Rome Wasn't Built in a Day

Episode 6

It's October and the final push is on to get the Roman villa completed, before the winter weather makes building impossible. But things aren't going well. The plaster in the showpiece main room won't set, so the painting of the frescoes can't begin. The mosaic tiles won't stick and worrying cracking noises are coming from the hypocaust floor. The builders also discover the unusual materials used by the Romans to finish their floors and make their windows. Long nights are called for as plumber Kevin's mosaic at last begins to take shape and labourer Ben works against the clock to paint his life-size frescoes of the six builders. But the bath-house is completed: the builders put it to the test and plasterer Tim decides to go native and spend a night in the villa to get the full Roman experience. It's been a long haul for the builders, of six months back-breaking work, during which they have used more than 30 tonnes of oak, 150 tonnes of hand cut stone, 3,000 handmade roof tiles and 36 tonnes of lime plaster. As the villa nears completion, its designer, Dai Morgan Evans, has a treat in stall for the men, as he lays on an authentic banquet to re-enact the Roman feast day of Saturnalia.