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Episode transcription (truncated):

Thamesmead is 11 miles from Charing Cross on the south bank of the River Thames straddling the border which divides the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Bexley.

Tavy Bridge estate has been in decline at varying degrees for some years. Much of it has now been evacuated awaiting destruction. Soon we will see Peabody’s redeveloped blocks of 525 homes along with shops and a new library. It was originally thought up with futuristic ideas for solving social problems; restoring the close-knitted nature of working-class communities.

Before Thamesmead was Thamesmead, it was collectively the Erith and Plumstead Marshes. The Augustinian monks from nearby Lesnes Abbey, constantly drained the land to reclaim it and stopped it from flooding completely. By doing so, they could level the ground to cultivate their crops and rear domestic animals.

Gallion's Reach park features different clusters of man-made hillocks built-up as viewing platforms with the most domineering being the 20-metre high, conical mound of Gallions Tor. A helical pathway spirals around it twice before leading to its summit which is a paved plateau in the form of a compass. These hills are made out of engineered fill and subsoils recycled from contaminated land of the former Royal Arsenal. In the distance, old military buildings still remain from the days when these marshes formed part of Woolwich Arsenal.

The ecopark is an area of sustainable, affordable social housing built to high energy efficiency and modern environmental standards. The homes feature advanced insulation and their water supply is heated via solar panels in the roofs. Gallions is named after 14th-century family the Galyons who owned property on both sides along this stretch of the river. This is the reason why the seemingly associated Gallions Reach DLR station is north of the river in an entirely different district.

Connecting Plumstead to Thamesmead is a 3 mile footpath owned by Thames Water called Ridgeway. It exists as a pleasant way to obscure the Southern Outfall Sewer, which is why most of it appears as raised land. It comprises a mix of grass and dirt tracks plus paved paths and is meant to accommodate cyclists since the route is relatively flat. A similar path called the 'Greenway' covers the Northern Outfall Sewer.

The Great Stink terrorized London for two months of an exceptionally hot summer in 1858. For years, an inadequate sewer system channelled all human waste and industrial effluent directly into the Thames. Sewage smells horrible, but the stench is considerably more putrid if it is allowed to ferment in such long stretches of heat.

To extinguish the miasma (the smell), Victorian civil engineer Joseph Bazalgette had an idea to route the sewage by gravity flow and steam-powered pumping engines as remotely as possible seawards during the ebbing tide. The plan introduced the Victoria, Chelsea and Albert Embankments to London inside which the sewers would need to run. This initiative brought an end to the Cholera outbreaks and we still rely on that same sewerage system today to service our city of 9 million people.

The engines however, were decommissioned in the fifties. The cost of dismantling them was so enormous, they just left them idle. The astonishing industrial building is a particularly special example of Victorian engineering of its time described as “the cathedral on the marsh”. The Crossness Pumping Station is now a museum for those wishing to marvel at the solution to that revolting situation.

Many of Thamesmead's angles can either be a very useful or a 'pleasing to the eye' aspect of its infrastructural layout. Stanley Kubrick decided Southmere was perfect for his dystopian cult classic film of 1971, 'A Clockwork Orange'. Channel 4’s BAFTA award winning series 'The Misfits', was filmed on location here in its entirety, and the super disturbing nightmare music video "Come to Daddy" by electronic musician Aphex Twin, chose this area in 1997 for its ultra gritty backdrop.