- 2 days ago
A Very British Christmas - Season 1 Episode 1 -
Castle Howard
Castle Howard
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FunTranscript
00:00White, fancy baubles, tinsel and fairy lights. Job done.
00:07Unless you're decorating this, or this, or this.
00:14There are three things that hold Christmas up at Castle Howard.
00:16Chicken wire, glue gun sticks, and cable ties.
00:20One crack team of Christmas crafters
00:23are responsible for bringing the festive season
00:27Wow!
00:28Into some of Britain's best-loved buildings.
00:31The logistics is a little bit more the moving boxes of baubles around.
00:37For Dave.
00:38Safety first.
00:39Laura.
00:40Ta-da!
00:41Brian.
00:42And the rest.
00:43Juliana, Eve, Theodora, your end down.
00:46Christmas is a full-time job.
00:49Always get there in the end, through panic or coffee or gin.
00:52This is the bit that no-one ever sees backstage.
00:55Top of the tree.
00:56Cute.
00:57Designer, an ex-theatre producer, Charlotte.
01:00How do we feel about buying a kilometre of green lights?
01:03And business partner, former costume designer, Adrian.
01:07If they'd been purchased at full price, it was over £7,000.
01:10Right.
01:11Okay.
01:12Eight years of Christmas installations just keep getting bigger.
01:15Well, it totally looks like it's not going to fit.
01:18Balder.
01:19I'm just worried about that statue.
01:20And riskier.
01:21Good job!
01:22Good job!
01:27Sidestepping priceless antiques and cautious clients.
01:30How can they make an armoury?
01:32Christmas.
01:33Christmas.
01:34Yeah.
01:35The clock is ticking.
01:36Three, two, one.
01:37To doors opening.
01:40God, it's fabulous.
01:42For Christmas.
01:43Next year's ambition is...
01:44Next year's ambition is...
01:45Not to break the team.
01:46It's January, and in Yorkshire's Castle Howard...
02:00Hello, Nina.
02:01Happy New Year.
02:03Adrian's already setting Team Christmas to work.
02:06Our first task is...
02:09Get rid of the tree.
02:14They've got just two days to dismantle what took a year to prepare.
02:21The tree, obviously, when we put it up,
02:23has a little bit more care and attention given to it.
02:27We're a little bit more forthright,
02:29dismantling him.
02:31It's a bit brutal.
02:33It doesn't look it now.
02:35But until yesterday, this place was a wonderland.
02:39Literally.
02:44Castle Howard last year was amazing.
02:46I'm really proud of it.
02:49For the last seven weeks,
02:51the magical world of Alice in Wonderland reigned supreme.
02:54Thousands of baubles, kilometers of tinsel and fairy lights,
02:57and pure flights of fantasy delighted over 100,000 visitors.
03:04That's seven full Christmases we've now done for Castle Howard.
03:09Yep.
03:10How are we going to top it?
03:11It's going, it's going, it's going.
03:12Now they've got to start again.
03:13With ten months to design, build, and install a new Christmas theme to outsparkle Wonderland.
03:28So I'm being slightly obsessive about organisation, because this box next year I know I'm going to want for the Emerald City.
03:43We're off to see The Wizard.
03:50Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
03:52Tin man, scarecrow, the winged monkeys.
03:55What's not to love?
03:57The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a firm festive favourite.
04:02Written over a century ago, the book is one of no less than 14 set in Oz.
04:07An instant hit, its film debut was nearly 30 years before Julie Garland and her ruby slippers entered the Emerald City.
04:17Countless adaptations still draw the crowds, but from the colour of Dorothy's slippers to the number of witches,
04:24every one is slightly different.
04:26It's spring.
04:33Two miles from Castle Howard, Charlotte and Adrian's Christmas HQ is bursting with baubles, fairy lights, and half a million fake flowers.
04:45For Laura in floristry, Chippy Brian, model maker Mark, and the rest of the team, the whirlwind of Christmas is already on the horizon.
04:54But before they get carried away...
04:57The illustrations that strike me the most are these ones here.
05:01The bosses have to decide which parts of Oz will land this Christmas.
05:06It's very hard because people will come in thinking, first and foremost, about the film and Julie Garland.
05:11But we don't actually see Dorothy.
05:14Not at all. We might see at the very end.
05:16At the very end.
05:17But it's almost like she's just moved, walked out of the room ahead of you.
05:19Yeah.
05:20Is the feel.
05:21Much of the story is uncontroversial.
05:24The biggie is we've got to have a prairie house, right?
