In Istanbul, we explored not only the wonder that is the Haghia Sophia, but also the easily missable and yet vast interior spaces of the city’s ancient hippodrome. I have never been in such tight underground spaces before – it was both exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time! In Athens, we not only ended up abseiling down a 16 m shaft to visit a Hadrianic era aqueduct (see the photo of me with all my climbing gear about to head underground), but also ended up caving through an ancient mining system at Laurion. The 3D laser scanning here revealed how the different chambers of the structure aligned with the tip of the Pyramid – an incredible feat! Roughly 5.9 million tonnes of Pyramid + the total weight of bedrock were above our heads when we were down in this underground chamber – which I don’t mind admitting had me sweating a little! ![]() In the photo below you can see my feet as we headed down a tunnel leading to a subterranean chamber deep in the bedrock underneath the Great Pyramid – the last surviving wonder of the ancient world. Among other amazing locations, we explored the Great Pyramid of the Pharaoh Khufu at Giza, hoping to understand the precision with which they were able to build it over 4500 years ago. This series I’m flying solo both in the UK and BBC Worldwide versions – wish me luck!Ĭairo was an incredible city to film in. Both of those were co-presented in the UK BBC version with Alexander Armstrong, with me also filming a solo version of the series for BBC World Wide. This series is also part of the Invisible Cities format, and is the third installment in this format after Rome’s Invisible City in 2016 and Italy’s Invisible Cities in 2017. Each series is different though as Darius and I react to, and reflect on, what we are seeing and exploring differently. We filmed both versions side by side (you may remember lots of tweets at the time of Darius and I on location together). The series is a co-production with PBS in America – so you may well see a PBS version with American presenter Darius Arya airing in the USA around the same time. As a result you’ll see a fun array of safety gear on display throughout, with me amongst other things having to abseil 16 m underground, climb down collapsing staircases, squeeze my way through cave tunnels and dive underwater to explore recently discovered ancient remains! ![]() We accessed locations never filmed before due to the difficulties of getting to them, and other locations that had not been visited in over a decade. In this series, we filmed underground, underwater and high above ground. ![]() In this 3 part series, made by BBC Studios, we explore the cities of Cairo, Athens and Istanbul not only in person but using the latest in 3D laser scanning and Virtual Reality technology overseen by the ScanLabs team (see the image above – what did we find in this Athens underground car park?). In September 2018, my new BBC2 series Ancient Invisible Cities airs. **DATES NOW CONFIRMED: Ancient Invisible Cities airs in the UK BBC2 Friday 7th September 9pm (Cairo), 14th September 9pm (Athens), 21st September 9pm (Istanbul).
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