In the early 1990s, in the basement of a shop in Blackburn, north England, 800 rolls of nitrate film were found in sealed barrels. These rolls contained early Edwardian films of real people across the North of England, filmed and stored by the Mitchell & Kenyon company. This three part series contains excerpts from these extraordinary films, featuring interviews with ancestors of those pictured, recreations of the life and times of the film-makers, and visits many of the original locations.