A new TV series ‘Castles: Britain’s Fortified History’ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04t9h6l) starts tonight at 9pm on BBC4. The series is presented by Dr Sam Willis. The programmes trace the story of Britain’s castles and their unique role in our history, art and literature (it says).
Bodiam Castle features in next week’s episode on 11th December. I was there when they shot the scene but I don’t know if I make the final cut!
Also on TV (but not featuring Bodiam) is ‘Secrets of the castle with Ruth, Peter and Tom‘ on BBC2. Episodes 2 & 3 are still available on iPlayer and episodes 4 and 5 are still to come. It’s an excellent series set at Guédelon in Burgundy. Guédelon is a fantastic project – they are building a 13th century castle from scratch using (as far as possible) original techniques. The project is scheduled to take 25 years to complete. We saw a scene being filmed when we were there in September.
Meanwhile December at the castle means lots of work. It’s also a lot colder all of a sudden. We’re not grumbling though* – Winter can be a lonely time of year for a live interpreter at the castle. Most shifts at the moment are solo affairs and visitor numbers naturally drop away. December means working with colleagues and lots of excited visitors. I hope it sets us up for our first January with 7-day-a-week opening for many years.
This season has seen many changes at the castle, many of them in live interpretation. We’ve stepped up what we offer and on the whole it has been successful. The increased live interpretation element has been extended through most of next season. This will, I hope, allow us to consolidate and improve what we have achieved.
* Not too much.
Lance Woodman 