Turn Back Time (2010) s01e04 Episode Script
World War Two
1 (Ticking) One typical British town.
Its high street was once its heart and soul.
Not anymore.
But what if we could turn back time? To the days of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker.
A group of shopkeepers and their families have left the 21 st century behind.
You are going to discover what the high street was really like.
Your aim is to make this town fall in love with this high street again.
Today's mantra is sell, sell, sell.
Each week they're living and trading through a different era.
Lift it.
From Victorian to Edwardian.
Rabbits.
Pheasants.
Through peacetime and wartime the Swinging '60s to the shocking '70s.
100 years of high street history.
It's absolutely magical.
Can they sell the products of the past to 21 st-century customers? Oh, the poor creatures! I'd be frightened to give this to the birds.
- (Laughter) - Pimpin'! And can they make a profit while they're at it? This is unbelievably hard.
I don't know how these poor buggers did this in the old days.
If I'm really being honest - I hate it! Tonight, the High Street moves into World War Two.
The shopkeepers and their customers are in for a shock.
Well, I'm used to selling, and I'm not selling now, I'm rationing.
It's horrible.
My problem is I've used up all my rations.
We live in constrained times.
And things get fraught.
- Scousers and Geordies don't get on.
- But all I wanted was bloody baps.
How hard is it? They've made the bread.
But can they persuade the town to love their high street in wartime? I feel like I could take this all home and in one go have a good meal.
And starve for the rest of the week! The shopkeepers are travelling forward in time to prove themselves on the World War Two high street.
And for the first time, profit isn't everything.
Shopkeepers had to take on a new role.
They became part of the official war effort, regulating rationing, distributing limited goods and making sure everyone got a fair share to survive.
The struggle will be the lack of takings.
There'll not be a lot of takings, but we decided that it's the Second World War, it's the Dunkirk spirit.
There's nothing better than adversity to bring people together.
It's not about making lots of money, it's about getting through.
As they arrive in the market square they are confronted with the austerity of wartime.
- It's all very murky-looking, very drab.
- It's the war.
No one will come in if they see it all horrible like this.
We're a British restaurant.
- A British restaurant? - That's what it says.
A restaurant, Mum, that's not just cakes.
Saffron's right to be worried.
For three eras the Devlins have struggled in all their catering endeavours.
I didn't think I could make cakes, but I didn't think I could make them this badly.
What on earth have you got us into? Enforcing the strict rules of the era is the High Street's own Chamber of Commerce: Fifth-generation baker Tom Herbert, social historian Juliet Gardiner and successful greengrocer Gregg Wallace.
The holiday feel of the 1930s is over.
Your challenge is to give the people of Shepton Mallet the full World War Two experience, and get you and them pulling together as a community.
We're not expecting you to make huge profits.
In fact, we're not even sure you're gonna have very much to sell.
You are in the front line of the British war effort, introducing Shepton Mallet to a culture of make-do and mend.
I think we're gonna find out which of you will look after each other, and which of you will look after yourselves.
Good luck, ladies and gentlemen.
The biggest change on the High Street is that the baker's has also become a British restaurant.
- Think positive.
- Yes, think positive.
- Think of all this fantastic Oh, wow! - Oh, it's The government set up British restaurants.
They really wanted to help with rationing and to feed people, mainly workers, give them a decent midday meal.
They found it difficult with a tea shop.
I think running a restaurant's gonna be a heck of a challenge.
After some disasters with food in previous eras the Devlins are surprisingly upbeat.
What we have here is a very utilitarian establishment, for simple food, along with the bakery, we'll be able to do.
Our butchers this week are selling nothing but mutton.
The ration list is as follows: Mutton, one and a half pound of meat to be sold.
Who eats mutton these days? I'll bet if you asked people they wouldn't even know what mutton was.
Mutton is the meat of a sheep over two years old.
So that's a huge challenge for our butcher.
Even clothes were rationed.
Dressmaker Gill will have to persuade her customers to make-do and mend, instead of selling them new dresses.
Looks a bit emptier.
A lot of it won't be selling stuff, so much as fixing what little they do have.
Blacksmith Simon's 1930s toyshop has been replaced with a practical hardware store.
It's quite sparsely stocked.
It looks as if it's just essential items.
If there's one family that are gonna find it a real shock that's the grocers, cos they've been king of this street up to now.
For three eras the Sergisons have thrived and made huge profits.
Today's mantra is sell, sell, sell.
But the war has changed everything.
(Sighing) Old Mother Hubbard - look at it.
For master salesman Karl shortages are a shock.
See what we've got on the shelves now? I bet you that's all we've got.
Daughter Saffie is equally aggrieved.
We've only got two oranges which is nothing.
I could eat them within an hour, two oranges.
I love oranges.
People are gonna be quite disappointed.
When we talk about shortages, before the war Britain was importing something like 55 million tons of food.
Within a month of the start of the war that had dropped by two thirds.
So basically there's sweet Fanny Adams in the fridge.
Britain was really an island under siege.
As well as distributing meagre rations, the shopkeepers will have to survive on them.
Two ounces of butter, cheese, margarine, lard and tea, four ounces of bacon, and just one egg per person per week.
- That will be our daily ration or weekly ration? - Weekly ration! It's not, is it? - We get that much cheese.
- We could eat that in five seconds.
- There's not a lot there.
- Not for a week.
- There's enough for a day.
- Eat frugally.
I'll moan when I'm hungry.
I don't like getting hungry.
I get upset when I'm hungry.
I think it's gonna be challenging cos there are lots of us and you guys have got hollow legs.
There's probably gonna be a few growly tummies around.
