EXCLUSIVE: The BBC and Warner Bros-owned Twenty Twenty have postponed production on David Olusoga’s hit history series A House Through Time as the UK remains in the grips of the coronavirus crisis.
Deadline hears that Season 4 was due to shoot in Leeds early this year, but has been paused until spring at the earliest when the country should emerge from a potentially months-long lockdown.
A House Through Time uses a single house as a time machine to examine British history. Olusoga tracks down the house’s former residents in the history books and tells their stories.
By its very nature, Olusoga needs to enter the property to help bring the history to life. This would be very difficult to achieve in lockdown conditions and could pose a risk to the current residents’ safety.
A BBC spokeswoman said: “Production has been postponed on the series and will resume as soon as appropriate within the guidelines for filming during coronavirus.”
Season 3 premiered last May and since then, Olusoga has made headlines on the back of his blistering MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival.
Olusoga opened up about his own experiences of racism and inequality in the TV industry, admitting that he considers himself a “survivor” rather than a success story.
He said: “I’ve been so crushed by my experiences, so isolated and disempowered by the culture that exists within our industry, that I have had to seek medical treatment for clinical depression. I’ve come close to leaving this industry on several occasions. And I know many black and brown people who have similar stories to tell.”
A House Through Time is executive produced by Mary Crisp for Twenty Twenty.