Wall to Wall, a leading independent television production company, who make a range of programmes for all the major broadcasters, including hit family history show, Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC ONE), Edwardian Country House (Channel 4) and New Tricks (BBC ONE) have contacted us at  Shires about a landmark BBC ONE series they are working on. 
 
They are looking for a baker/breadmaker and their family to feature in a new, prime-time BBC ONE series.  The programmes will chart the history of the British High Street from 1870 – 1970 by taking a group of skilled modern shopkeepers back in time.  They are hoping to find a lively, outgoing family with children aged between 8 – 21 years who can rise to the challenge of living and trading their way through 100 years of British history.  They want families who can help bring this ambitious series to life and who will relish the opportunity to give modern customers a unique insight into the history of their trade.  

The families will start by running their shop in the 1870s for one week. Then they will be fast-forwarded through time and spend a week running their shop in different key eras of British History – the Edwardian era, the 20s and 30s, the Second World War, the early 1960s and finally the 1970s.  In each era, the shopkeepers and their families will have to live and run their shop as authentically as possible.  
 The series will be filmed during the summer of 2010. The shopkeepers and their families will relocate for the duration of the filming to a modern-day market town in the South West.   It’s an ambitious and exciting way to stage this fascinating living history project and gives the shopkeepers an unprecedented chance to demonstrate to an entire town the challenges which their forebears would have faced on a daily basis.
 
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 a ‘baker’ who is an expert in their craft.  The ‘baker’, along with their family, will have the chance to learn old time skills in their shop, which will be meticulously decorated and fitted out.  They will get to grips with baking bread in a traditional Victorian bread oven.  They’ll need to tempt modern customers with once-fashionable recipes and use traditional methods to create them.  And they’ll grapple with the challenges of rationing and other rules and regulations laid down by history during the war years.  It’s a chance to experience the evolution of the British High Street first hand. 
 
So if your family fits the bill please get in touch with Zoe Acourt on 0207 482 6137 or you can email at zoe.a’court@walltowall.co.uk