Cruickshank began his career with the BBC as consultant, writer and presenter on the architectural programmes
One Foot in the Past and
The House Detectives. He also contributed films to the
Timewatch and
Omnibus strands. In 2001 he wrote and presented the series
Invasion in which he examined attempts and plans to invade
Britain and
Ireland over the years by exploring coastal
fortresses and
defensive structures around the coast of the country to discover their military heritage. Further series included ''
Britain's Best Buildings examining architecturally – or culturally-significant buildings in Great Britain, Under Fire'' visiting museums and buildings in
Afghanistan,
Iraq and
Israel to see how recent warfare has affected the country's historic artefacts, and
What the Industrial Revolution Did for Us focusing on the scientific, technological and political changes of the 19th century. In 2003, Cruickshank presented a documentary entitled
Towering Ambitions: Dan Cruickshank at Ground Zero following the debate and discussion that led to the selection of
Daniel Libeskind's design for the
World Trade Center site in
New York City; while in 2005 he presented a documentary on the
Mitchell and Kenyon collection – rolls of
nitrate film shot in the early 20th century, depicting everyday life in
Britain, which were discovered in 1994 in
Blackburn. In 2004, Cruickshank was at the centre of a controversy when historian
Marc Morris said that a documentary about
Harlech Castle shown on BBC4 and billed as "written and presented by Dan Cruickshank" contained obvious borrowings from Morris's earlier
Channel 4 series,
Castle. The BBC subsequently stated that Cruickshank was not responsible and that it was an error by researchers. In 2005, Cruickshank presented
Around the World in 80 Treasures, charting his five-month trip around the world to visit eighty man-made artefacts or buildings that he had selected, in order to chart the history of mankind's
civilisation. In 2006, Cruickshank presented
Marvels of the Modern Age, a series focusing on the development of
modernism in
design, from
Greek and
Roman architecture, to
Bauhaus and the present. ''
Dan Cruickshank's Adventures in Architecture'', a 2008 series in which he travelled around the world visiting what he considered to be the world's most unusual and interesting buildings. In 2010, he embarked on a 3 part series on the history of the railways in Britain for
National Geographic TV channel, including visits to
Chester to examine the events surrounding the
Dee bridge disaster of 1847, and
Manchester for the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. The series was entitled "Great Railway Adventures" and first appeared on UK television in the spring of 2010. In 2014, he appeared in
The Life of Rock with Brian Pern as himself. ==Personal life==