mean?
46:36Victorious.
46:36Oh.
46:37Between them,
46:38the five members of the Potter family
46:40have covered their rent.
46:41I think we have it.
46:42But they're not sure
46:43everyone's doing so well.
46:45Ā£80.
46:46Ā£2.40.
46:48Shaz next door.
46:50We're not sure about her rent.
46:5260.
46:52I'm worried about it, Shaz, yeah.
46:54I've really felt for her.
46:56I thought she looked really tired
46:57and worn out this morning.
46:58This morning, she looked, yeah.
47:00I think it's been really hard for her.
47:02In the East End,
47:12rent day was known as Black Monday.
47:16Keeping a roof over your head
47:17depended entirely
47:18on whether you could settle up.
47:20If the slum dwellers
47:23failed to pay rent collector Andy,
47:25he could evict them
47:26from their rooms.
47:28It's a horrible feeling
47:29to have to say to someone,
47:31I'm going to have to take this off you.
47:32It's going to be really, really hard.
47:35Andy can also earn money
47:36by running the DOS house
47:37if there's anyone in it.
47:40These are just narrow mattresses
47:41that I've got filled with straw
47:42to use as padding
47:43and then that goes into
47:44the coffin beds that I've made
47:45and then people can come and sleep in that
47:48if they want for a princely sum of four pence.
47:49But I'm hoping they do
47:50because that's where I'm going to make my money.
47:53I'm absolutely starving.
47:57How are we doing, guys?
47:59Hello.
47:59Are you all right?
48:00Possibly your least favourite day of the week.
48:02Yes.
48:03As the house have shown,
48:04some could succeed in the slums.
48:06They've paid their bill at the shop
48:08and their rent.
48:10They'll eat something other than bread tonight
48:12and they'll have money left over
48:14for the week ahead.
48:15Really well done.
48:15You deserve it.
48:16So there you go.
48:17You deserve it.
48:17Relief, relief, relief.
48:19See you later.
48:20Have a tea.
48:20See you later.
48:22First rent paid.
48:23First rent paid.
48:25How was the day at market for you?
48:27It was OK.
48:27It was OK.
48:28With some customers having paid off their tick
48:30and modest sales,
48:31the birds scrape together their rent.
48:34Perfect.
48:34Thank you very much.
48:37You counted it all out by your fair hands yourself,
48:39have you?
48:40Yeah.
48:40Perfect.
48:41The potters too end their first week
48:43just free of debt.
48:45All right, take care guys.
48:46Take care.
48:46Bye-bye.
48:48In the 1860s,
48:50anyone who failed to pay their rent
48:51faced either the Doss house,
48:53the workhouse,
48:54or the street.
48:55Shaz's below-par piecework
48:59has left her with almost nothing.
49:02Hi.
49:02Hello.
49:03OK, so we were looking for Ā£8.16 today.
49:06Right.
49:06Is that going to be OK for you?
49:08No, I can pay Ā£2.
49:08Ā£2?
49:09Ā£2?
49:10Yeah.
49:10OK.
49:13This puts me in a horrible,
49:16horrible position.
49:18So one way I can resolve this
49:20is to ask you guys to leave
49:24and to put you up in the Doss house.
49:30Now, I don't want to do that.
49:32I really don't.
49:34I mean, obviously,
49:35you're nowhere near the rent
49:36and you've got Tiki in the shop
49:38if you have money in two days,
49:41I would like a proportion of that
49:44to come back off your rent.
49:45And if you're happy to do that,
49:47then that's what we'll do.
49:47Mm-hm. OK.
49:48OK?
49:50OK.
49:51All right, thank you.
49:52No problems.
49:55When I first found out
49:56I was going to be the rent collector,
49:58it was,
49:59aha, what fun.
50:00I've got to go around
50:01and take money off these people
50:02and if they ain't got the money,
50:03I'm going to kick them out
50:04and I'm running the Doss house.
50:07Yeah, it's not like that in real life.
50:08That was...
50:09That was tough with Shaz.
50:11I thought I'd be able to accomplish something,
50:13but obviously I've been, um...
