OU on the BBC: History Detectives - Meet the team

Lion TV

Claire Barratt

Claire is an industrial archaeologist and steam engineer. She is passionate about steam and never happier than when she is stoking or stripping boilers. Although she trained as a civil engineer she has always wanted to work in museums and currently has what she describes as her "dream job" – at the British Engineerium in Hove, Sussex, where her work can involve anything from fixing the central heating in a stately home to restoring a watermill. In the past she has also worked at the Chiltern Air Museum and the Royal Armouries.

Claire’s previous TV work includes a role as a presenter on Channel 4’s Salvage Squad.

Jeevan Deol

Jeevan lectures in the South Asia Department of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and has taught imperial and world history at Cambridge.

He is a member of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Council on National Archives and Records. In addition, he is currently researching and writing on terrorism and security issues and regularly comments on these and cultural issues in the media.

His previous television work includes Sikhs In the City for BBC ONE and he has contributed to BBC Radio Four’s Thought for the Day and also presented Something Understood for the network. He has also commented on jihadi terrorism for BBC News and BBC News 24.

Neil Oliver

Neil is best known to most viewers as one of the presenters of the popular BBC TWO series, Coast.

He is a writer and historian as well as a television presenter. A leading archaeologist, he has worked on many sites, including the battlefields of Zululand, and is co-author of Two Men in a Trench, based on his BBC TWO series. His latest book, Not Forgotten, published by Hodder and Stoughton, will tie in with a forthcoming TV series of the same name.

He lives in Glasgow with his wife and daughter.

First broadcast: Friday 21 Sep 2007 on BBC TWO

History Detectives in more depth: