How It Began...

It all started in a scrap yard!

The story behind The Magic of Making goes back to the late 1990's when its creator (and narrator) Simon Ashcroft was running a television editing company in West London where he used to work on some great BBC shows such as Blue Peter and Later with Jools Holland. On his way to work one morning, a signal failure halted Simon's train right outside a scrap yard. The sight of giant steel claws tearing cars apart as if they were made of paper sent a tingle down Simon's spine as he started to imagine what a great little film this unfolding drama could make.

After a few telephone calls, arrangements were made for Simon and his cameraman, Peter Mathews, to film at the scrap yard one morning. Scrap metal is, perhaps, a rather odd subject for a film about making things, but at the time they were filming experimentally, looking to discover if anything could be made of Simon's hunch that these kinds of industrial processes would make good TV when set to the right kind of music. A highly dramatic orchestral score was selected from the company's vast collection of mood music CDs, and using an edit suite normally booked by the BBC's Blue Peter, Scrap Metal was cut in the afternoon and evening of the same day. It was a spine-tingling experience, because everyone could see that this was good stuff. The sales executives at BBC Enterprises (now known as BBC Worldwide) thought so too, and they suggested making some more and selling the series as 'fillers' to TV stations all over the world. Titles such as 'Industry' and 'How is it Made?' were considered, but in the end it was decided to create a series of programmes called 'The Magic of Making'.

And so it was that, throughout the following months, Simon, Peter and Gordon Carr (another associate of Simon's editing company) set about filming the rest of MOM series 1. It was because of Gordon's connections with Yorkshire - and the charming market town of Masham in particular - that so many locations were found there, as you can see from the further information about the Series 1 films. The material was then edited and narrated, and copies sent to BBC Worldwide who have been successfully selling them to international broadcasters ever since.

It wasn't until several years later that Simon thought about putting his Magic of Making films onto a DVD for his children to enjoy. The reaction was astonishing: the children watched them over and over again. MOM was up there with the Disney and Pixar classics - and it was educational too! It was the same with all the children who saw MOM: it was a winning formula.

The Magic Continues

The next challenge was to re-create the charm of these films in a second series - this time shot in high definition. And to help apply the gloss, Simon teamed up with his BBC TV director friend, Philip Rogers. Philip had seen and admired the first series of MOM films and was delighted to be involved in the 'magic of making' new ones. Working around their day jobs, Simon and Philip spent a year planning, filming, editing and honing the second series of MOM films - all with the full backing of BBC Worldwide. They filmed in some great locations - most memorably on the roof of Buckingham Palace where, believe it or not, one of the Queen's tiles is actually engraved with the letters HRH!

The result is a set of charming films in the style of classic television. The narration does not talk down to children, it challenges them to increase their vocabulary and absorb new ideas and concepts; and even if they don't understand a word, the wonderful use of music combines with a fluid, visual narrative that will captivate even the very youngest members of the family. With continued success, The Magic of Making will grow into a unique library of entertaining and informative films, revealing the fascinating processes, techniques and crafts involved in the manufacture of everyday things around us.

Finally, there is also plenty of humour in these films for the grown-ups. Our view is that if you are lucky enough to be able to sit down and watch TV with the children, you might as well be allowed to enjoy it too!

Simon Ashcroft & Philip Rogers, 2008