Daytime spin-off for Antiques Roadshow

The BBC has commissioned a daytime spin-off from its Sunday night favourite, the Antiques Roadshow. The spin-off will be presented by regular host Fiona Bruce and air on BBC Two. Contains the BBC Press Release.

BBC Daytime today announces that Fiona Bruce is to present 15 episodes of a special series celebrating a TV classic. Priceless Antiques Roadshow will be shown on weekdays at 6.30pm on BBC Two from Monday 9 March 2009 for three weeks.

“I’ve only been with the show for a year but watching the experts at work on the roadshow has been fascinating. Hearing about the legendary finds first-hand has been a real eye opener,” Fiona Bruce.

Everyone has their favourite moment from the last 30 plus years of programmes. The exquisite jewellery found on a rubbish tip worth thousands; the cracked tea pot worth enough for its owners to buy their council house; the blood spattered Boer War book that saved the life of the owner’s grandfather by stopping a near fatal bullet – there are countless great stories sitting in the Roadshow archives which have rarely been seen since their first broadcast. Priceless Antiques Roadshow will unpick such classic finds with newly filmed and revealing accounts from the men and women who first brought these objects to light: the team of experts.

“It was the first time that I had the pleasure of meeting people and talking about their things. I enjoyed it very much and it went over quite smoothly, thank goodness, it’s quite incredible that The Roadshow is still here after all these years, still surviving, we are shocked!” Ceramics specialist Henry Sandon steps back 28 years to relive his first moment in front of the cameras.

Along with exploration of many of the water-cooler moments from the programme’s archives, the series will also weave personal profiles of the leading specialists. Viewers are in for a surprise when they learn the stories behind the lives of some of Sunday evening’s most familiar faces. For instance, which of the Roadshow specialists is a former rock journalist who regularly played football with Rod Stewart in the Eighties?

Another has been bitten by the collecting bug so badly he needs a chateau in France to store his vast and ever growing collection. And why has a respected Roadshow expert recently had to visit Shropshire in order to make a grovelling apology for a recent outburst? There’s humour, too, as experts reveal the moments that didn’t make it on screen and why, such as the owner who refused to believe the news that their family masterpiece was a fake Constable from a bemused expert.

“We’re asked countless questions at Roadshows about those magic moments. Like, what’s the most valuable bargain buy ever seen at a Roadshow? And have we ever smashed a family heirloom by accident? People are fascinated by such things. Now we’ll be able to give them the answers.” Fiona Bruce.

“The Antiques Roadshow is such an immensely popular show with viewers that it seemed the perfect time to delve into its incredible archive and revisit some of the fascinating finds over the last 30 years.” Liam Keelan, Controller, BBC Daytime

The show was commisioned by Lindsay Bradbury; the Executive Producer is Simon Shaw, and the Series Producer is Nicola Lafferty.