24 Hours in the Past, BBC1 - TV review: Ann Widdecombe can identify with the bossy Victorians

We can't fault the makers of 24 Hours in the Past on their sleb selection. Five have signed up for this four-part living history series and they all seemed woefully ill-prepared for the hard-graft lives of dirt-poor Victorians. Impressionist Alistair McGowan reckoned "to leave the modern world behind for a bit, is enticing. I actually can't wait", while Pop World presenter Miquita Oliver felt her experience of 21st-century bankruptcy was comparable: "I really think I'll be able to relate to these young, poor, Victorians who lived a similar life. But for ever."

Whatever they had in mind, clearly it wasn't scrabbling in muck for a few pennies, but that's what presenter Fi Glover and ubiquitous TV historian Ruth Goodman had them doing. Once changed into period costume (smelly and pre-worn, of course), the five were introduced to their new home at the Black Country Living Museum and assigned jobs of the period. Actress Zöe Lucker and Olympic athlete Colin Jackson were street cleaners, which involved raking through horse manure in search of dog turd, known as "pure", and valuable for its use in the leather trade.

Carpet beater Miquita probably thought she had it easier, but she didn't count on being paired with Ann Widdecombe. At 67, the former Home Office minister is closest to the Victorians in both age and temperament – but not these sorts of Victorians. She seemed to over-identify with the management, and took it upon herself to scold the others for minor infractions. It will be interesting to see if she's joined the workers' revolution by the series' end.

Handling human waste in dreary surroundings isn't fun to do and, unsurprisingly, it isn't much fun to watch either. Still, this immersive approach did uncover interesting detail that other history programmes have missed. We learned, for instance, that in the time before ATMs, buttons could be traded for beers (if, like young Outnumbered star Tyger Drew-Honey, you were light-fingered enough to nick some) and before iPhone alarm apps were invented there was someone called a "knocker-upper" who would by paid by watchless workers to rouse them up in time for shift.