0:00:02 > 0:00:06Blists Hill Victorian Town in Shropshire revives the sights, sounds and smells
0:00:06 > 0:00:09of the 19th century.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12At its heart stands the pharmacy - a treasure-house
0:00:12 > 0:00:15of potions and remedies from a century and a half ago.
0:00:15 > 0:00:23Now, in a unique experiment, historian Ruth Goodman, professor of pharmacy Nick Barber
0:00:23 > 0:00:29and PhD student Tom Quick have opened the doors to the Victorian Pharmacy.
0:00:29 > 0:00:35Recreating a high street institution we take for granted, but which was once a novel idea.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40They're bringing the pharmacy to life, sourcing ingredients,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43mixing potions and dispensing cures.
0:00:43 > 0:00:48But in an age when skin creams contained arsenic and cold medicines were based on opium,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51the team need to be highly selective.
0:00:51 > 0:00:57They're only trying out safe versions of traditional remedies on carefully-selected customers.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02The start was like the Wild West. People didn't know what was good and bad.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04Get a bit of speed up. There we go.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09The pharmacy was something that affected everybody's lives in one way or another.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14They're discovering an age of social change that brought healthcare
0:01:14 > 0:01:17within the reach of ordinary people for the very first time.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Heralding a consumer revolution that reached far beyond medicine
0:01:21 > 0:01:26to create the model for the modern high street chemist as we know it today.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39So far, after a grand opening, the pharmacy team have made the transition
0:01:39 > 0:01:45from the traditional remedies of the early 19th century to the birth of new scientific advances.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52Now they're taking on the medical and commercial challenges of the 1850s and 1860s.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54Hello there.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56As promised, Professor Barber's Miracletts!
0:01:56 > 0:02:02In the mid 19th century, overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions had reached their peak,
0:02:02 > 0:02:08leading to unprecedented outbreaks of diseases like cholera and tuberculosis.
0:02:08 > 0:02:13Desperate for cures, people turned to the pharmacies as never before.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16I mean, this is the point when public health is at its worst.
0:02:16 > 0:02:22Of perhaps all the time in Britain, the 1850s is the very, very worst.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26- The most scary time of all.- There are whole series of infectious diseases. Cholera, scarlet fever,
0:02:26 > 0:02:33typhus, typhoid, influenza - all of them killing people, right, left and centre. Measles...
0:02:33 > 0:02:36What you get as well is a new fear.
0:02:36 > 0:02:42It must have been a really scary time, actually. You'd just reach out for anything, wouldn't you?
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Anything that offered any sort of hope.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51With medical science struggling to provide viable treatments and people looking for miracles,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54new commercial opportunities beckoned.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58People were really worried about these diseases and were prepared to spend money.
0:02:58 > 0:03:05The pharmacy's a business, so there need to be medicines which either cure or believe to cure
0:03:05 > 0:03:08the diseases which are there.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12In the spirit of experimentation, they developed creative new remedies for the health crisis,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16one of which aimed to solve everybody's problems in one go.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18Cure-all medicines.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21"Do I need to have separate medicines for each of those things?"
0:03:21 > 0:03:26"No, we can come up with a cure-all which is going to make you better whatever's wrong with you."
0:03:26 > 0:03:31They addressed the public's fears and brought people clamouring to the pharmacy.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34It's got to solve people's problems, really.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37They were seen as a viable means of treatment.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42The team are going to make their very own Victorian-style cure-all.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47Ruth and Tom are setting out to determine the level of customer demand for their product.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56- Morning!- Hi there. My name's Tom, this is Ruth.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58- My name's Tom.- Nice to meet you.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00We're from the pharmacy just up the road.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04- We're on a bit of a market research...- Right.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08We're looking for people who might have something wrong with them, of any sort, really.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13- I've got quite a few actually, yeah. - I do have a small stye here on my eyelid.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Oh, yeah. I see.
0:04:15 > 0:04:21Working with sewage as well, I tend to get septicaemia quite a lot because I burn myself.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23My back is absolutely killing me.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28I've got a burn there which is in an open, movable joint, which will take some healing up.
0:04:28 > 0:04:33- And then quite a nasty one on my arm there.- Oh, that's horrid.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35I've had a sore throat for a couple of months.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37Quite bad tonsillitis.
0:04:37 > 0:04:43And then of course, anything you could do with baldness would be appreciated.
