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This living history series transports three families back to the South Wales coalfields of the 1920s. The families swap their modern luxuries for the harsh reality of daily life as a coalmining family. Living in coalminer's cottages without heating, running water, washing machines, TV and computers, the families experience extreme poverty and the struggle to survive that faced coalminers a years after the General Strike in 1926. For the men and boys over 14 there are long days down the mine working in dire, cramped conditions while the women face the relentless daily grind of household chores and looking after the family.

Season 2 of Coal House premiered on October 19, 2009.

This fascinating living history series transports three families back to 1944 and the Second World War. Having given up their comfortable lives, they are faced with the many hardships that war presented. The families experience all aspects of life as it was in 1944. The men work long, punishing days down the coalmine, followed by tending the Stack Square shared allotment as people were encouraged to ‘Dig for Victory’ to overcome food shortages. They also have to endure the arduous Home Guard training, each getting a taste of army life and discipline. The women have to juggle their relentless household chores with compulsory work at the munitions factory, undertaking a variety of different tasks for the war effort. The children, meanwhile, have their own worries with daily doses of cod liver oil and the ever present threat that their pet rabbits may be served up for dinner.