Finally, I am done slogging through this series. Teachers, be glad that I went through this series so you folks did not have to.
In the concluding episode of 24 Hours in the Past, the time travelers are left destitute. They turn to the one place where nobody wanted to go and that was the workhouse. How will our Time Travelers manage to negotiate the workhouse? Will Ann keep her mouth shut and buckle down to survive the workhouse? Who will conquer the 19th Century and discover the inner Victorian? The run time for this episode is 57:45. The Time Travelers have been kicked out of the pottery and will not have to find another way to make money. They are now homeless and broke and will be turning to the workhouse. They will live 24 Hours in the workhouse. The master and the matron will be greeting them along with Ruth Goodman. Everyone is apprehensive about entering the workhouse. Bruce Owen and Annette Hamish are the master and matron of the workhouse. I really enjoyed the looks of the master and matron for the workhouse. I wonder how many times Bruce had to practice his strict face to stop from laughing. Anette is equally terrifying. It is interesting to see them take their roles seriously. The workhouse was the only relief the poor had. The workhouse had room for 158 paupers and was meant to reform the people inside. Order, cleanliness, and discipline were the order of the day. Bruce gives a glimpse of the rules for the workhouse. Once inside, the men and the women are separated. They are to shed their old clothes and dawn the uniforms of the workhouse. The first step is to take a bath and everyone had to share the same water. The women promptly refuse to take a bath and lie to the matron. Matron is not impressed with the women’s refusal to bathe, and I almost wonder if she got the heads up that they did not want to bathe. The men on the other hand take a bath and shave. The men figured out how to bathe with one tub of water. Ruth talks about how families were separated when they entered the workhouse and reads from one of the diaries of an inmate. The workhouse master is not impressed when the boys dance in their clogs. Ann talks back to the matron and is immediately sent to solitary confinement. She took it really seriously too, forgetting it was a TV series. She was really over the top with calling down the judgment of God on the poor people who were playing the role of matron and master. She really showed herself to be a fool when she said that. It was annoying that she could not shut up. The other women and the men are set to work. They will work in exchange for a bed and board. The men set to work sewing their own mattresses, which is something they struggle with at night. However, they manage to get a rhythm. Zoe and Miquita are sent to the oakum room. The women are reflective of the experience of the workhouse and how it was a place that was to be avoided. The tasks are completed for the night and they have a meal. Then they turn in for the night. I feel like Ruth is getting a kick out of Anne in solitary confinement. (After enduring her attitude for three episodes, I would get a kick out of Ann in solitary confinement too.) She talks about the punishments Ann would have faced during the Victorian Period for refusing to follow the workhouse rules. Will Ann change her attitude tomorrow? Why would you put that they were kicked out of the jobs? I do not see the narrative purpose of that statement at the start of the episode. This episode was slightly better than the previous three. It would have been better without Ann. It would be tempting to show this episode in the classroom, but I feel like Secrets of the Workhouse would have been a better series. This is one series to skip showing in the history classroom.
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