05:27A crushed prairie house.
05:28A crushed prairie house.
05:29But some parts have changed considerably since the original.
05:33In the book, the slippers are silver.
05:36Are we going to reference the ruby?
05:38Well, I think we should.
05:39At the end, she's going to arrive with...
05:42Glinda.
05:43Glinda, who is red.
05:45Because that's the other thing as well.
05:47Glinda is the good witch of the south in the book.
05:49She's not the good witch of the north.
05:52North, east, south and west.
05:54The book has four witches.
05:56It's a costume designer's dream.
05:59Because you know I made this investment.
06:01How many of them did you get?
06:02Three boxes.
06:03They are premium ostrich.
06:06If they'd been purchased at full price, it was over £7,000.
06:09Right.
06:10So they're all going on the Wicked Witch of the West's dress.
06:15In the room with the winged monkeys.
06:17And the fire.
06:19We might have to discuss whether the fire can be on in that room this year.
06:24This could go on all year.
06:26Except it can't.
06:28There's a house to decorate.
06:31This year, Castle Howard is the biggest of six properties
06:35getting the team Christmas makeover.
06:37A baroque masterpiece with over a hundred rooms
06:41lined with ancient statues and priceless paintings.
06:46The visitor comes up and they start to go on the route through.
06:50The next challenge is to work out how Oz fits into the splendour.
06:55This is the very beginning of the yellow brick road.
06:58It will travel right through the house as far as the Great Hall.
07:02Seventeen rooms require full transformation
07:06without marking the floor or chipping the china.
07:10It will look like you've got two shop fronts.
07:13And they have depth and internal...
07:15They have depth so that we can dress the windows.
07:17On the route, there's not one, but two bathrooms.
07:21Two man's in the bar.
07:23Yeah.
07:24So Scarecrow standing...
07:25On the loo?
07:26In front of the loo.
07:27A hundred foot long antique passage to be turned into a field of poppies.
07:32And of course, a tree, 28 feet tall,
07:36uncovered in literally thousands of baubles.
07:39This is the arrival...
07:41Into the Emerald City.
07:43It will be a green tree.
07:44No other client that we're working for this year has any green decorations
07:48in their installations.
07:50It's a fine choice.
07:52It's a fine choice not to have green in your house.
07:57Just one thing though.
08:00Castle Howard is open to the public all year round.
08:04So Christmas can't come early.
08:07Nothing can be installed until just before opening.
08:10Everything has to be put together down the road at Christmas HQ.
08:21All right. Up.
08:24It's summer.
08:26And everyone's downed tools to help Brian with the first of his grand designs.
08:31I sort of need to work out how we're going to assemble this.
08:34It didn't come with instructions, remember?
08:35He needs to know if he can carry it out of Christmas HQ and into the house.
08:41Push to me. That's it. Now it'll go down.
08:46We are assembling the crashed prairie house
08:50that is going to be on the China landing at the top of the stairs as you come in.
08:55Everything is flat packed, but some of it is heavier than we were expecting
09:02because the timber that we got in ended up being 15mm
09:07rather than the 6mm we'd sort of asked for.
09:10If it's too heavy, we'll have to have a rethink.
09:14Dorothy's house weighs nearly half a tonne.
09:21More than enough to flatten a witch.
09:24Her legs can stick out from under the porch.
09:26You can't have the legs hanging out that way,
09:27otherwise every time the wheelchairs come through,
09:30you'll run over your witch.
09:32But the problem isn't just weight.
09:34The others are convinced it's simply too big to manoeuvre through the house.
09:39Oh.
09:41At the end of the antique passage,
09:44we need to negotiate round a corner,
09:47past some very expensive, very old statues.
09:53These panels are probably slightly too long to get round that corner.
09:58They're going to catch.
10:01I don't want to cause literally thousands of pounds worth of damage
10:05to Roman statues that I can't replace.
10:09I don't want to.
10:10I don't want to.
10:11I don't want to.
10:12I don't want to.
10:16Castle Howard has seen more than 300 Christmases come and go.
10:24Not just an impressive building,
10:27but a home to nine generations of the Howards.
10:31Most recently, Nick and his family.
10:34This was what the South East Wing looked like.
10:37It had no roof on it.
10:38No roof.
10:39But it hasn't always looked as grand as it does now.
10:42The room we're in at the moment looked like this as well.
10:44I mean, the whole of this section looked like that.
10:47A great fire in November 1940 destroyed huge sections of the building,
10:52making them unsafe and uninhabitable.
10:55So when you were growing up, the dome wasn't even on the house?
