McVitie’s factory makes TV appearance

Scheduled for broadcast on Thursday (4 April) at 9pm, the show will follow 24 hours on the shop floor at the factory and explore its history as one of the oldest biscuit factories in the world. Historical insight into the factory will be provided by food historian Dr Polly Russell.

According to the show’s summary: “The programme follows the whole production line process, from mixing the dough and baking the biscuits, to the engineering teams keeping the machines running, and staff offer first-hand accounts of life working in the oldest biscuit factory in the world.”​

Exclusive insight ​

Commenting on the factory’s appearance in this weeks episode, a Pladis spokesman told Food Manufacture: “Viewers of the show will get an exclusive insight into the exciting world inside our historical manufacturing site in Carlisle, where we bake some of our most-loved McVitie’s biscuits including Ginger Nuts, Bourbons and Custard Creams. Opened in 1831, the site is known as Britain’s oldest biscuit factory, being the first site to mass-produce biscuits for consumers up and down the country.​ ​

“As one of the biggest employers in the city of Carlisle, the factory is truly a part of the fabric of the community and this is evident in the generations of people working there, from engineering apprentices through to the ‘cracker packers’​ who famously packed the biscuits by hand and represented the spirit of the female workforce in the 1800s.”​​

Heinz Wigan​

Now on its second episode of the series, last week saw the programme take a look at the inner workings of the Heinz factory in Wigan, responsible for producing about 200 of the manufacturer’s soup, pasta and baked bean products.

Meanwhile, a number of food and drink manufacturers have featured on the BBC show Inside the Factory. ​Manufacturing sites given the spotlight have included Gateshead-based Primula Cheese​​, Birds Eye’s Lowestoft factory​​ and Molson Coors’ Burton upon Trent brewery​​.