You have your own food, so you decide what you do with it.
No, you don't have your own food.
It's not for you to say, "Oh, that's my rasher of bacon, isn't it?" It's about Mum and I being able to use all of the rations for the family.
It's not all doom and gloom for Raif and the rest of the shopkeepers, as they have been given a communal vegetable garden and chickens to help supplement their rations.
The group of local customers who have shopped with them for the past three eras won't be as lucky.
They can only buy rationed goods at the shops for the next week.
Bit anxious about the size of it.
Looking through it there doesn't seem to be as much in as I thought there might be.
There's a war on, don't you know, so let's get inside.
This era will be the ultimate test of customer loyalty.
How many children in your family, Mr Blake? There's four boys and me.
I feel sorry for the people in the olden days.
During the war grocers and butchers became bureaucrats for the government and were expected to get to grips with a complex rationing system quickly.
We don't keep the books, they keep them.
Yes, and we're writing it on the envelopes, stop getting excited.
I hate paperwork with a passion.
At the butcher's Sharp and Son have got to break the news of how small the meat ration is.
What can we get and how much of it? You can get one and a half pounds of meat.
- Starvation diet, then.
- Yes, just got to see how we do.
And at the grocer's it's a similar story.
Is that two ounces each, then, for a week? For a week so do be sparing, my darling.
(Laughter) That's very shocking.
It was a real eye-opener cos the shelves were just bare.
It's like walking into a closed shop almost.
It looks so good.
I would love to have some more but obviously I can't.
I'm worried it's not going to last very long with two of us.
It's not just the customers who are disappointed with the realities of rationing.
It's a bit strange, there's nothing here.
People would have come in and seen this and would have gone, "Bugger, what am I gonna do tonight?" So it's quite disheartening really.
Even if we sold everything in the shop we'd only get about a hundred pounds, because there's so little prices and in all the other eras we got thousands of pounds.
I'm used to selling and I'm not selling now, I'm rationing.
And it's not the same.
It's horrible.
One of the things that wasn't rationed during the war was bread.
At the baker's, Caroline is back in charge, but she is restricted to making the National Loaf.
The wartime Ministry of Food ordered bakers to make a wholemeal loaf with added vitamin supplements to maximise Britain's nutrition.
But some elements of the recipe jar with modern tastes.
I felt really uncomfortable about putting seven and a half tablespoons of salt, and I live in fear of yet another salty loaf and a whole pile of complaints from people who are already going to be on the back foot because they're challenged by the shortages and the rationing, anyway.
Yuk, very salty.
Urghh! Urghh! Caroline's fears about the dough are borne out.
Salty! - Urrgh! It tastes like the sea! - Yeah.
I'll leave you to it.
The salt was added to help preserve the loaf, but that's no comfort for Caroline.
I'd just like to be able to make what I consider to be a good loaf of bread.
And here we are in the fourth era and we're still making what I perceive to be well, just inferior bread and as a baker that's just so frustrating.
Caroline is right to be concerned, as during the war this wholemeal loaf was universally hated.
In fact people dubbed it "Hitler's Secret Weapon".
But what will their customers make of it? - I'd like some white bread, please.
- It's not white, it's brown.
- Oh, no.
Really? - Yes.
OK, I'll just have to make do with brown, then.
The salt level, we should tell you now, is relatively high.
- Would you like to try a sample? - I would.
It's not that bad.
It's not that bad.
- Our first sale of the day! - Twenty-past nine.
Oh, Lord! The National Loaf isn't exactly a big hit with customers but they're getting into the spirit of making do.
It's chewy and a bit salty but fine.
You have to give me the recipe.
On the streets of Shepton Mallet, blacksmith Simon and dressmaker Gill have teamed up to introduce their customers to a culture of make-do and mend.
I think it's hugely important we still continue to strive to be self-sufficient.
There could be a crisis just around the corner at any time.
They're collecting scrap and clothes that can be mended and recycled.
Is this something you want an edge put on? I can do that.
The blacksmiths were the first recyclers: Make-do and mend is second nature to us.
In wartime the government encouraged everyone to recycle their scrap metal for the war effort.
In Shepton Mallet they collected 18 tons to build a tank.
- Oh, wow.
Gorgeous.
- The bodice is really pretty.
In the '40s things weren't available.
You couldn't get fabric, you couldn't buy clothes off the peg, so the people with the skills to make things would have been indispensable, which is a great feeling.
Do you feel good that you've been able to recycle some of this? - Yeah.
- Is it better than just throwing it away? Yes, it's so much better.
Walk on.
Good boy.
To make their rations go as far as possible the shopkeepers have pooled their resources.
Ooh, they're nice.
Grocer's wife Debbie is taking on responsibility for putting together a communal meal every night.
I just want us all to be really close and to embrace what's coming ahead and I think we're kind of gonna get there.
(Laughter) I reckon this area will become quite a meeting place, because everybody's seemed to gravitate here today.
And everyone's coming in and saying, "It's cool".
Then they're sitting down and they're just staying longer.
War girls! - We're doing well.
- Yes.
(Yawns) CAROLINE: There's yummy bread and jam for breakfast.
Oh, what fun! Butchers Andrew and Michael have opened early as they want to catch the Shepton Mallet breakfast trade.
It's not bacon they're cooking but macon - made from sheep not pigs.
Macon is cured mutton.
We're turning a sheep into a pig to make bacon out of mutton.
That's where we've got macon.
Macon, murgers, mossages.
But it might be a tough sell.
- Mutton, they say, "as tough as mutton".
That - Tough as old boots! I'm confident that we can get people to try our macon.
As to whether they'll buy it will be another issue.
Go on, get your macon.