10:58There was no dome.
10:59Visitor attraction director Abby is hearing how the family began funding the renovations.
11:05My father was the person who started the restoration.
11:08He opened the house in 1952 for the first time.
11:12And people came in large quantities.
11:13Very interestingly, I was looking at a page from a house opening diary from 1963 the other day.
11:20And it was rather lovely. It was all in my mother's handwriting.
11:25And my father had added the weather at the time.
11:29Then the number of visitors who'd come.
11:30And it was an August bankology.
11:32Can you remember how many?
11:34How many did it say?
11:35It tells you. And the numbers aren't that different to today.
11:38So really, we're still doing the same thing today?
11:41We're still doing the same thing.
11:42He started in the 50s and still generating income in order to restore rooms of this amazing place.
11:49He and my mother at that stage were much more hands-on than we are now.
11:52I mean, she quite often was sitting there at the ticket desk, selling the tickets and so on.
11:57I'd say you're still pretty hands-on though. We get you involved in all sorts.
12:01Yes, I would find it very hard not to be, I must say.
12:04Even though many areas remain out of bounds, slowly rooms are being returned to their former glory.
12:15But the cost is astronomical.
12:18Along with staff, maintenance and electricity bills of a grand a day,
12:23this place would be boarded up if it weren't for the help of the paying public.
12:27And at Christmas, we're not talking about a thousand people here or there, are we?
12:31No, we're not.
12:32People coming through your home.
12:33It's an incredibly important part of the year for us,
12:36because, I mean, a third of our visitors each year come at Christmas.
12:40It's lovely watching them.
12:41I mean, at Christmas, one of the things I do like to do is to go around
12:45and just look at the faces of the children and the grown-ups as they're looking at it.
12:49And as they come into each room, each room is a kind of a nice new surprise.
12:54And that's because of the work that Charlotte and Adrian do
12:58in designing a completely new look each year.
13:00No pressure then.
13:03And the countdown is on.
13:05What's the order deadline this year for Christmas product?
13:08Christmas this year needs to be bigger and better than ever.
13:11So Charlotte and Adrian are planning a wonderful Land of Oz in all its Technicolor glory.
13:17Check this out. What do you think? What do you think of this for Toto? Right?
13:19They're at one of Britain's biggest Christmas expos at Birmingham's NEC in search of decorations.
13:27Well, we do always try and reuse as much as we can.
13:31But every year, obviously, there is always going to be something we need new.
13:34What do you think, ruby slipper versus silver?
13:37The problem is we do set ourselves some huge challenges.
13:41Yep.
13:43Today's challenge is finding enough of one very important colour.
13:47So it's sort of a take on our traditional Christmas colours, which is red and gold.
13:53But for next year, maroon is very trendy on interiors.
13:57Sadly, it's not maroon.
14:00The Emerald City appears twice.
14:01The giant Christmas tree, we might just go emerald.
14:05OK.
14:06But it's going to take a lot of baubles.
14:08A lot of baubles.
14:10And a lot means 3,000.
14:13I mean, hopefully we'll be able to find some in an emerald green.
14:18Britain's first baubles came from Germany, imported by the Victorians.
14:22Made from blown glass, they were worth a small fortune.
14:26Don't we need a harlequin egg?
14:27Now mass-produced, they're relatively cheap.
14:30But decorating the tree alone will cost upwards of five grand.
14:35I think that's green enough, no?
14:37If there's any in emerald green.
14:40There's some green ones hanging up there, actually.
14:44This is our couture Christmas.
14:46Couture Christmas.
14:48Couture Christmas, very good.
14:50We've then added in this gorgeous emerald.
14:53Oh, my God.
14:55Perfect.
14:58Some great emerald green over there.
15:00Yeah.
15:01And the emerald drops.
15:04And that one.
15:05I've done that one.
15:06Done that one.
15:08Baubles accounted for.
15:09Witches are back on the agenda.
15:12She hasn't got an actual name, has she?
15:13The...
15:14Goodwitch of the North.
15:15No.
15:16Glinda's actually...
15:17Glinda's...
15:18Goodwitch of the South.
15:19This one's a good excuse for something other than green.
15:22So if you can imagine this as an actual figure, and this will be like her skirts.
15:27So am I doing a fairy dress tree with all the bling?
15:31Yeah.
15:32Okay.
15:33August.
15:34Two months until installation.
15:35At Christmas HQ, the team are tackling the bespoke elements of the build.
15:49Bigger and better is the mantra.
15:51And with Brian making a start on the Emerald City marketplace, he's focusing on bigger.
15:57So it's going to be that height.
15:58And it's going to be 40 foot long.
16:01Which is...
16:07The garages.
16:08The woodwork shop.
16:09Dave's metal workshop.
16:11That entire length.
16:15In floristry, Laura's also going big for the munchkin displays.
16:20We're going for an asymmetrical, slightly bonkers look.
16:25Sometimes less is more in her design, or sometimes more is more.
16:31There we are.
16:33Only Mark seems to have missed the memo.
16:36Building a model of the entire Land of Oz in miniature.
16:40What I'm not confident about is the buildings we're going to put on it.
16:45I think as with a lot of these things, while you're making it, it's all a bit of a mess.
16:50We'll get the big stuff out first, the new stuff.
16:55Yeah.
16:56Which is amazing.
16:57Is amazing, apparently.
17:01Adrian and Charlotte are preparing to create what they hope will be a smash hit.
17:06Look at this bad boy.
17:07Wow.
17:08So I do get really excited when we start to see new product, because that's when the vision can happen.
17:14Do you get excited? Because I get nervous.
17:17Yes.
17:19A little bit windy today.
17:21This is a little bit windy today.
17:24Risking a tornado of their own, these tables are playing stunt double to the Crimson Dining Room.
17:30It has to be transformed from eatery for the elite into a wicked witch's hideout.
17:37That's got quite a nice sort of odd wine bottle feel to it, doesn't it?
17:41Yeah.
17:42Like she's a really heavy drinker.
17:43The Crimson Dining Room is where she's sort of brewing all her lotions and potions and...
17:52Her laboratory.
17:53Her laboratory.
17:54Her laboratory.
17:55I'm trying to visualise how we make it feel like a laboratory, as opposed to a very lovely,
18:00but not that laboratory-style glass display.
18:08In the book, this witch is not green and has no warts, just crazy hair.
18:15Charlotte and Adrian are going a little wicked with their take, but still have to tell the story.
18:20One of these, Dorothy has...
18:23Chucked on her.
18:24Chucked on her.
18:27The narrative moment here is this is where the witch melts.
18:31You'll hear her screaming at Dorothy, and then we'll create some resin water that comes out of here.
18:37It's already quite impressive, isn't it?
18:39Yeah. Done.
18:43They still have time to perfect their creation.
18:45But in Castle Howard's marketing and sales office, August the 12th is crunch time.
18:52Tickets for Christmas are about to go live.
18:56It's making us feel nervous.
18:59Last year, over 5,000 tickets sold on day one alone.
19:03With a third of paying visitors coming at Christmas, the stakes are high.
19:10Last year, we were outsourcing tickets, so somebody else was dealing with all of this.
19:13But for the first time, we're now selling them in-house.
19:17So we've done all the testing.
19:18Everything's looking good.
19:20It's only really when we go live will we know that it's all going to work.
19:25This could be their Glastonbury moment.
19:29We're going live in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
19:35Let's go.
19:36Who's going to be our first booker?
19:47It's suspiciously quiet.
19:51Something's not working.
19:53When I click on your link, Georgie, that you've just sent me, tickets at castlehoward.co.uk.
19:58The booking system has ground to a halt.
20:03But Abi may have spotted the problem.
20:07I think there's an awful lot of people hitting the website all at the same time.
20:13So that might potentially be causing a bit of a glitch based on demand, which I guess is no bad thing that this many people want to book.
20:24I've just seen, yeah, there's 600, more than 600, it's growing all the time, people in a queue.
20:30So the queue is growing to get into the booking system.
20:34I've never seen demand like this in the first kind of five minutes of going on sale.
20:39It's crazy, actually.
20:41Phones are going to start ringing any second, I think, because people won't be able to complete their booking.
20:46Oh, success!
20:48Finally, it's working.
20:50And there's no end of visitors eagerly waiting for a Christmas in Oz.
20:56We'd love to welcome you back this year.
21:00September.
21:06In two months' time, the Christmas Land of Oz opens to the paying public.
21:11And it wouldn't be Christmas without a tree.
21:14Well, 57 for Castle Howard.
21:18This year, Adrian swapped his usual supplier in Norway for one just 15 miles away.
21:25I get excited about the chance to go and physically choose it, because it's got to be perfect.
21:32It's got to be the right height, the right width, the right size, shape, look.
21:36So I am very particular, I know.
21:38Pity the poor grower, is what I say.
21:39My wife has told me this year I have to use what three words.
21:45These are Ollie's trees.
