Inside the Christmas Factory 2018

2018

In this Christmas special, Gregg Wallace visits a factory which produces a staggering two million tins of festive chocolate assortments a year. Everyone has their favourite (for Gregg it’s the purple-wrapped caramel-coated hazelnut) and he follows the supersized batches of the toffee, orange and strawberry varieties on their journey from tanker to tin. 

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey is producing other festive treats. She travels to Germany – the home of so many of our Christmas traditions – where she joins a crew of 35 ornament decorators applying glitter and paint to an army of glass Santas. In the UK, she goes behind the scenes at the Royal Mail as the Christmas stamps are printed. 

Historian Ruth Goodman is on the trail of the Christmas turkey. It’s a tradition that begins way back in the 16th century when these birds were first introduced from Mexico. She also comes face to face with the precursor to the pantomime dame.