0:04:44 > 0:04:50With potential customers lined up, Nick needs to decide on the ingredients for their medicine.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55Briony Hudson, curator of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum,
0:04:55 > 0:05:00has brought him some examples of genuine cure-alls for inspiration.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04Well, some of the really big-sellers are things like... Let's have a look.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09Beecham's pills. Started off when Thomas Beecham went round the markets in Lancashire,
0:05:09 > 0:05:14selling pills that gradually got more and more popular, hit the national market. So he was a really big name.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16We've got Holloway's pills.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20Thomas Holloway, who styled himself as a professor,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23no medical background, but absolutely hit the big time.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26He was making so much money, he died a millionaire.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28Did people know what was in them?
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Could they say, "It's got this and this in it," like you can now?
0:05:31 > 0:05:35No. Not at all. Part of the mystery and perhaps part
0:05:35 > 0:05:38of the appeal was that they were what were called secret remedies.
0:05:38 > 0:05:43So there was absolutely nothing in law that meant you had to reveal what was in them.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47They didn't have to reveal any scientific basis to claim
0:05:47 > 0:05:50that they could cure this massive list of diseases.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52How many would people take?
0:05:52 > 0:05:56Were they generally a one-a-day or one-a-week minimalist thing?
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Some you would want to take just when you were ill, but a lot of these, you
0:06:00 > 0:06:04really did want to encourage people to take a regime of many, many.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06Morison's is a really good example.
0:06:06 > 0:06:11People were taking up to 1,000 of the pills a week and in the 1830s,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15the first case of someone dying, clearly a very serious issue.
0:06:15 > 0:06:20You had to trust your pharmacist, or trust the advertising or trust
0:06:20 > 0:06:26the person that recommended it to you that they wouldn't do you harm and they would do you good.
0:06:28 > 0:06:33Ruth and Tom are making headway gaining trust from their potential customers.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36I certainly think these pills should - they're designed to help you.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39- Would you be happy taking them?- Yeah.
0:06:39 > 0:06:40- Yes.- That would be great.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43I'm willing to try everything.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45If you can stop it growing out of me ears and up me nose
0:06:45 > 0:06:48and put a bit on my head, that would be lovely!
0:06:50 > 0:06:52With a growing number of ailments to treat,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Nick wants to find an authentic formula.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00Fortunately, although these remedies were secret at the time, a book was later published by
0:07:00 > 0:07:06the British Medical Association revealing the hidden contents of popular cure-all brands.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08So this is their secret remedies.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10What they cost and what they contain.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14Exactly. So, what they were aiming to do spelt out on the cover.
0:07:14 > 0:07:20A lot of them have things like senna, aloes, liquorice, rhubarb - that sort of thing.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24Most of them were laxatives and so they did have an effect.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29- People would think, "It's working because I can feel there's an effect."- Exactly.
0:07:29 > 0:07:34One example - the wonderfully titled Pink Pills For Pale People, which is great.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39They were claiming, as with all of these things, they could treat a really wide range of diseases.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43One of the adverts says "the dark days of dyspepsia..."
0:07:43 > 0:07:48"Dr Williams' pink pills go to the very cause of the mischief."
0:07:48 > 0:07:51If you look at the ingredients, nothing particularly worrying.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Certainly, you've got liquorice in there. You've got sugar in there.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58So, along with sulphate of iron and potassium carbonate.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01But I don't think anything that would have done anyone great harm.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03Or great good, either, for that matter.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10It's hard not to be sceptical about the ingredients of cure-alls,
0:08:10 > 0:08:14but in the mid-19th century, many people genuinely didn't know any better.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19There was little scientific understanding of the cause of disease.
0:08:19 > 0:08:25Nobody knew, in our everyday terms now, what really worked and what didn't.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30Through into the middle Victorian times, people believed that infections and disease
0:08:30 > 0:08:38often came from decaying matter and that this raised up an invisible gas which they called a miasma.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45The miasma theory of disease believed that disease was spread by evil clouds of bad smelling air.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50People said, "Obviously these new diseases are being caused by the evil miasmas.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53"Wherever there is stink, there is illness."
0:08:53 > 0:08:57They believed it was the same miasma for everything.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59So it was the same one for cholera as influenza.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Your body, your constitution would react to that miasma in a different way,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06and that's what would give you the disease state.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11If they had a bit of flatulence or diarrhoea, they didn't know if it was cholera or not.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14So that's when they'd take their cure-alls.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19They'd take it to nip the disease in the bud and stop it progressing.
