Broadcaster Michael Buerk and historian Bettany Hughes present a series of programmes counting down the 50 greatest treasures discovered by the British public. The order has been compiled by a panel of experts from the British Museum and the Council for British Archaeology. In the first programme, journalist John McCarthy discovers the story behind a Roman slave shackle found in Winchester, military historian Saul David discovers how dangerous an 18th-century toy cannon from Somerset could have been and Bettany meets the five-year-old boy who found a gold reliquary valued at 70,000 pounds.

Michael Buerk and Bettany Hughes continue the countdown of the 50 greatest treasures found by the British public. Bettany goes diving for Roman treasure, Michael Portillo investigates a two-headed 2000-year-old coin revealing a political coalition, John McCarthy tells the story of a jewel-encrusted cross, a jar full of gold coins found on a Hackney council estate reveals a story about the Nazis, and John Sergeant checks out a hoard of French coins which could be forgeries.