We're in a war, hard times, come on.
We can make sheep taste like pig, just as nice, best thing you can have for your breakfast.
Come on, mutton bacon, macon.
- Is it mutton? - It certainly is mutton.
Why aren't there many pigs? There isn't enough of anything so you've got to make the most of it.
- Everyone wants bacon - Right.
so what we're doing is making bacon out of anything we can get our hands on.
- There you go.
- Interesting.
See what it's like.
Thank you.
- That is gorgeous.
- It's very tasty.
That's all right, actually.
That really is all right.
Macon, it's an easy sell, to be honest, cos it tastes like bacon.
Everyone recognises the flavours in there.
You've got a slight mutton hue in the background, but it's not negative.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, is it not? The butchers have managed to satisfy their customers and at the grocer's Karl and Debbie have a scheme to do the same.
We were a bit sneaky in the last era and we've actually hid some food.
We knew there was war coming so we've decided to keep some stuff back that we knew wouldn't be under rationing rules.
So we could, one: Keep our customers happy, and two: Obviously keep the family's finances in good shape for the war.
Let's open the door, then.
Here's our stuff in here.
Yep.
Yes.
(Laughs) Sssh.
Yeah, excuse me, got things to sell.
If the Ministry of Food find out you're going to prison, not me, all right? See what we've got.
- Oh, wow.
- We've got sugar, spaghetti.
I think that's an amazing stash.
We're gonna keep it under the counter and when customers come in saying have we got this or that, we say, "No, but we have got this and it's pretty expensive.
" - I've got brown sugar.
- That's like gold dust.
We could sell that for almost ten quid a bag.
We know the likes of Mr Blake and Mrs Payne have got little kiddies.
They'll want ketchup and we've got ketchup.
- It's gotta be a good fiver a jar, though.
- Well, you don't wanna rob them blind.
No, cos they've got an account, you want them to spend their money here.
They will spend their money here, that's the idea of the plan.
It's a cunning plan, as they say.
Can we get that covered up with something? Whilst the grocers are helping themselves, the bakers have a hard task ahead.
They need to open the British restaurant and feed the town.
NIGEL: "You'll be serving a group of 30 schoolchildren at 1 pm.
" Oh, God.
(Laughs) Where are we going to put 30 kids? The only slight problem with the stuff today is that mostly everything's to do with carrot.
For example, carrot fudge.
Boiled carrots served with some orange essence and that's it.
During the war it was believed that carrots helped the RAF see in the dark.
But this was a cunning ruse by the government to conceal from Germany the invention of radar.
And also get rid of a glut of carrots.
We've got this recipe now for Carrolade, which is just swede and carrot and then put in a muslin and just squeezed out.
- No.
No! - It smells repulsive.
Smell that.
We tell them afterwards.
- It's swede and carrot.
- (Coughs) For the main course, two slightly more familiar wartime classics: Spam fritters and corned beef hash.
I feel just like a school dinner lady.
(Laughs) I thought it was bad enough cooking for six of us all the time, but 30 people.
Definitely school dinners.
Oh, God! At the grocer's, customers are still getting used to the realities of rationing.
You wouldn't want to wait in queues all the time.
I wouldn't have time to wait in queues like this all the time.
- Eggs.
- Your weekly allowance each, you're allowed one each.
One egg? Oh, dear, what are we gonna do? - Cereals.
- Cereals? We have got these wheat flakes, but for special customers we've got some round the back.
Yes, do come this way.
Excuse me.
(Sings to himself) I can tempt you with a few of my goodies.
These can't be on account, they've gotta be We've got Shredded Wheat.
We've got cornflakes, cream crackers, Lyons Tea.
- Can we have some Shredded Wheat? - You certainly can.
Yes.
I'll put those there.
I'll tell you one thing, you can be the only customers in Shepton Mallet to get cane sugar during the war.
- In that case it's mine.
- It's gotta be a fiver.
- A fiver? - It's gotta be, hasn't it? So we've got these.
As you know, before the war these were around about two quid a pack.
But unfortunately it's wartime now, they've doubled.
They're four pound a pack.
- Goodness me.
- All right, we'll try it.
Ah, right.
Have you got a bag, Mrs Marsh? Special one there.
Don't let anybody see.
- We've been round the back.
- What's round the back? - They've got some special items round there.
- Sssh.
I think Karl looked after us rather well.
He said we were special customers which was really nice.
It was quite exciting being offered something perhaps other people wouldn't.
I like that.
I've managed to sell some already.
I've made over a tenner already, so that's a good start to the week.
So would you be interested in coming and have a look at my little goodies? I've got some really good things here.
- How much are the cream crackers? - Three quid a box.
- One of those.
Definitely.
- How much is the We're all whispering! Two quid for a tin of soup! Well, I'm the local spiv, as they say.
I'll get it for an emergency.
As shocking as they might be, Karl's prices are actually quite reasonable.
In wartime, luxuries such as melons could change hands for as much as two pounds - a whopping £68 in today's money.
One bag.
The black market, I've got no knowledge of it in real life, but that's what I would do if it was me and had the chance to make a few bob.
I know by the end of the week that tray will be empty.
Back at the British restaurant the school kids are arriving.
Can the bakers succeed in winning them over to wartime fare? First up is the Carrolade.
That is horrible.
Perhaps the corned beef will go down better.
- It looks like cow pat! - Yes! I'm not saying it's disgusting, it's just, I'm not used to it.
- Hm! - (Laughter) That was vile! The meal hasn't been a success and there are a lot of leftovers.
I wasn't excepting the reaction to be good, you know.
But they said the spam was horrible, the corned beef was horrible.
