Inside the Factory

In the first episode of this supersized series, Gregg Wallace and Cherry Healey get special access to a factory that makes as many as a hundred iconic yellow diggers every single day.

When he was a boy, like many a mucky child in the sand pit, Gregg used to play with toy diggers. Now he's got special access to explore the extraordinary engineering processes that make the ultimate big kids' toy! The JCB factory in Rocester, Staffordshire is a cathedral to construction, covering 60,000 square meters, where cutting edge technology and a super skilled workforce take just 45 hours to make a digger from scratch. Gregg follows the production of their best-known model, the backhoe loader, so-called because it has a loader shovel on the front and a hoe arm for digging on the back. To construct these eight-and-a-half tonne beauties, the factory gets through 650 tonnes of steel, 170,000 bolts, 5,000 litres of paint and 236 miles of wiring each week!

Malt loaf has been a popular teatime treat for more than 80 years; these days we get through a staggering 130 million of them every year. So to get to grips with how this sweet and squidgy cake-cum-bread is made, Gregg Wallace is rolling up his sleeves to get stuck in, following a production line of massive dough mixing, mind-boggling tin filling and intensely hot baking.

Meanwhile, historian Ruth Goodman reveals the surprising story of a British baking company that cooked up the first business computer, as well as visiting Cambridgeshire to find out how wheat flour was ground the traditional way, until the Victorians' demand for white bread brought about the demise of Britain's iconic windmills.

Gregg Wallace visits the Ercol factory in Buckinghamshire, an area associated with furniture making since the 19th century.

We Brits spend a staggering £300 million pounds each week on furniture, and Gregg is following the production of one of this factory's best sellers, the Windsor chair. Starting life as ash trees from European woodlands, they're cut, drilled, steamed, curved and sanded until they're ready for delivery to shops and homes.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey investigates how sitting too much could be very bad for our health, and she helps to manage a sustainable woodland at the Rushmore Estate in Wiltshire. And historian Ruth Goodman discovers how utility furniture made during the Blitz is still influencing the designs we buy today, as well as learning how a humble British carpenter went on to make the most expensive piece of furniture ever sold.

Gregg Wallace visits a factory tucked away amongst thatched cottages in the village of Wollaston, Northamptonshire. It may be a tranquil setting, but this factory has been making boots for 120 years, producing footwear for policemen and pop stars alike. Gregg follows every step of production of a pair of original Dr. Martens 1460 leather boots, so called because the factory started making them on the 1st of the 4th 1960.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey gets to grips with the speedy machines that use 350 metres of yarn to make a single pair of shoelaces. She also learns how to make a pair of children's wellies and test that they're fit for the muddiest puddles.

Historian Ruth Goodman reveals the story of a British shoemaker that elevated ladies' shoes from risqué music hall performers of the 19th century to gracing the feet of the Queen of England. And she explores the origins of football boots as well as the England team's boot emergency at the 1950 World Cup.

Gregg Wallace visits the biggest tortilla factory in Europe. The Coventry site covers more than 21,000 square meters, the size of three football pitches, and makes 60,000 tonnes of snacks every year. Gregg is following production of their UK bestseller, the 150g sharing bag of chilli heatwave flavour tortilla chips.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey visits the UK's largest chilli farm, where her tastebuds take on the hottest chilli in the world. She also discovers the science behind the UK's first compostable crisp packet.

And historian Ruth Goodman reveals the starchy story of how the Elizabethans kept their huge ruff collars standing to attention, as well as taking a trip to the flicks to discover how American popcorn became a box office smash.

Gregg Wallace visits the Denby factory in Derbyshire, which has been making pottery since 1809. We Brits drink a staggering 195 million mugs of tea and coffee every day, so Gregg is following production of one of the factory's best sellers, the Halo Heritage mug.

Every cup and pot in this historic factory starts life as a giant 100 metre-long mound of clay. Operations director Dean Barlow explains there are 100,000 tons of clay in this enormous pile, enough to last the factory about 20 years.

