INDIES WANTED FOR PRIME TIME TV
Listed under: News
Published: Friday, March 05, 2010
Shopkeeping families are being called to travel back to the 1870s and experience the birth of the British high street as part of a prime time BBC1 series
Butchers, bakers, grocers and their families will live and trade their way through 100 years of retail heritage, giving viewers an insight into the history of the food industry.
The five chosen participants will relocate to Shepton Mallet, Mendip where each will take over a shop in the town's market square.
The families will spend a week running their shop in different eras of British history: the Edwardian period, the 20s, 30s, WW2, the 1960s and the 1970s.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a family to explore the history of their trade. It’s a chance to celebrate Britain’s rich history of independent trading and to showcase experts in their craft,” said Zara Margham, assistant producer of the show.
“Our retailers will have the chance to learn old time skills in their shop, which will be meticulously decorated and fitted out. They’ll need to tempt modern customers with once-fashionable recipes and use traditional methods to create them,” she added.
Participants will also have to grapple with the challenges of rationing and other rules and regulations laid down by history.
“This is Shepton’s chance to become a major part of a living history experiment, so it's a really exciting opportunity. Hopefully all the extra exposure will really benefit the town,” said Dominique Swain from Mendip District Council.
Keen retailers are already showing an interest in the programme.
“It sounds like a great idea. We try to create a really rustic, traditional atmosphere in our farm shop, so it would be brilliant to take part in the show and learn more,” said Sarah Strivens, co-owner of Over the Farm Gate in Sussex.
The series will be filmed during the summer of 2010 over approximately nine to ten weeks.
For more information T: 020 7241 9232 or E:
The five chosen participants will relocate to Shepton Mallet, Mendip where each will take over a shop in the town's market square.
The families will spend a week running their shop in different eras of British history: the Edwardian period, the 20s, 30s, WW2, the 1960s and the 1970s.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a family to explore the history of their trade. It’s a chance to celebrate Britain’s rich history of independent trading and to showcase experts in their craft,” said Zara Margham, assistant producer of the show.
“Our retailers will have the chance to learn old time skills in their shop, which will be meticulously decorated and fitted out. They’ll need to tempt modern customers with once-fashionable recipes and use traditional methods to create them,” she added.
Participants will also have to grapple with the challenges of rationing and other rules and regulations laid down by history.
“This is Shepton’s chance to become a major part of a living history experiment, so it's a really exciting opportunity. Hopefully all the extra exposure will really benefit the town,” said Dominique Swain from Mendip District Council.
Keen retailers are already showing an interest in the programme.
“It sounds like a great idea. We try to create a really rustic, traditional atmosphere in our farm shop, so it would be brilliant to take part in the show and learn more,” said Sarah Strivens, co-owner of Over the Farm Gate in Sussex.
The series will be filmed during the summer of 2010 over approximately nine to ten weeks.
For more information T: 020 7241 9232 or E:
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There are currently 1 comments - Have Your Say Today
Sounds really interesting and am looking forward to seeing it!
It will be quite some challenge to learn some of the old time skills and put them into practice as well enticing the present-day customer to ‘try and buy’.
Good luck to the successful applicants!