Well, to be honest, that's what everyone would eat, so if they don't like it, then, tough.
They wouldn't survive back then.
- My feet have never hurt so much ever.
- You're a right whinger! I know.
Such a whinge! But they hurt! There's no let up for Caroline and Nigel.
They have to now prepare the next day's National Loaf.
Debbie has also asked them to make bread rolls as she's got a special dinner of mutton burgers and rhubarb crumble planned for tonight's communal meal.
But Nigel has a problem with it.
Debbie wants to make burgers in a bun but what we have to do, bearing in mind the period, is use what we've got and we've got bread left over from the lunch today.
So we'll just have to use that.
Whilst the bakers are working hard, the Sergisons have discovered the communal veg patch.
Better than nothing.
During the war everyone was encouraged to Dig For Victory by growing their own food.
Land everywhere was taken over for growing - even the gardens at Buckingham Palace.
This vegetable garden is meant for all the shopkeepers but the Sergisons have a different plan.
This is really good as it's almost like free stock.
Just fill up that basket, as much as you can get in it.
Okey-dokey.
We'll pull out more tomorrow if we sell 'em all.
It's like a massive profit, isn't it, Mum? We could probably charge £2.
95? Yeah, we should feed everyone and make some money.
I think selling it's only the right thing, you wouldn't give it away.
Dig For Victory, that's what they say and that's what we're doing.
It's been a triumphant afternoon in the garden, but Debbie has just found out that Nigel hasn't made her bread rolls.
Karl, I've just had a blazing row with that dickhead of a man.
- I just can't deal with him anymore.
- Who? - Who do you think? - Nigel? Yeah, but all I wanted was bloody baps.
How hard is it? They've made the bread, that's the hard bit.
Rolling the baps is easy.
Scousers and Geordies don't get on, but at the end of the day, regardless of whether we get on or not, we're going to live the period.
It's just a difference of opinion, that's all.
She's right and I'm No, she's wrong and I'm right.
All he needed to contribute for dinner tonight was to make baps.
I've made the crumble, I was making the burger mix.
The baked potatoes are in the oven.
I don't know how I can be nice all the time, when he's being an absolute tosspot and it's really made me cross.
Bit of a mountain out of a molehill, but we'll get through it.
But I don't feel comfortable now, that's the difficult part, I don't want any dinner.
I can smell burning, having said that.
Oh, God! Oh, hell.
Her crumble is burnt.
Oh, God! It's not funny, OK? It's not funny! There's nothing I can do about them.
I could smell the burning when I came in.
If you've got stuff in the oven they're gonna burn.
I'm not really happy to keep providing for everybody if I'm not going to get something back in return.
It's the final straw for Debbie, and Caroline is now in the firing line.
Caroline, hear me out.
If you were gonna give us that bread anyway then why couldn't you turn them into baps? - Does it matter what format bread takes? - Have you tried to eat a burger in sliced bread? To say what we're contributing is not to your specific requirements is crazy.
- It's just what I expected, that was all.
- But if we can't deliver that then really You could have delivered, you just chose not to.
I think to say that we chose not to makes it out to be a deliberate thing and that's unfair.
With the wartime spirit now in tatters, tonight's communal meal is cancelled.
It doesn't matter who was right and who was wrong, it wasn't about that.
It's about the fact that someone was upset and I don't want them to be upset anymore.
(Air-raid siren) It's an air aid.
Put that light out.
What are we supposed to do? Get in that little shelter? OK, people, I think we should kind of go.
Anybody here? Straight out! To the butcher's, on the side door, please.
Nigel is acting as air-aid warden, responsible for the safe evacuation of the High Street.
Caroline, come on.
Come on! It's a siren, go.
This is only a drill.
If this was the real thing they would only have 12 minutes to get to a shelter before the bombs started to fall.
Into the side door of Sharp's.
Most of the shopkeepers head for the cellar, but the butchers and the blacksmith have to get into their Morrison shelter- a small steel cage under the kitchen table.
Mind your head on the corner.
This is a bit cosy, innit? I forgot Chloe.
I forgot Chloe.
Chloe? Come on, good girl.
The bakers and grocers will have to spend the evening together after all.
- My heart was just pounding.
- The siren makes you move.
We could be under here for days.
Would you get in trouble for not going in the shelter? You just die, don't you? There's no trouble in that.
If the house was bombed and you weren't under here then you'd be the one that died.
What if this was covered in rubble? - How the hell would you get out? - You wouldn't, would you? It wasn't just the big cities of Britain that were bombed.
In Shepton Mallet the skies were alive with enemy bombers, and more than 200 bombs were dropped, attempting to destroy the nearby railway line.
People used to have to live on their wits and that made them, well, I don't know what it made them.
It must have made them very different people to how they started.
- Much harder than us lot.
- Oh, yes, much tougher.
It does kind of bring it home, this really did happen.
And just coming out of this, and seeing if your house and everything you had was still here.
That must have been the worst thing of all.
Or maybe if you'd lost somebody or somebody had been left behind and you were told you couldn't come back.
If you were left behind or I was left behind it'd be really upsetting.
Actually, I came out thinking Chloe was ahead of me and ridiculously, I don't know how it happened, but Chloe was behind me.
I was absolutely panic-stricken then that I nearly forgot you.
Blimey.
Sorry.
Things are back to normal after last night's air raid.
And even Caroline and Debbie have gained some perspective on their argument.
What happened yesterday, as much as you'd like it not to happen it did happen and you just have to deal with it and get on.
I've been over to see Caroline and we've had a good chat, and business as usual, really.
Everybody gets stressed and strung out.
