A series of high ambitions Turn Back Time: The High Street is a fabulous idea returning a quartet of modern shops on a high street in Shepton Mallet, Somerset to six earlier eras to experience what life for the average shopper used to be like before our fast food, pre-packed, preservative heavy Pandora’s Box of a shopping experience we have today.
The first era is the 1870’s and by the end we have moved on to the 1970’s, a hundred years later, it’s part social commentary and part reality TV show, all of the shop keepers take things very seriously and have their own Chamber of Commerce (led by Masterchef judge Gregg Wallace, Tom Herbert and Juliet Gardiner) to ensure that the protocols of the day are correctly followed.
The families also had to live and dress like the families of the eras involved and in total there were seven different shops involved; The Butchers, The Bakers, The Ironmongers, The Chemist, The Dress Maker, The Record Shop and The Convenience Store Owners.
Producer: Cate Hall
Executive Producers: Leanne Klein, Cassian Harrison
THE EPISODES
1 – Victorian | Airdate: 2 November 2010
A group of modern shopkeepers and their families live and trade through six key eras of history. They begin their journey in the 1870s, when the high street was born.
2 – Edwardian | Airdate: 9 November 2010
The shopkeepers move on to the Edwardian era, where they are joined by a dressmaker.
3 – 1930s | Airdate: 6 November 2010
The shopkeepers move into the 1930s, where nostalgia boosts sales for the grocers.
4 – World War Two | Airdate: 23 November 2010
The shopkeepers and their customers are plunged into World War Two.
5 – 1960s | Airdate: 30 November 2010
The shopkeepers and their customers move into the swinging sixties.
6 – 1970s | Airdate: 7 December 2010
It’s the end of the journey for the shopkeepers and their customers head to the 1970s.
production details
UK | BBC One – Wall to Wall | 60 minutes | 2010
cast
Gregg Wallace as Presenter/Himself
Juliet Gardiner as Social Historian
Hugh Bonneville as Narrator
Susanna Reid as Presenter