21:47Each tree has its own designated what three words.
21:51He's got 150,000, most destined for front rooms all over Britain, and just a few years old.
21:57But the biggies are more like 30, are pruned every few months, and cost £1,000 a pop.
22:07That to me looks like a great option for the north front.
22:10In this moment, Abby and Adrian are hunting for two key specimens, at least 28 feet tall.
22:18Are you happy with it from the other side?
22:21There's a little bit, it's a little bit sparse just at the bottom, but I think if that's the bottom and the back...
22:27If that's facing towards the house, yeah.
22:30The north lake's there.
22:32Yeah, so that's the front where Ollie is.
22:34There's just a little, tiny little bit here, but I think we can get away with that.
22:40One down, but the next is the most important.
22:44If it's good enough, that might be job done.
22:48It's for the Great Hall.
22:50There's been a tree for Christmas in the Great Hall, going back at least 130 years.
22:56Each one increasingly extravagant.
22:59Now photographed by thousands, it's the centrepiece of every Christmas visit.
23:03Ollie's had one earmarked for over a year.
23:11With the pine cones.
23:14It is going to get tidied up.
23:20Oh no.
23:22The top branches are bare.
23:24We can't have that.
23:25Well, my mortal enemy in this field is a pair of buzzards that live in the wood behind here, fly into here to feed and they sit in the tops of the trees, break all the new growth off.
23:40We put these bird sticks on, but they're not buzzard proof. He sits on those and breaks those as well.
23:45Hopefully, he's got a plan B.
23:47I love the fact that he knows each individual tree. Like, you know each individual bauble.
23:54Despite the draw of artificial trees, Brits still spend over a quarter of a billion pounds a year on real ones.
24:02This one bothers me a little bit. It's lovely from about six feet up. It gets a little bit too straight as it comes down.
24:11Not all of Castle Howard's will be real.
24:14What height is this one, Oliver?
24:15But for the Great Hall, fake's not an option.
24:1925.
24:20That's the smallest we've had.
24:21In a long time.
24:25That's way too short.
24:30He's a bit funny. He's quite a lot taken off his bottom.
24:36Actually, this is nice from the front, Abby. This is nice from the front. This is really nice from the front.
24:39This is lovely.
24:41Not bad round the back.
24:42There's a little bit in here but nothing that I can't disguise with a large green velvet bow or two.
24:52Now, to make sure they can find it when they come to cut it down.
24:56I've got my location. I've got resettled baseballs and carpets.
25:02Receiving Python's light bulb.
25:05Sounds like next year's Christmas theme.
25:07It's just six weeks until Oz descends on Castle Howard.
25:18At Christmas HQ, there's no time to waste.
25:21I'm personalising broomsticks. So for Tin Man, Dorothy, Scarecrow, Glinda and the Evil Witch.
25:32The whole team is kind of multitasking.
25:35Props are piling up.
25:37Dorothy's dress in the attic.
25:39Winky's tools in the yard. Floristry's full, so there's an overflow for faux flowers.
25:46So we've had a bit of a reorganisation in tent two.
25:50Wow.
25:51It's gorgeous. Really, really lovely.
25:53But Brian's at a standstill.
25:56Nothing left to do now but wait. Drink tea.
25:59Oz's marketplace has to be painted tomorrow, but it's not ready.
26:06He's been waiting weeks for the final wood delivery.
26:10I've done all the prep I can.
26:13All of the backing with all of the bolt holes is all stacked neatly in piles there.
26:21The timber order is due today, but we're builder's merchants timing, so...
26:30Perhaps he should lend a hand in floristry.
26:34Piece of paper. Stretch it out. As far as it goes.
26:39Outside help has been drafted in to get on top of decorations for the hundred foot long antique passage.
26:46One six inches wide yellow crepe paper.
26:51We've already made thousands of smaller red poppies.
26:54For the floor spaces, we wanted to create some larger ones.
26:59So Amanda has already made two poppies down there.
27:04As you can see, they're gorgeous.
27:06So we're going to create more.
27:08And then once you've done that, you cut off the excess.
27:11Using hand-dyed paper, every poppy's unique.
27:15Try not to cut your fingers off them.
27:16But making them is complicated.
27:19So do you think I should add a little bit of green here?
27:21With nearly 70 to go, there's no guarantee they'll be finished in time.
27:26Hopefully by the end of today and tomorrow, we'll have made two each.
27:30But there's still quite a lot to make.
27:34Outside, there's good news.
27:37Delivery is here, finally.
27:40And bad.
