I quite enjoyed it, it was obvious he didn't really know anything about researching or how it's done. I also found him funny, not offensive, and though he kept using the term 'navvie', again it was obvious he thought that it was something to do with the sea.
There is so much research done behind the scenes that they really can't show everything, and yes it's frustrating when they do just go into an archive and get shown things, but that's the way it has to be done for TV. It's an entertainment show, and though some don't appear to have been that entertained by it, I liked it for the story, not the technicalities of the research.