A new series starting tonight explores some of the great inventions of the Industrial Revolution and discovers the people behind them.

Presenter Dan Cruickshank talks to Viv Hardwick.

HEROES of the Industrial Revolution, including Captain Cook's botanist on the Endeavour, Sir Joseph Banks, are about to be reintroduced to millions of TV viewers in a six-part series revealing the effects on today's society of yesteryear's pioneers.

The first surprise for TV architectural historian Dan Cruickshank, 54, is that he was presenting the programmes in the first place.

Originally, excitable Adam Hart-Davis was in charge but the presenter who recently implored people to take the pressure off themselves by filing out tax returns on-line was forced to take time off with stress.

When approached to take over the series, which starts on BBC2 today, Cruickshank says: "I said yes because it was a grippingly interesting period in history and Adam was unwell, suffering from stress and strain, and pulled out at the last minute.

"I've done six of the programmes and a seventh was a live open day at Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire - where Hart-Davis was well enough to introduce Industrial Revolution machines in action - and that happened last weekend."

Of the amazing machines he saw in action, Cruickshank singled out the Rocket at York as "virtually impossible to make because there were so many oddnesses and dangerous things about it." He says: "While Trevithick's machines were absolutely lethal, one actually did burst into flames at the time so you are, in effect, creating something based on a time bomb. In Cornwall, they rebuilt a machine called a Puffing Devil and by God it is. They turned up with it on a low loader and it promptly sank into the tarmac.

"We did a lot on the Endeavour and Sir Joseph Banks because the voyage was extraordinarily interesting for so many reasons. All the objects and plants that came back from that journey went into Kew Gardens, which started life under Banks as a laboratory really with a pure commercial theme as Britain was thriving at a time when we needed new materials."

Cruickshank feels the most amazing man for him was Sir George Caley from Brompton-in-Sawden (near Scarborough) who invented the aeroplane.

He says: "It was a glider because all he had at that time was a bloody great steam engine as the power source, but it was 50 years before the Wright brothers."

The series looks at the discoveries which have led to everything from the tea break to the computer.

But do these looks back at the past actually assist the TV audience?

"A lot of people watch it and you have a terrifying power, although the channel is obsessed with viewing figures. This business of 'Oh my God it only got two million,' or 'Great, we had three million'", says Cruickshank. "It's daunting and humbling when you realise how many people do watch television and how many people's lives and imaginations you are having an influence on with a programme that's even remotely interesting. Hopefully, it can do some good by making people aware of their past and there is a point in trying to inform and inspire people."

Cruickshank, who was introduced to TV audiences by the heritage magazine One Foot In The Past, confesses he's been so interested in his subject recently that he rushed off to film in Afghanistan and Iraq without realising that his life might be in danger.

He says: "I would be cracked going to Iraq now. I went out to Afghanistan two years ago to find out if the Buddhist statues had been destroyed. Then it seemed natural to go off to Iraq in November when war was looming and then I went back to Baghdad ten days after it fell to the American army in April. It didn't seem that dangerous at the time. the funny thing about this is that although one can't avoid the horror, one feels absurdly and unrealistically safe because the United Nations staff and journalists weren't being targeted like they are now."

Currently, he's planning another BBC2 series of Britain's Best Buildings before a globe-trotting Jules Verne-style hunt for 80 Treasures Around The World early next year. Cruickshank comments: "Yes, of course I have a say in the subjects because my life is on the line for this. Of course, we'll be going for topical places so Palestine and Israel are on the list. I wouldn't go to Chechenya because that would be seriously mad, but Georgia and Azerbaijan are worth considering to look at treasures threatened through neglect.

"Good God, I don't have a vast team at my disposal, just a small team. This will involve appointments and getting access to places but we will need to avoid spending weeks getting permission to visit a remote part of places like Eritrea.. The constant journey will be part of the series." But like Around The World In Eighty Days adventurer Michael Palin found before him, there are bound to be unseen delays and difficulties. Isn't the programme in danger of becoming a 'how long is a piece of string' project?

"Don't worry, they give you a piece of string to work to," he replies.

What the Industrial Revolution Did For Us, Open University/BBC2, today, 8pm.

An OU/BBC book called What The Industrial Revolution Did For Us by Gavin Weightman will be in the shops soon.