27:42But it's got to be unloaded by hand. No crane this time.
27:44Oh, today is sent to try us, isn't it?
27:50All right.
27:53Ninety-six lengths of wood, each 16 feet long,
27:59have to be carried to the workshop,
28:01unassembled, before painting begins tomorrow morning.
28:04Brian's got a long night ahead of him.
28:23Halloween is the final themed event at Castle Howard,
28:27before it opens for Christmas.
28:28And the first part of Oz has arrived.
28:33Out of harm's way, in the burnt-out wing,
28:36Mark's finishing his model.
28:38And it's grown.
28:40We're just looking at this join between here and the middle.
28:45Now so big, it's in three separate pieces.
28:49That centre piece is quite heavy.
28:52If that will clear the door frame at an angle,
28:55then we've only got to worry about joining it to that one.
28:59What could possibly go wrong?
29:03Also worrying about bringing Oz in...
29:05Shall we just start from the very beginning? Sorry.
29:08Walking backwards and forwards on ourselves.
29:10Adrian and the house curator, careful Matthew.
29:13What Matthew tends to have to do is completely clear everything.
29:19Yes.
29:20You tend to err on the side of caution, don't you?
29:23Curators by nature are very risk-averse.
29:25Yes.
29:28Top of Adrian's list,
29:30something he's been keeping quiet about.
29:32And then is this where we meet the Wicked Witch?
29:35This is where we meet the Wicked Witch.
29:37She's going to be stood in all of her splendour
29:39in front of the fireplace.
29:42And then accompanying the Wicked Witch
29:45are her two flying monkeys.
29:47Oh.
29:49Which are chimpanzee, real size, with quite big wings.
29:53So they're sculptural pieces.
29:55I was wondering whether I can perch one on a desk
29:59and one on a piano?
30:03Um, absolutely not the piano.
30:04It's a lovely Broadwood grand piano.
30:0718th century.
30:09Um, very old, very fragile.
30:12And not particularly weight-bearing.
30:14Maybe the desk.
30:16The desk is, um, slightly more robust.
30:19That could have been worse.
30:21Next up, he needs permission to bring in the flat pack prairie house.
30:26Yes.
30:27And it's going to have to come this route.
30:29And I want to get it down.
30:30Down the passage.
30:31Down the passage.
30:32OK.
30:33Because the back wall flat is pretty enormous.
30:36So we've measured it.
30:38It will go past Fortuna.
30:40But I'm just very conscious it's a very big, heavy piece of scenery.
30:45Um...
30:47It's not a decision to be taken lightly.
30:49She's around about 2,000 years old.
30:52Yeah.
30:53And she's been here for about 200 years.
30:55Yeah.
30:56At the end of the passage.
30:58But yes, carefully around Fortuna, I'm sure we can get the prairie house squeezed in somehow.
31:04Yeah. Great.
31:06Success.
31:07Fortuna's smiling on Adrian.
31:09It's November, installation month.
31:17The last few days have seen a whirlwind of activity.
31:21Green paint everywhere.
31:24Poppies in their hundreds.
31:27And a certain amount of feather fluffing.
31:30I have never worked with ostrich feathers.
31:32We'll hope for the best.
31:34At the house, precious furniture's gone into storage.
31:38While Abby's been wrangling a film crew to make a Christmas promo.
31:43So I think we were hoping to disprove the old saying about working with children and animals.
31:49Okay, ready?
31:50Three, two, one.
31:51Action.
31:53This could take longer than we thought.
31:58And at Ollie's farm, timber.
32:04Now, time has run out and Oz has to be taken to the castle.
32:10These are awkward as hell.
32:13And Brian's Emerald City Market stalls are causing another big problem.
32:18I should have measured the height of the truck.
32:21It's one of those, everyone gets going and you've...
32:25Keep going.
32:27Those are only eight foot, so they should fit.
32:33Ah.
32:35We may have to stick it on a bonfire.
32:37Right, let's bring it down and out.
32:39Right.
32:49Right, three point turn.
32:51Except somebody stuck some peacocks in the way.
32:53Right.
33:00Right.
33:01Your and Juliana, Eve, Theodora, your and down.
33:05Perfect.
33:09Watch the box, Mark.
33:13Castle Howard may be just two miles up the road, but the build starts tomorrow.
33:18Nothing can be left behind.
33:21Line the roof.
33:23Straight back, bend the knees.
33:24Bend the knees.
33:25This feels tacky still.
33:27Yeah.
33:28All right.
33:29I'll have to watch that.
33:33Alrighty.
