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New series. Back in time goes behind a corner shop with new family Ardens
NEW
The Ardern family is embarking on an extraordinary time-travelling adventure, going back in time to run that great British institution, the corner shop. Fast forwarding through 100 years of shop-keeping they’ll discover how what they sell, how they sell it and who they sell it to reflects the changing world around them.
The family, whose great grandparents were shopkeepers, has taken over a former corner shop in Meersbrook, Sheffield. Guided by presenter Sara Cox and social historian Polly Russell, the family of five will spend their summer working in the shop and living upstairs.
Starting in the Victorian era they’ll need to bake their own counter goods for the shop, weigh and measure loose goods like tea, flour and sugar by hand, and make deliveries with a horse and cart. In the years to come they’ll discover the huge impact Sheffield’s steel industry would have had on their local customers, face the challenge of administering wartime rations, and experience dizzy excitement at the arrival of innovations like the phone card, Smash Hits and the National Lottery.
Originally built to serve around 40 houses for all their daily needs, the Ardens will discover how corner shops had to adapt to meet the changing needs of their customers, from stocking new items to attract the city’s increasingly diverse population, to having plentiful supplies of the must-have make-up and magazines that kept people coming through the door. Through economic ups and downs, two World Wars and the changing face of the city, Back In Time For The Corner Shop reflects the total transformation of British life over the last 100 years.
In the first episode of the series the Arderns time-travelling adventure starts in 1897 when the shop - and the suburb around it - was built.
With few pre-packaged goods and no self-service, the men of the family must get to grips with a hands-on approach - measuring and weighing out items for customers, who have to sit and wait quite a while to be served. Old fashioned gender roles mean Jo and Olivia are busy in the basic kitchen, providing shop goods from jam to hair-raising health tonics. They also have to cook for the family, preparing a challenging meal of Shredded Wheat doused in Marmite broth.
Life in the shop reflects the changing world outside, from exotic new imports from the Empire to an increase in now familiar brands. It’s hard work but there’s still time for fun, as Dame Kelly Holmes puts the family through an Edwardian style work out. The arrival of WW1 sees severe food shortages and Britain is at risk of being starved into surrender.
As the decade draws to close, the Great War finally comes to an end. The shelves are full again and the Arderns throw a peace party to celebrate and say thanks to the community.