Mr and Mrs Bowler, their four children, teenager Kathryn, twins Hilary and Ruth and young brother Joe, were chosen after a nationwide search to take part in the journey back in time to recreate the rigours of life in 1900.

The Bowler women find it hard wearing corsets that restrict their breathing and struggle with the lack of shampoo and relentless days that necessitate the girls staying home from school to help out. Husband Paul risks his life learning to shave with a cutthroat razor and Joe almost goes on hunger strike in protest against Victorian cooking. But at the end of their Victorian experiment what will they take with them back to the future?