Gregg Wallace visits a family-run factory in the heart of rural Aberdeenshire, which churns out more than 49 tonnes of dairy ice cream every day. Gregg is delighted to learn he's following the entire production of their one-litre tub of honeycomb flavour.

Cherry Healey heads to an ice rink in Hull with headache expert Dr Fayyaz Ahmed and enlists an ice hockey team to test the best methods of stopping brain freeze. She also goes in search of a non-drip ice lolly and follows the tip-top process of how sprinkles are made.

Meanwhile, historian Ruth Goodman hops on board an ice cream van to find out how soft whip became a favourite on Britain's streets.

Gregg Wallace visits a huge vacuum cleaner factory in the heart of Somerset. This 32-acre site is a hive of activity where 1.2 million vacuums are made every year. Gregg is following their biggest seller, the Henry vacuum cleaner in bright red.

He starts with head of operations Stuart Cochrane, who is taking delivery of 25 tonnes of clear polypropylene pellets. They are transported to the factory floor via a spaghetti junction of pipes and then mixed with a red colouring agent. A massive moulding machine heats the plastic pellets and forces them into a drum-shaped mould under 300 tonnes of clamp pressure, the equivalent weight of 24 London buses. There are 47 of these huge moulding machines in the factory, churning out a total of 5,000 vacuums every day.

Next, Gregg's vacuum needs a bit of personality. The famous smile was drawn on for the first time as a joke by an employee at a trade show, but it attracted so much attention that it quickly became a permanent fixture. It is created using a process called PAD printing. Silicone pads are dipped in ink and pressed onto the surface of the moulded plastic ‘face' to create the eyes and smile, after which it is cured under heat to dry the ink.

With the drum and face moulded and printed, and wheels made from moulded recycled plastic, the bottom half of the vacuum is assembled in less than a minute. Timing is crucial - the drum is still hot from the moulding machine, so the wheels must be slotted in before the plastic cools and shrinks.

Now for the top half of the vacuum cleaner, which starts with a moulded motor housing. The motor needs power, so Gregg meets with wiring section manager Nathan Bandy at the loom assembly station. Nathan explains that the wiring loom is a cluster of cables that connect to the on/off switch, transmitting electricity to the motor.

With so many electrical and mechanical parts in each vacuum, the factory has its own on-site testing centre. Gregg can't quite believe his eyes, as everywhere he looks, they are being put through their paces. It is like a torture chamber for vacuum cleaners!

Back at the factory, the top half of Gregg's vacuum is coming together, and the shiny top cover is emerging from another moulding machine.

Next, Gregg is sent off in search of a set of ‘wands' for his vacuum, and project manager Roy Poole has the magic touch. The wands start life as 422mm stainless steel tubes which are fed into a machine that reduces one end by 1mm and stretches the other by 1.75, so they will slot neatly together to form a solid link between the brushes and the hose.

At last, the components can be brought together at the final assembly station, and it happens fast! The lower housing forms the base, then the motor with a jacket of acoustic wrap. The upper motor housing drops in on top with the reeler and ten-metre-long cable coming in above, before it is all finished off with the shiny cover. The machine is plugged in and powered up to check the suction reaches a precise 225 millibar. Gregg is stunned to see that all the components come together in less than 30 seconds, before they're checked, boxed up and sent to the dispatch area.

The storage and distribution centre is 21,000 square feet, the size of nine tennis courts, and from there, the boxes of vacuums roll down a clever chute to one of the ten trucks that leave the factory every day, each carrying nearly 1,000 machines.

When he was a child, Gregg loved playing with toy trainsets. Now he's got special access to learn how the ultimate model is made: a huge 187 tonne, five carriage electric train. At the 84-acre Alstom factory site in Derby, each one takes up to one thousand hours to complete.

