Inside The Factory is back for a brand new series in 2021 – here’s when its on TV and the latest episodes.
Inside The Factory airs on BBC Two with presenters Gregg Wallace and Cherry Healey joined by Historian Ruth Goodman.
Each episode delves into the secrets of how a specific product is made, as well as looking at its history and development.
Series 6 begins on Sunday, 27 December at 8PM before continuing on Tuesday nights in 2021.
Inside The Factory series 6 episodes
Episode 1 – Cider – 27 December
Gregg visits the biggest cider factory in the world, which produces more than 350 million litres each year. He visits Birchley Farm in Herefordshire, at the heart of cider country, before heading to the mill at Ledbury to help sort the apples.
Meanwhile, Cherry explores how the factory is creating new orchards of a sweet apple variety called Scrumptious through the ancient technique of grafting, as well as revealing how a by-product from the brewing industry, CO2, is vital in the manufacture of fire extinguishers. Ruth traces a Victorian apple-breeding boom with Dr Annie Gray and learns how it was British scientists and cider makers – not French champagne makers – who were the first to put fizz in a bottle.
Episode 2 – Socks – 5 January
Gregg visits a sock factory in Leicester that produces one and a half million socks annually. This atmospheric factory is a fascinating mix of Wallace and Gromit-style and high-tech machinery, with a close-knit team of highly skilled operators.
Cherry finds out what causes smelly feet and pounds the pavements to test out which socks best tackle this stinky situation while Ruth steps back into the 1980s, when socks were at the height of fashion.
Episode 3 – Yoghurt – 12 January
Gregg visits a factory in rural Somerset that produces one million pots of it every twenty-four hours. He meets the herd of Friesian cows that provide the milk, sees how the milk is processed and has a bacterial culture added, and watches how the extraordinary packing process takes place.
Cherry helps out with the UK’s biggest blackcurrant harvest, trying out plant based alternatives to milk and visiting a factory that makes food-safe yogurt pots from 100% recycled material. Ruth hops on board the story of the electric milk float and tackles the contentious origins of the cream tea.
Inside The Factory airs on BBC Two.
You can watch episodes online on BBC iPlayer here.
More on: BBC Two
