Cassie Newland

Every time we switch on a light or boil a kettle we rely on power - but most people don't stop to think about the inventions and discoveries that allow us to live the way we do. In an exciting new four-part series for BBC Two, The Genius of Invention reveals the fascinating chain of events behind inventions that make everyday life possible.

Ten celebrities are about to leave their 21st century lives and everything they know behind to become time travellers. Our ten intrepid travellers will crash into six very different eras of British history and have no idea where – or when – they're going. They will spend a day immersed in each era, living, working, dressing and eating as the ‘lower' classes did whilst attempting to follow orders and fulfil a task set by their superiors. Will they be able to survive history and will they be able to leave their smartphones behind?