On Telly: The Dales
American viewers, write this down as one to watch for: The Dales, series two is airing on ITV starting tonight. I’ve checked Netflix for availability of series one in the U.S. and didn’t find it, however you can purchase the first series through Amazon.co.uk. Just be sure your DVD player can play a Region 2 DVD (Pal).
ITV1’s popular series The Dales is back for a brand new run in 2012. Ade Edmondson returns home to Yorkshire to bring us the stories behind another summer in the life of the Yorkshire Dales.
Spectacularly beautiful it may be but the Dales are also a challenging environment for the people who live and work in some of its remote communities. Ade spent many of his childhood summers in the Dales with his family, and in this series he returns to meet old friends and make new ones.
He revisits Dales farmers Clive and Amanda Owen and their five children as they face another eventful summer on their remote farm in Swaledale, and pops in on mother and son farmers Carol and Phil Mellin who have set up a sheepdog training enterprise on their farm near Keighley.
Ade also meets community choir the Buckden Singers and joins in their rehearsals as they prepare for their annual summer concert, he’s interviewed by Drystone Radio’s ten year old DJ Daisy Watkiss – perhaps the youngest DJ in the country – and also meets horse trainer Simon West as he experiences the highs and lows of running a small stable yard in Middleham.
During the course of the series Ade also sees the Dales from above – in a thrilling helicopter ride – and from below as he explores one of its many caves.
Episode One
In this opening episode, we join Ade as he starts his summer with a spectacular journey over the Dales in a helicopter. His first point of call is to return to Ravenseat Farm where sheep farmers Clive and Amanda Owen live along with their five young children. It’s the summer holidays and the children are taking advantage of the vastness of the farm and Amanda has some good news to share that will change life on the family farm. Ade spends the night in the Owens’s newly refurbished Shepherd’s Hut where Amanda uses the river as a place to cool the refreshments.
Ade says: “What a fantastic idea for a hotel – bottle of beer in the river, this has surely got to be the most picturesque mini bar in the world.”
We are introduced to community choir the Buckden Singers in Upper Wharfedale as they rehearse for the big event of the year – their annual summer concert. The choir started back in 2007 under the leadership of choir conductor Anne Vetch who moved to the Dales to have a slower pace of life. With its 45 members the choir consists of singers of all abilities who come together to share the love of song and the spirit of community.
We also meet for the first time Dales estate agent Brian Carlisle who runs the family business JR Hopper & Co, one of the biggest estate agents in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. In this first episode we follow him as he takes on a rather unusual sale in the Dales – a stunning 40ft waterfall called Catrigg Force in Ribblesdale.
*The previous was a press release from ITV.
Look out for the glorious Leeds and Liverpool canal as it passes through the Dales, Episode 5 I think!
Comment by nick — February 27, 2012 @ 8:27 pm