0:09:19 > 0:09:26With their thinking rooted in false scientific theory, pharmacists were inadvertently misleading the public.
0:09:26 > 0:09:33Pharmacists in the 1850s are somewhere between the quacks on the one hand who are just out
0:09:33 > 0:09:39there selling things which they knew were pointless, and the scientists who were researching things.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42They'd be selling things which people believed
0:09:42 > 0:09:46would work, but they had to make a living out of it as well.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52The pressure to make money was very real.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57Records show that in the middle of the 19th century, about 100 pharmacies went bankrupt every year.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Shops opened six days a week, often from 8am to 11pm.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11The staff worked even longer hours preparing the shop in the morning for business,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15and catching up with the day's prescriptions and accounts at night.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25Organising their expensive stock was another time-consuming priority.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Poor storage or over-stocking could put their whole business at risk.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34Supplies come in quite regularly in batches, and of course the things have to be stored properly.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39It's no good putting herbs in the cellar. They'd get damp.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44They're better off being decanted into the drawers where the atmosphere is dry and people are opening
0:10:44 > 0:10:48the drawers fairly regularly, so you're getting plenty of air supply through them.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01As a 21st-century pharmacist, Nick is struggling to select
0:11:01 > 0:11:04the ingredients for his 19th-century cure-all.
0:11:05 > 0:11:11We know that one set of ingredients is not going to cure all ailments, so what I've got to do is put
0:11:11 > 0:11:15my modern knowledge behind me and try and find something
0:11:15 > 0:11:20which is authentic, which will have an effect on the body, but also we need to make sure it's really safe.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28He turns to his pharmacy's prescription book - a log of preparations doctors had
0:11:28 > 0:11:32requested for their patients, which were administered by the pharmacy.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35A lot of people couldn't afford to use the doctor,
0:11:35 > 0:11:39but these cure-alls were sometimes prescriptions which the doctors used.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41They'd sort of cut out the middle man.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44People could get access to theses doctors' medicines
0:11:44 > 0:11:49by just going to the pharmacist and getting them over the counter.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Here, Nick finds inspiration for his formula,
0:11:51 > 0:11:56and finally decides on a variety of perfectly safe ingredients.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03He's showing Tom how to turn his formula, or recipe,
0:12:03 > 0:12:08into their first batch of pills - enough for 20 customers.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12- I've got a secret recipe. - What are we putting in these? - That's secret.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15I'll tell you, cos you're an apprentice and need to know.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18So, what I've got is some soap powder - acts as a laxative.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22They actually used quite a lot in Victorian days.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Some liquorice root going in -
0:12:25 > 0:12:30it helps people cough, and can protect the stomach as well, if people have ulcers.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Grinding them together now, nicely.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38And then we've just got one more thing to add, which is rhubarb.
0:12:38 > 0:12:44Ground rhubarb root. It's a laxative, and so actually two of these ingredients are laxatives.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47What we've got to do now is bind this together.
0:12:47 > 0:12:52So, a little glucose syrup, a little bit at a time.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57- I suppose the main cost is man-hours, if anything? - That's right!
0:12:57 > 0:13:04On average, the price charged for just one pill would have covered the cost of making over 200.
0:13:04 > 0:13:12They sold in massive quantities, despite having what we now know were very modest healing properties.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15If you give people a sugar-coated pill and they think it's a medicine,
0:13:15 > 0:13:20you can get a 20%, 30% recovery rate in some conditions.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25The power of the mind to heal is quite amazing.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28And this is just beginning to thicken now
0:13:28 > 0:13:30at the bottom here.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33A little bit more on the crumbly bits.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38All that powder just gradually comes together into this sort of cake.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41If my calculations are correct!
0:13:41 > 0:13:44- Cheesecake base.- Yes!
0:13:44 > 0:13:47I don't think it will taste as good, though.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50Shall we have a go at actually rolling some pills, then?
0:13:50 > 0:13:52Yes. It is now one mass.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56The pharmacy has a brass and mahogany pill-making machine,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59which Tom's getting his hands on for the first time.
0:13:59 > 0:14:06- So, what I need to do here is break off a bit and make it into a sausage, don't I?- That's right.