33:38Oh.
33:39That one.
33:40That one.
33:42Ain't been painted.
33:44Ah.
33:46Need to remember that, because we can't really take paint into the house.
33:50In less than a week, it all needs assembling, dressing and finishing before doors open for this year's Christmas.
34:00We're getting there.
34:02No, it's all going to come off again at the far end.
34:05It's going to be fun, isn't it?
34:06It's going to be fun, isn't it?
34:16Castle Howard is closed to the public for installation.
34:20Piled high in the Great Hall, 30,000 baubles, 37 fake trees, a kilometre of fairy lights and much, much more.
34:29Today's main aim, first thing, is just to get all of the decorations, the props, the floristry into the relevant parts of the house so we can start working.
34:42Scarecrow.
34:44Every day the house is shut is £10,000 in lost revenue.
34:49But nothing's quick in such a big space.
34:54This room alone is well over a hundred foot.
34:57It's a non-trivial distance to walk.
35:01Right, tape marker.
35:03Nuts, bolts.
35:05Bolts, nuts.
35:09Scaffolding's going up to hang the highest decorations.
35:13And the curatorial team are dealing with their last delicate removals.
35:19This bed has been here since around about 1825.
35:23The chapel won't have been there since 1825.
35:25Definitely not.
35:29As the decks find their homes, Brian's thinking about how to bring the Prairie House up through the Great Hall.
35:37I mean it's heavy, we know it's heavy.
35:40Statues, china, steps to fall down.
35:44Yeah, I'm a little bit nervous.
35:48Now, decorating can begin in earnest.
35:53Why make something permanent when you can just use hot glue, gaffer tape and cable ties?
36:00A crew of 18 is battling install one job at a time.
36:05Because it's so cold at this time of year, we need to add the heat back into it and get that volume back into it, so we spend the morning blow-drying this.
36:16Bathroom number one is being readied for the Tin Man.
36:19The Emerald City Marketplace is taking shape.
36:23And Laura's tackling a garland for the flying monkeys.
36:26I think it's about four metres long, which is a bit silly really, but I'm sure it'll look great.
36:35But out back, there's been a terrifying delivery.
36:38If we bring the lips down, get rid of the teeth, get rid of the hair.
36:48Over 10,000 under fives are expected over the next two months.
36:53But our flying monkeys might just scare them all away.
36:57That looks better already.
36:59Immediately better.
37:01I don't think so.
37:03Day two of installation.
37:09And the scaffolding's gone up.
37:20I'm not going to get round this corner, even if I get the scaffolders to move the pipes in.
37:26Brian's flat-packed prairie house hasn't been brought through.
37:29I have no idea how we're going to get the flat through now.
37:36Right.
37:38He has to find a way round.
37:42Going through here.
37:44Going to get Juliana and the girls to move all of the Christmas tree decorations and stuff here.
37:52I have to ask Dave to slide the tables around.
37:54This is our pinch point, this doorway here.
38:00Have I got enough on the diagonal?
38:07Three metres.
38:10It's going to be tight.
38:12Very tight.
38:16First through, the smaller side walls and floor.
38:19Okay, we're going to have to be really careful of...
38:23Really careful.
38:24It's the cornices I'm most worried about.
38:28The ornate stonework is original.
38:31Over 300 years old.
38:33And survived the fire back in 1940.
38:38But Brian doesn't want to let that get in the way of Christmas.
38:43Here comes the biggest piece.
38:47Let's stick a blanket over that top corner now, whilst you can reach over the banister.
38:53Okay.
39:01Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop.
39:03That was a near miss.
39:10We're going to have to tilt it.
39:12Are you going over to Roger, are you?
39:14Yeah.
39:20Right, go on.
39:22Right, just be careful.
39:24We're going to have to bring you around.
39:26Round.
39:28Yeah, if you can go towards the table.
39:30If we can bring this one towards the table.
39:31That's it, that's it.
39:32Keep going.
39:34Keep going.
39:38It's through.
39:41Now, the precarious journey down the antique passage.
39:47Heading straight for the 2,000-year-old Fortuna.
39:52Right, don't bash it too far over, I'm going to hit the wall.
39:56Then, the final straight to the relative safety of the China landing.
40:08Next up, the 28-foot-tall Christmas tree.
40:14All right, I'm coming in.
40:16Jason, stop.
40:18Have you got any room to lift it there?
40:19Head caretaker David's responsible for getting it in.
40:23Without damaging it or the Great Hall.
40:27Well, we're trying to lift the front and the back to bring it up to bring it in.