And actually, you know, I could have been perhaps a bit more sympathetic, and you just have to put it to one side.
You know, cos there's a war on.
As the dust settles everyone is back to work.
(Clanging metal) Simon has reopened his forge to mend customers' salvage and is making good on his claim that blacksmiths were the first recyclers.
The amount of tools I've got to sharpen, to refurbish, to resurrect from the dead is unbelievable.
The tine's broken off.
I've got a cut nail here, which is actually carbon steel.
And if I can try and fire-weld that on there I can repair this and get it back to working order.
- Oh, that's nice.
- Yeah, it's quite flattering.
At the dressmaker's the people of Shepton Mallet are discovering the joys of make-do and mend.
OK, it's done.
A little nightdress made out of a valance sheet.
With the help of Gill, customers are seeing new possibilities in their old clothes.
Although it's too big for me now, what I thought was if I had it cut off where the pockets go to.
- Right.
Do you see what I mean? So slightly shorter.
And then, can you see at the back, if it could be more of a fitted shape? At the grocer's it's business as usual.
It's my little black book, madam (Whispers) for the black market.
But the Chamber of Commerce are back.
They've been talking to some of the Sergisons' customers and Juliet is appalled.
I'm not pleased about what I've heard about Karl and Debbie and the family.
The problem is Karl's an entrepreneur and what was applauded in peacetime, making a decent living, you know, pulling a few tricks here and there, in wartime it's frowned on.
It undermines society, it undermines the war effort, and what's more it's criminal activity.
- Hello, Juliet.
- Hello, Karl, Debbie.
Right, Karl and Debbie, I've been talking to some of your customers.
And quite honestly you haven't been playing the game.
I am shocked.
The reason rationing was introduced, it was about fair shares for everybody.
They didn't want it so just those who could afford it could have more.
Everybody had to feel that the sacrifice was being equally borne and, to be honest, I'm horrified to say I think you're abusing it.
What have you got to say? Erm, well, yes, we have been running a little bit of a black market, I must admit.
We haven't favoured others more than others.
If people have got the money then we've let them have the black market products.
That's looking after number one, that's not looking after the community.
I understand that, yeah.
In retrospect, I suppose you're right.
It's the salesman in me.
I can't help it.
It's serious, this, and I'm going to have to make you realise how serious it was.
Now this is a criminal activity and I have to tell you the Government came down very heavily.
What I am going to recommend is a fine.
That fine is going to be £100.
That translates into today's money nearly £4,500.
Now I hope that will bring it home to you just what you're doing in wartime.
- OK.
- Goodbye.
Thank you.
Goodbye.
(Door opens and closes) (Mouths) So we have nothing to It doesn't matter, Saffron.
It's not about making money, is it? It does, sort of.
- We haven't taken any money this week.
- It doesn't matter.
We'll be in debt for the next few years.
I really don't care.
Honestly.
I was looking after my family and I'm really strong about that.
My family is very important and they come first.
And if there's anything left for the rest of the country, I'm sure there will be - I'm only a small family, then it's fine.
So I've got no conscience of that whatsoever, honestly.
While Karl is unrepentant, it's left to the bakers to try and instil the wartime spirit in Shepton Mallet.
They need to cook for an hour and a half.
If they're too small they'll just disintegrate.
It's round two of the British restaurant.
They've got 15 people coming for lunch and two hours to prepare two wartime classics: Rabbit stew and braised sheep's tongue.
They smell terrible, actually, and also I've looked at what the instructions are, and it says by the time when they're cooked you have to start taking out all the bones and skin them.
There's not gonna be anything left.
Look at that.
To think I've never done anything like this before and I know somehow what I'm doing.
For dessert it's eggless date and raisin pudding.
Very stodgy, it was an era of stodge.
I think we've pulled it together and that's down to the children as well, because they straightaway know what's expected of them.
They got the veg going and we're there.
Jack's made the dumplings, it's absolutely brilliant.
To be honest with you, and we don't want the children knowing this because they'll only demand more from us.
But actually we're really, really pleased with the way the kids muck in.
Hopefully what you see today is a family working together.
The bakers think they've cracked it, but it's the diners who will decide whether the meal's a success.
Right! These local pensioners actually lived through World War Two and they'll know the genuine article.
Go and put that milk out on the table.
Actually, no, yes, on that table.
No, actually wait.
Wait.
- What about Henry? - Yes.
- Table one.
- That's table one? Yes.
For the rabbit stew, but we don't have any butter.
No, all right, dear.
Thank you.
We've got bread but no butter, because there's a war on.
Two rabbit stews.
There you go.
You see this well-oiled machine here? - Rabbit stew.
- Thank you.
We used to get rabbit during the war, and it was a treat if you managed to get rabbit.
I wouldn't like to tell you what we had in the war.
Half of it went in the swill bin.
Very nice, yes.
Lots of nice cabbage as well, yes.
I appreciated having that because I haven't had tongue cooked like that since then, actually.
- Thank you.
- We've had an absolutely lovely meal.
It put me back to my childhood when I was about 10 or 11 and it tasted exactly the same.
It was gorgeous.
You thought it was very authentic? Yes.
Oh, yes.
The whole thing has been authentic I feel anyway, having lived through it, that I'm reliving it again now.
It was lovely because I met up with a school friend that I hadn't seen for over 70 years, really nice.
What is now growing in here is a sense of community in Shepton.
People are sitting It is! People are spending longer in here than they need to.
There's no urgency to go.
Even if they're buying a loaf of bread, they're staying in and other people are coming in and chatting.
I think it's lovely.
Caroline is seeing the upside of the war, but after days of rationing Shepton Mallet is finding it tough.