0:14:06 > 0:14:12Before this machine was invented, the pill mass was rolled out by hand and cut to size with a spatula.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15And then you roll it down into a long, thin sausage.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18This is a piece of advanced kit, in a way.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Making sure you get the same dosage for everyone because it
0:14:21 > 0:14:24standardises the size of each little pill coming out. It's looking good.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Still a bit too much, though. Oh, look. Flattened the thing.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31You don't need a lot for this, do you?
0:14:31 > 0:14:36- Now we just roll it across these bits, yeah?- Yeah. - This way round, though.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39The brass grooves are designed to cut a spherical pill.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41Push back and forth a few times.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43That's it.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45Get your body into it.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50And we have lots of slug-like pellets.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54I'll try to make them better with this pill-rounding device.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01They do look horribly like rabbit droppings.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05I think we needed to have slightly stickier pills.
0:15:05 > 0:15:06Appearance was key.
0:15:06 > 0:15:12They had to look like they were going to work, even if the main ingredient was soap powder.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Some pharmacists even coated pills for their wealthier customers
0:15:15 > 0:15:19in silver-leaf to increase their desirability and their price.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22How many thousand have we got to make?
0:15:22 > 0:15:29So, if we're doing 50 pills in a box and a box a week for a patient...
0:15:29 > 0:15:30- 20 people...- 20 boxes a week.
0:15:30 > 0:15:36That's 1,000 pills. We've just nearly done 50.
0:15:36 > 0:15:42As apprentice, it'll be Tom's job to make the rest of the pills.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44This is going to take about three days to do it.
0:15:51 > 0:15:57In the kitchen, Ruth is making a remedy for Bill Jones, the plumber who complained of hair loss.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03Herbalist Eleanor Gallia has come to show Ruth how to make Makassar hair oil.
0:16:03 > 0:16:08Its recipe came from Makassar in India, giving it exotic connotations,
0:16:08 > 0:16:13but most British pharmacists used ingredients from closer to home.
0:16:13 > 0:16:20I've got here the European alkanet, which sort of produces a hugely effective dye.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22Just look at that.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25You've got the fresh, you've got the native British.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29If you look there, can you see it glistening?
0:16:29 > 0:16:35- Yeah. It's really quite pretty. - It's beautiful, really beautiful.
0:16:35 > 0:16:44It's weeping a gooey, sort of, sticky sap that'll help coat the hair.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46Make it easier to comb. Act more like a conditioner.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Absolutely. And nourish the scalp as well. Moisturise the scalp.
0:16:50 > 0:16:56Victorians didn't have a proper understanding of hair loss, and saw it as an illness.
0:16:56 > 0:17:03One 1864 medical report stated its causes as "habitual drinking, late hours, violence,
0:17:03 > 0:17:08"intense study or thoughtfulness and the pernicious practice
0:17:08 > 0:17:12"of constantly wearing a hard, non-ventilating hat."
0:17:14 > 0:17:19We'll put it all into cold oil and then heat it above the fire.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23- This recipe has gone unchanged for hundreds of years. - I'm just going to stir this in.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Already pink, even cold.
0:17:28 > 0:17:35- Yeah. Lovely.- The mixture has to heat for an hour before the remaining ingredients can be added.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38- Shall we have a cup of tea? - I'll make a nice pot of tea.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48In preparation for the launch of their cure-all pills, Nick is drafting a poster.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53In the 1850s and '60s, more people could read, printing processes have
0:17:53 > 0:17:56improved, and advertising really begins to take off.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00And it was really influential on people.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05In Victorian times, pharmacies could make exaggerated claims
0:18:05 > 0:18:09about the drugs they sold without worrying too much about rules and regulations.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14It was completely different of course to how things are today, when we've got a whole mass of rules.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Lots of medicines can't be advertised to the public at all.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21And if you advertise medicines, there's got to be evidence as to
0:18:21 > 0:18:25how they work, whether they can really cure you or not.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29You can't claim anything cures unless there's a whole load of evidence behind it.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33You'd have to give information about side effects and all sorts of things.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35So it's a very different situation.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40I'm going to get the printer to print lots of copies. I'm going to put them all round
0:18:40 > 0:18:44the town, and try to get people to come in and buy my miracle cure.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53In Ruth's kitchen, the Makassar hair oil has heated through.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59There you go, that's been boiling, boiling, boiling,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01hot, hot, hot.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03Fantastic colour.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Beautiful.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08Look at the colour of that!