40:32But currently, it's dragging itself forward on the floor.
40:36Just stop! Just stop!
40:39We're trying a bit of a new system this year, using a winch.
40:42But the winch was kind of dragging some of the top branches along the floor.
40:48It would be awful to get it this far and then have a breakage.
40:51Manoeuvring one tonne of Nordmann fur is no easy feat.
41:06And blankets don't afford much protection for the surrounding statues.
41:09But there's nothing like a tree at Christmas.
41:22I love the smell of it.
41:23Yeah, I love having a real tree.
41:24But I always fall into the trap of...
41:26I've got no ceilings.
41:28It's an old cottage.
41:29I go to the garden centre and think,
41:31that looks like it'll definitely fit.
41:32No, it never does.
41:33Yeah, I always overdo it.
41:36And then you end up with the top.
41:38Yeah.
41:39No danger of that here.
41:44But will it pass inspection?
41:53It is a little bit of a crooked top, but no-one will know the difference
42:04since you've got a huge green velvet bow on it.
42:07It's going to be beautiful to dress.
42:11That's a massive tick.
42:13Just one major piece of the puzzle left.
42:16Scott to security, over.
42:19House head of operations, Scott, is trying to track it down.
42:24Any news on the Yellow Brick Road? Over.
42:33As soon as it arrives.
42:36So that's a negative.
42:37It's not here yet. Over.
42:39Negative. How?
42:46Doors open to the public on November the 12th.
42:49Hopefully, once we get them all on,
42:50there'll be 500 metres of lights that have gone on this tree.
42:55It's the final push to get everything finished.
42:59Oh, my God, look at her.
43:01Wow.
43:03Gosh, they've cracked on.
43:05OK, this looks spectacular.
43:08Team Christmas are in overdrive.
43:11My first time seeing the witch.
43:12Wow, she's tall.
43:14And she's green.
43:22So here we are on the Emerald City tree.
43:25They went straight in a box in January.
43:28And have been labelled for the Great Hall tree ever since.
43:30The Land of Oz is nearing completion.
43:46But there's still something missing.
43:49It's finally arrived.
43:52Let's follow the Yellow Brick Road.
43:55It's only three metres long.
43:57Not ideal.
43:59Watch out for the poppies.
44:01But Abby's determined to make the best of it.
44:04OK.
44:06If we flip it over...
44:12Oh, it looks good.
44:16Erm, I think...
44:17Well, what do you think?
44:18I think it looks great.
44:19I think it looks good.
44:21Perfect for a short walk in Oz.
44:24So this is just the sample, so the rest will arrive...
44:26No, it's all here.
44:27Is it all here?
44:28There's four rolls of it here somewhere.
44:29I think it's all through in the bedrooms.
44:31Random.
44:35Finally, it's ready.
44:47Nine long months in the making.
44:50From blank sheet of paper to the finished article.
44:54A Christmas in Oz is about to open to the public.
44:59We absolutely put our hearts and souls into these projects.
45:03And we're always thinking about what we can do differently and better.
45:07You work on it all year round.
45:08And you're very close to it.
45:10But you'll never know until you see them walk through the door.
45:12Yeah.
45:13I have the best job in the world. I absolutely love it.
45:23And this has been our most immense Christmas.
45:24It has. It has.
45:25The biggest installation we've ever done here at Castle Howard.
45:28At Castle Howard, yeah.
45:29At Castle Howard, yeah.
45:30At Castle Howard, yeah.
45:31I caught a woman and she had two children with her and you could see her welling up.
45:32And then she caught sight of me and she came over to me and she went, I just have to say it and I feel so emotional.
45:33I have the best job in the world.
45:34I have the best job in the world. I absolutely love it.
45:35And this has been our most immense Christmas.
45:36It has. It has.
45:37It has.
45:38The biggest installation we've ever done here at Castle Howard.
45:39Yeah.
45:40At Castle Howard, yeah.
45:41I caught a woman and she had two children with her and you could see her welling up and then she caught sight of me and she came over to me and I just have to say it and I feel so emotional. She started to cry.
46:02She started to cry.
46:05I'm feeling a bit emotional because I was here until one o'clock this morning. Just relieved that it's all done and it looks amazing.
46:16A new A Very British Christmas keeps the celebrations going 8pm next Tuesday at Banborough Castle with golden geese and delectable doubloons up for grabs.
46:24Dollar signs to end divides in the cruelest manner next tonight. Will they find the culprit?
46:29A new 24 hours in police custody of Family Vendetta concludes.
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