Tired, hungry, totally stressed out.
Been waiting now for one hour 45 minutes just in a queue.
It's pretty painful.
I've found it rather anxiety-provoking.
Queuing up, waiting to get into a shop where you're hoping there's going to be some food.
- Do you have any rice? - No, I would really like rice.
Me too.
Is there anything else you have round the back that Just what you see on the shelves is all we've got.
Anything I can buy without a ration book? There's rabbit.
- Anything else? - Rabbit.
Rabbit, is that it? My problem is I've used up all my rations.
Well, I'm trying to feed four but it's a bit hard.
Customers queuing up and nowt to sell em.
There's nothing to sell.
- So you can't give me anything today? - I'm sorry, but we live in constrained times.
I feel like I could take this all home and in one go have a good meal.
And starve for the rest of the week.
I was hoping you could actually just extend my ration.
I honestly couldn't get anything anywhere else.
I'm gonna starve.
With the customers feeling the pinch, the High Street is about to experience even more upheaval.
- Hi, Tom.
- I come bearing news.
Clearly, Andrew, it's very likely that a man with your skills would be called to offer your services to the Catering Corps.
We would like you to leave the High Street.
Jolly good.
In World War Two men from 18 to 41 were conscripted into the services, which means grocer's son Harry is being sent off too.
Karl is joining him to give Debbie an authentic taste of what it was like to lose the men for a second time in a generation.
She'll step up to the mantle, she's brilliant at it.
But she does miss me, she does love me, and vice versa, I miss her and love her.
So it's gonna be quite sad really.
I always cope on my own, that's what I do.
But that's not the point.
I don't wanna cope on my own.
I want Karl to be here and Harry.
This adventure's not really turning out as an adventure in this era.
- See you later.
- Bye-bye.
Bakers were initially a protected trade so Nigel is staying put.
While Debbie may miss Karl, for butcher's boy Michael it's an opportunity to run the Sharp empire.
Dad's gone to war.
I'm not too bothered about that because I get to run the shop which will be really great.
But the Chamber of Commerce has a surprise for Michael.
Her name is Anne Davidson, a lady butcher from Scotland.
He might be a bit upset because he's never worked with a lady before, and always worked with his dad.
So he'll be a bit upset cos he's not in charge.
- Hello, I'm Anne, you must be Michael.
- I am.
Yes, I'm the new manager of the shop.
I know your dad's away to war.
- You're gonna be manager? - Yes.
- Right.
So that kind of means you're boss.
- Yes.
I can't have that.
My shop, and I'm afraid I'm gonna have to run it.
Well, I'm sorry, you'll just have to put up with me.
You're only 14, Michael, you can't do a shop on your own.
OK, Michael, I'll go and get my coat on and we'll get some customers in and start selling.
All right.
Oh, I'm not going to be able to take orders from a Scotch.
With the men at war women took over men's jobs, not just in factories and munitions plants but in shops too.
It would save the Ministry lots of money just to send her somewhere else.
Even now a lady butcher can cause quite a stir.
- I don't mean to be rude - Yes, I'm Anne.
but I'm not used to seeing a lady in the butcher's.
- Have you qualified and trained as a butcher? - Yes, I've qualified.
It comes as such a surprise to me to see a female butcher.
Not that I'm sexist or anything.
They look at you and they think you can't butcher.
Or look at you You've got to prove yourself.
All right, Michael, will you put this away for me, please? Have you got note of the price, Michael? We need to get tidied up now for more customers coming in.
He doesn't like me.
He doesn't like me.
He thought he was in charge, you see.
Have you got that paper, Michael, please? Don't like being told what to do at all.
No, no, no, that's just not going to happen very smoothly.
It's not just Michael who is feeling down.
Everyone on the High Street is finding wartime gruelling.
I never realised that they worked just so hard for nothing.
It's been a really tiring day.
I was up at six this morning, we're still on the rations.
Breakfasts aren't very decent, lunches are not very decent.
We've run out of milk, so we're down to black tea.
Usually if I want something I can have it, and now if I want something I can't.
So it's a bit you know.
(Groans) It's vital that they keep their spirits up, so the Chamber of Commerce have organised a dance to boost morale, and Gill the dressmaker wants to look her best.
It's so I look like I'm wearing stockings.
Look, it works, doesn't it? Yeah Compared to how white my legs were before, it does work.
In wartime, beauty had to be improvised.
Don't do it wonky.
Make-do creativity was key.
That feels straight.
To be honest, the seams aren't too bad.
A used match could become an eyebrow pencil.
Beetroot lipstick.
Britain had nearly six years of stress and monotony in wartime - that's why dances became so popular as an escape.
Big band tune They do look amazing, though, don't they? They look amazing.
- Would you like this dance? - I'd love to! - It's great.
- Do you know what? I was doing the chicken head! - With a stranger no less! - Yeah.
To actually let your hair down like this and laugh, because actually there have been times we've cried rather than laughed and we've actually just been, you know, so, so happy.
- Brilliant.
- Chin-chin, old girl.
- And relaxed tonight, it's been fab, really fab.
- Yeah, it's been really amazing.
If we had more nights like this you would have happy people working in the shops every day.
- Don't push it now! - (Laughter) It's a real shame that something terrible like a war has to happen to bring people together and to bring out the community spirit.
It's a shame that we can't remember those bad times and keep that good community spirit when things are better.
- (Cock crows) - Come on, Chloe, open the box.
The next morning and it's an early start except for Michael the butcher's boy, who seems to have forgotten his duties.
- Is your shop open today, Michael? - I don't know.
- Morning.
- A bit late this morning? Aye.
