The Heart of England

David Dimbleby travels through the heartland of England exploring how landscape painters dramatised the early days of the Industrial Revolution, on to the mellow beauty of the Cotswold Hills towards the home of Edward Elgar who composed the nation's most familiar anthems.

The journey begins in Manchester, once the first city of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, and home to favourite painter, LS Lowry. From Manchester David Dimbleby drives to the Peak District. In the eighteenth century Derbyshire valleys echoed with the sound of the iron forges lining the banks of fast-flowing rivers. London-based artists didn't think the Derbyshire scenery worth painting, let alone its industry, but in the second half of the eighteenth century a Derby-based painter called Joseph Wright saw that scenes of industry could be just as exciting as any mountain view. His pictures are some of the most beautiful and yet unsung ever to come out of Britain.