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Sweets

Inside the Factory Series 2
Episode 5 of 6

Documentary series. Gregg Wallace helps to unload a tanker full of sugar from Norfolk and follows it through one of the oldest sweet factories in Britain.

Gregg Wallace helps to unload a tanker full of sugar from Norfolk and follows it through one of the oldest sweet factories in Britain to see how over 500 workers, as well as some mind-boggling machines, transform it into over a hundred million individual sweets within just 24 hours.

He discovers how the factory that produces Love Hearts could be the most romantic in the world because one in four of the people who work there are in a relationship with each other, how they make 5,000 Fizzers a minute using a tablet-pressing machine that uses three tonnes of pressure to create each sweet, and meets the man in charge of making three-quarters of a million Fruity Pop lollies every day.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey is let inside the research and development department and experiences for herself how hard it is to come up with a new product, as she attempts to invent her own version of sherbet using citric acid and sodium bicarbonate. She also finds out how they put the letters in seaside rock by making a giant version and then stretching it to the right size, and is given special access to the Fisherman's Friend factory in Lancashire to discover how a local family turned a niche product into a worldwide success.

And historian Ruth Goodman investigates how sweets were first invented and discovers that, in the Middle Ages, they were used as a medicine and thought to reduce flatulence. She also finds out about the human cost of Britain's sweet tooth in the 18th century and how an abolition movement instigated a sugar boycott which helped to end the slave trade.

59 minutes

Last on

Sun 29 Dec 2019 12:00
BBC Two & BBC Scotland

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Clip

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:01

    Florence + The Machine

    How Big, How Blue

  • 00:03

    The Rifles

    Evaline

  • 00:11

    George Formby

    Little Stick of Blackpool Rock

  • 00:17

    First Aid Kit

    Kings Of The World (feat. Conor Oberst)

  • 00:18

    Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin

    Je T'aime Moi Non Plus

  • 00:19

    Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg

    Je t'aime...moi non plus

  • 00:19

    Seth Lakeman

    The Watchmaker's Rhyme

  • 00:21

    Eliza and the Bear

    Light It Up

  • 00:22

    Little Mix

    Secret Love Song (feat. Jason Derulo)

  • 00:23

    Olly Murs

    Us Against the World

  • 00:29

    Foals

    Birch Tree

  • 00:31

    Ella Henderson

    The First Time

  • 00:36

    Little Mix

    Black Magic

  • 00:38

    Taylor Swift

    Wildest Dreams

  • 00:39

    The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Nic Raine

    Hedwig's Theme

  • 00:41

    Lawrence Welk & His Orchestra

    Baby Elephant Walk

  • 00:43

    Everything Everything

    Regret

  • 00:44

    Avicii

    The Days

  • 00:46

    Eliza Doolittle

    Back Packing

  • 00:47

    KT Tunstall

    Come On, Get In

  • 00:50

    Grimes

    Easily

  • 00:52

    Lorde

    The Love Club

  • 00:59

    The Rifles

    Long Walk Back

  • 00:57

    Disclosure

    Nocturnal (feat. The Weeknd)

Credits

Presenter Gregg Wallace
Presenter Cherry Healey
Presenter Ruth Goodman
Executive Producer Alice Harper
Executive Producer Sanjay Singhal
Series Producer Chris Parkin
Director Chris Parkin
Series Producer Amanda Lyon
Producer Emma Pound
Production Company Voltage TV Productions Ltd

Broadcasts

Learn more about the history of the factory and how it has evolved with an interactive from The Open University.

Learn more about the history of the factory and how it has evolved with an interactive from The Open University.

The fascinating stories behind the production of some of our favourite products.