No alarm clock, you see.
Oh, well, you'll need to get that sorted then, won't you? This won't do, coming in at this time in the morning.
It doesn't matter really on this day because Shepton Mallet is dead as a doornail.
That's not breast, Michael, that's flank.
- Well, it looked like breast.
- No, that's flank, Michael.
Shows you how much I don't know.
It'll make a stew.
You're only 14 so you'll not know everything about meat.
He's too cocky, thinks he knows everything.
He didn't even know that was a flank.
At the dressmaker's, customers are picking up their refashioned clothes.
Your coat has been remodelled and shortened.
Do you want to try it on? - Let's try it on.
- I hope you like it.
I also noticed the lining was a bit ripped so I repaired that for you as well under the arm.
It's showing them that make-do and mend can be achieved and can be really fun, and you can end up with some really cool stuff from nothing.
I'm really pleased with that.
I'll get so much more - Oh, doesn't it look nice at the back? - It looks lovely on you.
Downstairs, Simon is doing his bit.
- Right, this is very sharp now.
- Brilliant.
Thank you very much.
- I've put a real sharp edge on it.
- Oh, you have.
Being part of this experiment is really a fantastic opportunity for me to demonstrate my skills and how people like me, colleagues in the business, this sort of business, can be useful to people in the present day.
- Oh, my God.
- You've got a workable fork.
Brilliant.
So I can dig my potatoes up with these now.
The war is drawing to an end on the High Street.
Which means the men will soon return and reclaim their jobs.
For Michael that's a relief.
I'm ordered to go back home now, Michael.
Thank you very much.
- Thanks a lot.
See you.
Thanks for your work.
- Thank you, Michael.
Bye.
I'm not going to miss her.
At the grocer's Debbie's doing her final accounts.
22, 42, 51, 60 - 65, 72.
- (Sighs) - I haven't done anything.
- 75 I've done the totting up of everything and do you know what, for the fact that we only took £31-worth of under-the-counter goods, I really think, was it worth it, in the long run, you know? We've got a massive fine and I am gutted.
- How was the war? - Well, we won.
- (Debbie gasps and squeals) - Hello! (Karl laughs) - Oh, I've missed you, babe.
- I missed you too.
VE Day saw the biggest street party Britain had ever witnessed.
Today, just as they did in 1945, the people of Shepton Mallet are bringing dishes made from their rations to share with the shopkeepers.
- Oh, I say, what have we got here? - Lovely.
Ooh, look at these! - I used up all my rations of jam.
- Cheers.
Cheers, darling.
Give us a kiss.
Good morning! How are you? - Happy VE Day.
- Happy VE Day.
I've got some bread pudding! Oh, fantastic.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- How nice to see you.
- You look very dressed up.
- Thank you very much.
- Welcome back.
- Thank you very much.
- You survived! - This is lovely food.
- Superb.
I'm all ready for VE day.
Oh, we really must enjoy this.
The Chamber of Commerce are back to find out what the customers made of their wartime experience.
Is there anything about this wartime high street that you would like your kids to inherit? One thing that came out of the war which was, "We're all in this together, let's not be greedy, let's all help each other.
" You managed a week.
Would you like to manage two months or a year? - We could do it.
- It wouldn't be much fun, but we could do it.
We got used to putting less butter on things, but we got used to it.
As I stood there in the queue I realised that we customers had never met each other before and I was talking to people who lived in Shepton that I'd never met or spoken to before, and it was all sort of bringing us together.
People went without, yet are still talking about what a wonderful community spirit it was.
Now, OK, to build a community spirit at the same time as you're hungry, I mean, how powerful was the feeling here? That's right.
People were talking about queuing.
And imagine queuing, you might queue for several hours and still not got what you wanted.
But people talked about getting to know people in their queues, and about wanting to come back into Shepton Mallet.
They found it a more sociable place, and felt they got to know each other in a way they hadn't before.
Well, the grocers have caused controversy this week.
They can't help it, they're salespeople.
They wanna make a profit.
And I take my hat off to them there, but they didn't really understand A: The era they were in and how tough it was and B: What people would have thought of them.
If there was plenty of black market trading going on would you feel left out that you hadn't? Good heavens, no.
I'd be appalled.
I'd have shopped anybody if I'd known about it.
- You would? - Without hesitation, even if I knew them.
Because otherwise if you go on like that the system will fall apart.
Siobhan actually said she bought some stuff on the black market.
I was totally affronted.
Why wasn't I offered it? Because I had the money.
I could have bought that stuff.
The High Street really did come together as a community and they were all going without.
To then suddenly find out that they had sacrificed while others were cheating has caused a fair bit of anger.
He was profiteering, he was selling goods off the rations to turn a quick buck, and he did it in wartime and that's not on.
The bakers have had a fantastic week.
- Yes, this has really been their era.
- I think they've been exemplary.
I think they are just really terrific people who actually share and care, and that's what you would have needed in this era.
I don't think they've had to try that hard, I think that's them.
- Enjoy.
- Wow, thank you, sir.
Not a problem.
Good man.
You can't fault these people.
They've really taken us to their hearts and I actually feel the same about them.
We're just a complete community now and it just means so much.
I don't know what we're gonna do when these shopkeepers go back.
It's brought this place, this town alive.
GREGG: Gill's lovely.
What do you make of the dressmaker? She's made the most fantastic contribution to the war effort.
She's trying to show the people of Shepton Mallet that they don't have to buy anything, that they've got a lot of stuff in their wardrobes that they can make over and make nice.
Simon has really enjoyed this era because he's found himself very useful in the community and that's what he wanted to be right from the start.