Gregg follows every step of the process, from the delivery of vast lengths of aluminium and a 15,000 degree welding operation to the carriages' assembly with a set of enormous cranes. He learns about such parts of the train's design as the dead man's pedal and the importance of electrification - all before getting to drive the newly finished train himself.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey travels to Scotland to visit the UK's last remaining factory that produces aluminium via smelting. She also visits an HS2 construction site to learn how two huge tunnel boring machines are digging ten miles through the hills.

Historian Ruth Goodman is energised by the history of electric trains as she learns that the UK's first was a tourist train that is still in use along the Brighton seafront. The technology pioneered in the seaside town went on to be used in underground transportation all over the world.

The red double-decker bus is a global icon. They carry millions of passengers every day across the capital and are as synonymous with London as Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace. Now, Gregg Wallace has special access to a factory in Scarborough, Yorkshire where they build this famous people mover. But the bus that Gregg is helping to produce is a little bit special, because it's fully electric.

Gregg helps the factory across all stages of the bus's construction, including operating a crane to lower the bus's steps in place, adding the anti-slip lino, riveting and gluing the walls and wiring the electrics - before taking on the nerve-wracking task of driving the finished bus out of the factory.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey visits a bus windscreen factory where she gets to grips with the construction of tough laminated heated windscreens. And in the main bus factory, she helps to give the bus its bright red coat of paint. She also visits an offshore windfarm to learn how turbines convert wind into watts that could one day power the electric buses.

Historian Ruth Goodman learns about London's earliest double deckers and the vital role they played in the First World War.

Gregg Wallace visits a Manchester factory that churns out 6 million Jaffa Cakes every single day - 1.4 billion per year. Cherry Healey is in Jaffa, the city responsible for growing the fruit that gives these cakes their name. Ruth Goodman investigates why an urgent legal decision was required as to whether they are cakes or biscuits.

Gregg Wallace explores the Vale of Mowbray pork pie factory in Northallerton, Yorkshire, which began making pork pies in 1928. He visited the factory in May 2022, following production of their 75g snack-sized traditional pork pie – of which they make 425,000 every week.

Cherry Healey reveals hacks for the perfect vegan shortcrust pastry, makes piccalilli as a pork pie accompaniment, and learns how to drive one of the HGVs that transport food products every day.

In Cornwall, Ruth Goodman fishes for the history of one of Britain's most unusual pies, the star gazey pie, and she explores the story of powdered egg during the Second World War.

Gregg Wallace visits the factory making 432 million crumpets every year. Crumpets are a British classic made from a precise combination of ingredients, using some clever chemistry to create their famous ‘holey' texture.

Cherry Healey is learning the science of how to make the perfect batter for pancakes and visits a factory in Manchester that makes another British favourite, Eccles cakes, which are shipped all over the world.

Ruth Goodman reveals the long journey of how crumpets got their rise and eventually their bubbles, and traces the history of Britain's obsession with toasting baked goods.

Gregg Wallace visits a Yorkshire team that churn out up to 90,000 vegan sausages a day! Heck have been making these bangers since 2018, and the process is surprisingly futuristic.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey discovers how Canadian soy beans are transformed into protein-packed tofu, and she heads to the Scottish coast to harvest a vegan superfood of the sea.

Historian Ruth Goodman uncovers the green shoots of the vegetarian movement in Britain and the high price that British sailors paid when deprived of their five a day.

Gregg Wallace explores the Ambrosia factory in Lifton, Devon, to reveal how it makes up to 360,000 rice puddings every single day.

Cherry Healey is in the Po Valley in Italy to find out how fresh water from the Alps is used to grow more than a million tonnes of rice every year. And Ruth Goodman is serving up the history of school dinners.

Gregg Wallace visits a factory with a menthol scent - the Polos factory in York, which produces 32 million mints every day and contributes to the 19,000 tonnes of mints per year that the UK consumes.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey visits the largest sugar beet factory in Europe and helps to bring in the harvest on one of the last surviving peppermint farms in the UK. And Ruth Goodman explores the clever marketing that persuaded many people to purchase minty mouthwash.