0:19:08 > 0:19:13Eleanor has an old trick up her sleeve for blending in another ingredient - cleavers.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17You'd get your cleavers - I picked these this morning.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21Your first row goes up the way.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23Your second row goes across the way.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25So, basically, you're weaving.
0:19:25 > 0:19:32They all want to stick together, so making that is pretty much what they've got in mind by themselves.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34It's a sieve.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37It's going to make a really nice filter.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42But, at the same time, we're pouring hot oil through it, so that's going
0:19:42 > 0:19:48to draw some of the contents of the cleavers into the liquid at the same time.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52In a sense, by making a sieve of it, you're sort of killing two birds with one stone.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55And then we pop that in there.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00It does smell good, this.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03We haven't even added the perfumes yet.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13It looks like it's coming through quite nice.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Ooh. Oh, that smells good.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26The final stage is to scent it with cinnamon, lemon and cloves.
0:20:29 > 0:20:35So this is a hair oil aimed, I suppose, at both sexes, to some degree.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39People would usually put slightly different scents in,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42according to whether it was a male hair oil or female.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44- This one could go either way. - It could.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47It's how you package it as to whether it's for women or for men.
0:20:47 > 0:20:54The pharmacy will market the hair oil as a preventative remedy for hair loss aimed at men.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59Many enterprising pharmacists expanded its appeal beyond medicine
0:20:59 > 0:21:01as a health and beauty product aimed at women.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04- That's a lot of hair oil, isn't it? - It is.
0:21:09 > 0:21:15Tom's been busy pill-making - one of the many chores an apprentice would have carried out for his master.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20An apprentice had to impress his boss.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25And Tom's hoping to do just that by drumming up further publicity for Nick's cure-all medicine.
0:21:25 > 0:21:31He's drafted in engineer Chris Hill to help him put together a promotional stunt.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36What we want to do at the pharmacy is make a bit of an event, really.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39A bit of a show to attract some customers.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43And what we thought we could do is maybe fix up some sort of machine
0:21:43 > 0:21:46that we could maybe power a pestle and mortar with,
0:21:46 > 0:21:50so we can show our ability to grind all the medicines and so on.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53- Yeah. OK. An automated grinding mechanism.- That's right, yeah.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56He's been inspired by a contraption
0:21:56 > 0:22:00used by a chemist in Knaresborough in the early 19th century.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04A pestle and mortar, powered by a dog.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Victorian England is actually filled with advertising.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11There are adverts in all the papers.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Some of the papers are just composed of adverts in exactly the same way as today.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19What's fascinating about doing a stunt like a dog pestle and mortar
0:22:19 > 0:22:24is that you're creating a real, physical event in the street.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29And it's a lot more local. You're advertising it on a local scale.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33Chris is going to make the machine.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35All Tom needs now is the dog.
0:22:43 > 0:22:44Morning.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49It's time for the first marketing push.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53Nick's claims for his cure-all have been put into print.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56I can feel them working already.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01The first batch of Professor Barber's Miracletts is ready for delivery.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06- Morning!- Morning.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09I've...brought you something.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12We've got some special pills for you.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16Pharmacies, of course, are a business. We have to make a living.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21We've got these Miraclett miracle cures for you today.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23And that means getting in touch with your local community.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25As promised,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29- Professor Barber's Miracletts. - Thanks very much.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32It means finding the products that they want to buy.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36We'll see if it sorts out your back. It should certainly clean your blood, if nothing else.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Clean your blood - right!
0:23:38 > 0:23:43You have to project an image that was enormously trustworthy and deeply convincing.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45- I have my doubts.- Really? OK.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48- Do you know what's actually in it?- Um...
0:23:48 > 0:23:51With the best will in the world, it's not going to cure everything, is it?
0:23:51 > 0:23:54I think pharmacists would have been quite coy
0:23:54 > 0:23:58- about revealing their secret ingredients, actually. - Of course. Yes.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02- I hope that it does some good. - Any side effects that I might...?
0:24:02 > 0:24:05You can tell us!
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Must have been quite difficult, mustn't it?
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Sort of maintaining this front.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Better go and sell some more.
0:24:16 > 0:24:22Engineer Chris Hill is putting the finishing touches to Tom's dog-powered pestle and mortar.
0:24:26 > 0:24:27Hey, Chris!