50:15I've been defeated,
50:16I think that's a word,
50:17by society or the era that I'm living in.
50:20Oh.
50:21It's just...
50:21I'm just in a vicious circle here.
50:23Yeah.
50:23I've not given up just yet.
50:25There's still a bit of fighting me left.
50:26It's the end of the residents' first week
50:30of 19th century slum life.
50:33Living here during Victorian times
50:35would have been tough and unpredictable.
50:38Work was harsh,
50:39wages often appallingly low.
50:41And yet,
50:42as our slum dwellers have shown,
50:44somehow people found a way to survive.
50:46Being at the top of the pecking order
50:50within the slum,
50:51I do feel torn between wanting to help people
50:54and not help them.
50:57Shaz worries me a little bit
50:58because we'll probably lose money on her.
51:00So all I can say from that is,
51:02next time I'll try and be a little bit more astute
51:04and, er, I don't know,
51:06not give her so much.
51:08People in the Victorian East End,
51:09you know, they didn't make the choices they did
51:11because they wanted to,
51:12it was because they had to.
51:14You know, and they were faced with
51:15life and death choices
51:16that we don't get faced with today.
51:24Day after day, week after week,
51:26generation after generation,
51:27this is pretty much what their life was like,
51:30this cycle of poverty that I lived in.
51:32I think life is on a knife edge all the time
51:34in this sort of environment
51:35because you can't earn enough money
51:37to be able to put things away for next week
51:39because you've got to survive.
51:40You've got to buy stuff.
51:41We need to start building up the strength again
51:43to be able to carry on next week
51:45and again start to get the rent.
51:48I'm just really happy that we managed to do it
51:49and we won't be going into the DOS house.
51:52Not today.
51:54Not today.
51:57What happens when you work hard?
52:00You get cars.
52:01Before, your ancestors, they were just named
52:04but now, actually, living what they went through,
52:06it's insane.
52:08Like, this is relentless.
52:10You have to have...
52:12You have to be so resilient to do this
52:13and they must have been the strongest people out there.
52:16The slum, it looks miserable,
52:19it stinks,
52:20it's everything you could put...
52:21Everything you imagine is the slum.
52:23What you can't see
52:25is the sense of happiness and community that's here.
52:28We're just together,
52:30all of us together.
52:32It's great.
52:32The first hot food we've really had.
52:37It's really nice.
52:38I thought we had a bad time.
52:40I grew up in the 1950s
52:42and we didn't have any money
52:44but this is a whole different situation.
52:47I will never say
52:48that I lived in poverty again.
52:51Ever.
52:52Because I didn't.
52:54Because this is poverty.
52:55OK.
52:58Next time,
52:59it's the 1870s.
53:02Nice into it, look.
53:03And a new decade...
53:0522 pairs of trousers...
53:07When's the gym?
53:08...demands a whole new workforce.
53:10You treat us like employees, not family.
53:12Until an economic nosedive...
53:14No, nothing.
53:15I'm not taking the food out of their mouths
53:16to feed her children.
53:17In you come.
53:18And new arrivals...
53:19You've got any work today?
53:20A young fellow, I can take in.
53:22...push some to the edge.
53:23I'm looking to eat.
53:24Terrible.
53:25It's great.
53:26The Irish are moving up.
53:31Victorian home life for the better off
53:33as depicted through the paintings of the period
53:35with Jeremy Paxman on BBC4 at 10.30.
53:38And next here on BBC2,
53:39new comedy from Morgana Robinson,
53:41celebrity talent management at the agency.
53:45millennial home life for the
53:52present WorldĻĻain Film
53:54andŠµŠ½Š½Š°Ń home life for the more
53:55new comedy from Morgana Robinson,
53:56prim zeg bento and cricket
53:57is more than enough to have
53:58done so that this year
54:00completes the renovationģ² of jobs
54:01and that massive reaction of
54:02ėعers.
54:04And this is enough
54:05to be suffered from the
54:07biggest question before
54:09you're even better
54:10in the early days
54:12and you're walking
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