University of Cambridge

Sandi Toksvig embarks on a journey across the nation as she digs out the history buried beneath our feet. But one discovery pushed her over the edge, leaving her in tears.

Sandi Toksvig is no stranger to curiosity, but in her latest series – Hidden Treasures with Sandi Toksvig – she’s delving deeper than ever before and one moment left her in floods of tears.

The beloved broadcaster is turning her lifelong love of archaeology into a full-scale adventure, uncovering the history buried beneath Britain’s soil.

“I studied archaeology many years ago at Cambridge University. It was a theoretical course, so I never went on a dig,” Sandi Toksvig says. “So when I got offered this, it was a bit that was missing in my education. I really needed to do this.”

Teaming up with her friend, archaeologist Raksha Dave, Sandi, 67, embarks on a thrilling nationwide journey across four episodes. From Dorset to Northumberland, the duo dig up remarkable discoveries that stretch from the Iron Age to the Second World War.

The series begins in Dorset, where a team from Bournemouth University excavates a 2,000-year-old Iron Age cemetery belonging to the Durotriges, one of Europe’s earliest women-centric communities.

From there, Sandi and Raksha head off to join the University of Reading at Cookham Abbey, before venturing north to explore Hadrian’s Wall and finally taking on their most ambitious dig in Essex – uncovering the wreckage of a US fighter plane from the Second World War.

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“It’s such an astonishing range,” Sandi says. “We cover everything from the Romans to the Iron Age, which is the period from about 800 BCE to 43 CE, to look at the Durotriges. They were a local Iron Age tribe in modern Dorset and one of Europe’s first women-centric communities.”

But not every discovery is easy to process. In the opener, deep in a two-and-a-half-metre pit, Sandi comes face-to-face with a haunting find.

“We discovered a 15-to-17-year-old skeleton face down with a break across one of the arms,” Sandi recalls. “The arms had been tied together prior to death. The nature of the death seemed to be violent and suggested this was perhaps a sacrificial grave. Everybody was being careful.”

Experienced and steady, Raksha handled the skeleton with care. “She very carefully picked it up and handed it to me,” Sandi says. “I turned the face at last to the light and it felt like the person was looking at me.

“At that moment, I unexpectedly burst into tears. I could not stop crying. To hold that person’s head in my hands was one of the greatest privileges of my life.”

For Raksha, the discovery was groundbreaking. “It was pretty gobsmacking,” she says. “It’s very rare to find a human sacrifice. That’s not the first one they’ve discovered, there’s an obvious pattern that follows from years of digging. This suggests that it was the norm for the Durotriges.”

The chemistry between Sandi and Raksha is a highlight of the show. “Very occasionally, you meet somebody and you think, ‘We’re going to be friends,’” Sandi says.

“I am so drawn to anybody with expertise; Raksha has archaeology running throughout her bones. She is a magnet for archaeological finds. Give that woman a trowel and stick her in a couple of inches of dirt – she’ll find you something fantastic!”

Raksha laughs, saying, “Sandi calls me a magpie because every time I turn up on the site, I find stuff.” But it’s not all glamour and golden relics. “Camera crews don’t realise how crazy it can be,” says Raksha, 48.

“There’s a lot of dirt flying around. Quite often, you can be in challenging places, not all sites are accessible. You don’t know what the weather’s going to be like, it could be really horrid and muddy.

Also, camera crews are not used to an archaeological digging timetable. When you’re down a hole shovelling into a wheelbarrow all morning, you need to have a break.”

Despite the challenges, the pair’s friendship made every trench, trowel and muddy pit worth it. “Raksha is really good fun,” Sandi says. “We had beer, sitting back in a wheelbarrow – she taught me that leaning back in a wheelbarrow is a rather comfortable chair.

We’re friends and I admire her beyond words. The fact she’s been President of the Council for British Archaeology doesn’t surprise me.” Their shared laughter balances the show’s emotional weight, but both women hope the series sparks a bigger debate about archaeology’s future.

“I hope more will volunteer. Things are beginning to rot because of climate change,” Sandi says. “The safest way to protect something was to leave it buried. Now, we need to get cracking. I would encourage everybody to volunteer. It’s a fantastic experience.”

Hidden Treasures with Sandi Toksvig airs on November 4th, on Channel 4.

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Spain has seen the most recent cases of the disease as experts say one activity ‘drastically increases’ the risk of catching it

New cases of a killer virus have been detected in holiday hotspots loved by British tourists – and experts have warned it could reach the UK. It’s been described as the current biggest threat to public health, after breaking out in Iraq and Namibia.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), has also caused two reported deaths in Pakistan – with several cases reported in Spain. Last week, insiders speaking to Parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee revealed it was “highly likely” there could soon be cases in the UK.

In its most recent report the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said a case of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever was recetnyl reported in Spain with the illness ‘known to be circulating among animals in this region and human CCHF cases have been previously reported in the area.”

In the eight years to 2024 a total of 16 autochthonous CCHF cases have been reported in Spain with dates of disease onset between April and August. The province of Salamanca is a hotspot for CCHF, with 50% of the cases being exposed to ticks.

It adds that in certain conditions in Spain people are much more likely to catch Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever: “This risk drastically increases for people performing activities that expose them to tick bites (e.g. hunting, forestry work, hiking, animal surveillance).

The UK Heath Security Agency has said it is estimated that globally between 10,000 and 15,000 human infections, including approximately 500 fatalities, occur annually, although this is likely to be an underestimate as many cases.

Confirmed CCHF cases have been imported into the UK, including one fatal case in 2012 and one in 2014. In March 2022, a CCHF case was reported in the UK following an initial positive test result.

To prevent CCHF:

• Use DEET-containing insect repellent to prevent tick bites.
• Wear gloves, long sleeves, and pants when handling animals where CCHF is found.
• Avoid contact with body fluids of potentially infected animals or people.

“As a general precaution against CCHF, but also against other tick-borne diseases, people who may potentially be exposed to ticks should apply personal protective measures against tick bites. In 2023 experts speaking to Parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee revealed it was “highly likely” there could soon be cases in the UK.

During the hearing, James Wood, head of veterinary medicine at Cambridge University, said CCHF could find its way to the UK “through our ticks, at some point”. The disease is caused by Nairovirus, a condition that is spread by ticks and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and has a fatality rate of between 10 and 40 percent. Typically, the condition is found at small stages in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and in Asia, reports the Express. However, the disease could be expanding out of its usual territories and moving towards the likes of Britain and France due to climate change.

WHO noted CCHF was among its nine “priority diseases”, a system that lays bare the biggest public health risks. CCHF was first described in the Crimea in 1944, among soldiers and agricultural workers, and in 1969 it was recognised that the virus causing the disease was identical to a virus isolated from a child in the Congo in 1956. Humans (and possibly non-human primates) are the only animal species known to manifest severe clinical CCHF disease.

Symptoms of CCHF

Among the virus’ symptoms include headaches, high fever, back and joint pain, stomach ache, and vomiting. Red eyes, a flushed face, a red throat, and petechiae (red spots) on the palate are also common.

In severe cases, WHO warns, jaundice, mood swings and sensory perception are encountered. As the illness progresses, large areas of severe bruising, severe nosebleeds, and uncontrolled bleeding at injection sites can be seen, beginning on about the fourth day of illness and lasting for about two weeks.

In documented outbreaks of CCHF, fatality rates in hospitalised patients ranged from nine percent to as high as 50 percent. The long-term effects of CCHF infection have not been studied well enough in survivors to determine whether or not specific complications exist. However, recovery is slow.

Globally, there have been case reports, virological or serological evidence of human infection in at least 55 countries. In the European Region and its neighbouring countries, locally acquired human cases and/or outbreaks have been reported from Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Russia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine. Spain officially reported its first autochthonous case in August 2016, the first in Western Europe, following their first detection of CCHFV infected ticks in 2010. At the end of October 2023, French officials reported the detection of CCHFV in H. marginatum ticks collected from cattle in the eastern Pyrénées, which was the first time the presence of the virus in tick populations had been confirmed in the country.