0:24:29 > 0:24:32One small dog.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36- All right?- Up until the mid-19th century, a breed of dog called
0:24:36 > 0:24:41a turnspit was often used to turn meat on a spit over a fire.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46The dog pestle and mortar is an adaptation of that technology.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Hopefully, all we need to do is get Tilly to move a little bit.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55The turnspit dog is now extinct, so Tom is using a Jack Russell...
0:24:55 > 0:24:57Tilly, Tilly.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01..a breed less renowned for its turning capabilities.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Come on, come on!
0:25:03 > 0:25:05No!
0:25:05 > 0:25:07Tilly, Tilly, Tilly...
0:25:07 > 0:25:08- I'll give her a hand. - A little start.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11She'll be fine once she gets started.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13Come on, Tilly!
0:25:13 > 0:25:15There we go! Look at that! She loves it!
0:25:15 > 0:25:19- She could get used to that. - Look at the pestle going round!
0:25:19 > 0:25:20She's almost doing that by herself.
0:25:20 > 0:25:26I think Tilly needs some sort of treat. Come on.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31Hey, look at that!
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Good girl!
0:25:37 > 0:25:41One thing the Victorians understood above all else was that
0:25:41 > 0:25:48no matter how great the advances of science and medicine, the best way to draw a crowd was good marketing.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52Tom will reveal his new-fangled marvel,
0:25:52 > 0:25:58the dog-powered pestle and mortar, giving Nick a chance to catch up with his cure-all customers.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01If they say the worse a medicine tastes, the better it does,
0:26:01 > 0:26:05I should be really fighting fit, because it was vile.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08- I didn't think they were too bad, actually. - They weren't very nice, no.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10A little bit tart, but they went down OK.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Don't you think Victorian medicine should taste a bit nasty?
0:26:13 > 0:26:16I think it probably should taste nasty, yes.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20- Have you got a sore throat now? - No, it hasn't come back.- Fantastic!
0:26:20 > 0:26:22It just shows they work for everyone.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24That's healed up. This is nearly healed up.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27- You had a stye on your eye? - Yes, I did.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29- Do you still have it?- I do.
0:26:29 > 0:26:30Can you see?
0:26:30 > 0:26:34- Did your back get better? - My back did get better.- Fantastic!
0:26:34 > 0:26:37- But I didn't take the tablets. - Oh, really?!
0:26:37 > 0:26:41- The thing that it did do for me is just give me a bit of extra flatulence.- Oh, yes! Oh, really?!
0:26:41 > 0:26:49Fortunately, Nick has other products he can turn to, including Ruth's Macassar Hair Oil.
0:26:50 > 0:26:51Just put a bit on your hand.
0:26:54 > 0:26:55And how long does this take?
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Oh...I don't think we're working in minutes!
0:27:03 > 0:27:07It's Tom's moment to impress the public...and his boss.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10It's a big moment, Tilly. This is the big night!
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Oh, go on, Tilly. Just for us!
0:27:16 > 0:27:20Watch it! She'll get it out of your hand any second. Go on, Tilly! Come on!
0:27:20 > 0:27:22Come on!
0:27:22 > 0:27:24Oh, come on! You know you like cheese.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26You liked cheese before.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28Are you bored of cheese now?
0:27:28 > 0:27:33Tom's first PR stunt has drawn a crowd.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36And the pestle is finally turning...
0:27:36 > 0:27:38Ooh!
0:27:38 > 0:27:40But it's not being driven by Tilly the dog.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44This is... It's not quite as it was planned, is it?
0:27:44 > 0:27:46- No, not entirely.- Not quite.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48Not entirely, Nick. No.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52As an apprentice, you've got a lot to learn, clearly.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56Don't you think dog-powered pestle and mortars have a future?
0:27:56 > 0:28:00Er, I think, if we work on it a bit, we could get it going.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02Folks, thank you very much for coming.
0:28:02 > 0:28:08I'd like to show you this, the first dog-powered pestle and mortar prototype.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12- Thank you for coming, everyone! - APPLAUSE
0:28:12 > 0:28:17Next time on Victorian Pharmacy, the discovery of how to kill germs.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Look at that go.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Nick turns his hand to some horse medicine.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26- Rather you than me. - You're a big chap, aren't you?
0:28:26 > 0:28:29- Do you want to try it?- Yeah, go on.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32And Ruth tries some Victorian electro-therapy.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34Argh!
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:42 > 0:28:45E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk