Life in a Victorian slum - work

After almost a month of gruelling toil, the modern slum dwellers have made it to the final week, and they've also made it to the beginning of the 20th century. But they are still in the slum and still have to deliver a final rent payment, so the hard work continues. The doss house family is forced to close its doors after a change in the law. Things are marginally easier as the campaigning of recent years has seen the idea of a welfare system begin to take root. A slew of reforms make very real changes to the slum experience.

It's now the 1890s, and the efforts of the residents have put conditions in the slum firmly in the spotlight. Yet the daily grind continues. A statistician arrives with the maps of Charles Booth, but when he starts to take records of slum life, his methods are controversial. While the residents welcome the opportunity to share details of their poverty, he talks only to the owner of the doss house, causing outrage in the slum.

Enough is enough as the slum dwellers reach the late 1880s. Curious 'slum tourists' - hipsters and bankers from neighbouring areas - visit the slum, causing widespread resentment. The final straw is a law change in 1888 banning street selling, making the difficult job of paying the rent almost impossible.