BBC How They Dug the Victoria Line

You'd think with the library the Beeb has, they'd start a BBC History channel, and show some of these gems. I bet their cataloge has more than enough content for several channels.

The mid-60s BBC prose spoken throughout the film is classic. Such confidence exuded by the announcer about the precision of the work, with that proper "can-do" attitude taken for granted back then. Watch this just for the commentary.

16.58 when the mud and clay land on your bare back from above and you just carry on as normal. No near miss reports and no fear. Brilliant.

I lost three fingers, a foot, and my right eye, and had a concussion, just from watching these guys work in the tunnel and on the "umbrella".

The equipment seen at the end of the documentary was decommissioned in 2011 and can now be seen in the electric railway museum in Coventry.

I love watching old videos like this.

Respect to the Irish Navigators.

Excellent documentry. Facts, interesting points, great camera, edit, sound and narration. I wish they would do documentaries like this today. No stupid hype, no unnecessary drama, no repeating of every fact at least 10 times until you feel like being insulted, no constant re-use of shots... If this documentary would have been made today, it would be stretched into 10 one hour long episodes, diluted and destroyed. This is trully a piece of art. Also not just the documentary, but the eneneering and building of the Victoria Line itself. If there were documentaries like this one on the TV today, I would watch it. But all the things that run today on "documentary" channels are insulting the viewer, treating him like some heavily brain damaged person who needs special care. That is the reason I do not even watch TV anymore. Even though I have one at home, I did not tune any channels and use it just to watch things from the PC.

Shirtless, covered in dirt, lifting heavy bits of concrete and drinking water from a bucket. These guys are 10x more manly than i'll ever be

Incredible to see how these men worked in such dangerous conditions and what engineering

LOVE this! It is so interesting to see how they covered Oxford Circus for 5 years with that steel umbrella, essentially raising the traffic by a foot. And I love the way the public all stood around watching them dig the holes. That wouldn't happen now - us Londoners are so used to seeing holes being dug these days it's barely noticeable!

What I love about this era is that they had an ambitious idea, and they simply went out and bloody did it! How's that for productivity!

Absolutely brilliant. You don't get films like this anymore. The working practices seem unthinkable today but they did it!

Love how the commentary makes reference to 1984.

The engineering in the oxford street ticket hall dig was amazing

Amazing to see public walking around London looking where they are going as opposed to eyes locked onto mobile phones !

At 2:47 they overdubbed it to say "1863" when it appears the host said "1865"

Such a pleasure to watch and incredibly interesting. Seeing the workmanship, skill and achievements of yesteryear. With not very much, they just got on with it and created something that has withstood the test of time. Magnificent!

Safety gear didn't seem to be a thing back then.

really good doc. i spent a few years working as a train maintainer on the northern and central lines. respect to all construction men.