He's shown people that there is another way, you don't have to buy cheap things, you can actually buy something and have it repaired and keep it going and make-do and mend.
They've shown people that, you know, things don't have to be disposable, there is an afterlife for them.
But Simon's days on the High Street are drawing to an end.
After the war, as Britain increasingly embraced mass-produced disposable goods, demand for blacksmiths disappeared.
I'll miss this forge absolutely immensely.
This to me This is me, this is what I do.
This is my environment and it's fantastic, absolutely fantastic.
I will miss it really, really, with a sad and heavy heart.
It's time for Simon to say goodbye to the High Street and he's made them a farewell gift.
So I've taken all sorts of bits and pieces to produce a frame from the scrap that the townspeople of Shepton Mallet gave me this week.
We were the world's first recyclers and we're bloody good at it.
(Laughter) (Applause) So this is my present to the town.
(Excited cries) Excellent! It's quite heavy, pass it on.
Very heavy.
CHILD: Can we go? PIANO: It's A Long Way To Tipperary To Tipperary It's a long way to go It's sad to see my craft disappear from the High Street, but at the same time I'm hoping that by doing this project I'm gonna give it a new lease of life.
Others aren't so sad to see the back of the war.
I didn't like World War Two mainly because we had nothing to sell and that's what I'm about.
That's what I do.
I'm a showman.
I sell food, I sell products, and I had absolutely sweet Fanny Adams to sell.
For everybody that has entered into the spirit of it, it's made the community and the shopkeepers just so much closer.
We are a real team now, all of us.
(Cheering) What an absolutely amazing week.
Devlins, your commitment to this high street has been unbelievable.
That, I think, is probably the spirit that got Britain really through tough times.
Well done.
Grocers! Oh, the controversy! Bad boys and girls.
Not the spirit that got us through the Blitz at all.
We got caught, we've been done.
That's life.
But we'll carry on, the business will keep going.
And er watch this space.
In my dreams I see you For there is no one else but you To make me feel this way
Its high street was once its heart and soul.
Not anymore.
But what if we could turn back time? To the days of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker.
A group of shopkeepers and their families have left the 21 st century behind.
You are going to discover what the high street was really like.
Your aim is to make this town fall in love with this high street again.
Today's mantra is sell, sell, sell.
Each week they're living and trading through a different era.
Lift it.
From Victorian to Edwardian.
Rabbits.
Pheasants.
Through peacetime and wartime the Swinging '60s to the shocking '70s.
100 years of high street history.
It's absolutely magical.
Can they sell the products of the past to 21 st-century customers? Oh, the poor creatures! I'd be frightened to give this to the birds.
- (Laughter) - Pimpin'! And can they make a profit while they're at it? This is unbelievably hard.
I don't know how these poor buggers did this in the old days.
If I'm really being honest - I hate it! Tonight, the High Street moves into World War Two.
The shopkeepers and their customers are in for a shock.
Well, I'm used to selling, and I'm not selling now, I'm rationing.
It's horrible.
My problem is I've used up all my rations.
We live in constrained times.
And things get fraught.
- Scousers and Geordies don't get on.
- But all I wanted was bloody baps.
How hard is it? They've made the bread.
But can they persuade the town to love their high street in wartime? I feel like I could take this all home and in one go have a good meal.
And starve for the rest of the week! The shopkeepers are travelling forward in time to prove themselves on the World War Two high street.
And for the first time, profit isn't everything.
Shopkeepers had to take on a new role.
They became part of the official war effort, regulating rationing, distributing limited goods and making sure everyone got a fair share to survive.
The struggle will be the lack of takings.
There'll not be a lot of takings, but we decided that it's the Second World War, it's the Dunkirk spirit.
There's nothing better than adversity to bring people together.
It's not about making lots of money, it's about getting through.
As they arrive in the market square they are confronted with the austerity of wartime.
- It's all very murky-looking, very drab.
- It's the war.
No one will come in if they see it all horrible like this.
We're a British restaurant.
- A British restaurant? - That's what it says.
A restaurant, Mum, that's not just cakes.
Saffron's right to be worried.
For three eras the Devlins have struggled in all their catering endeavours.
I didn't think I could make cakes, but I didn't think I could make them this badly.
What on earth have you got us into? Enforcing the strict rules of the era is the High Street's own Chamber of Commerce: Fifth-generation baker Tom Herbert, social historian Juliet Gardiner and successful greengrocer Gregg Wallace.
The holiday feel of the 1930s is over.
Your challenge is to give the people of Shepton Mallet the full World War Two experience, and get you and them pulling together as a community.
We're not expecting you to make huge profits.
In fact, we're not even sure you're gonna have very much to sell.
You are in the front line of the British war effort, introducing Shepton Mallet to a culture of make-do and mend.
I think we're gonna find out which of you will look after each other, and which of you will look after yourselves.
Good luck, ladies and gentlemen.
The biggest change on the High Street is that the baker's has also become a British restaurant.
- Think positive.
- Yes, think positive.
- Think of all this fantastic Oh, wow! - Oh, it's The government set up British restaurants.
They really wanted to help with rationing and to feed people, mainly workers, give them a decent midday meal.
They found it difficult with a tea shop.
I think running a restaurant's gonna be a heck of a challenge.
After some disasters with food in previous eras the Devlins are surprisingly upbeat.
What we have here is a very utilitarian establishment, for simple food, along with the bakery, we'll be able to do.
Our butchers this week are selling nothing but mutton.
The ration list is as follows: Mutton, one and a half pound of meat to be sold.
Who eats mutton these days? I'll bet if you asked people they wouldn't even know what mutton was.
Mutton is the meat of a sheep over two years old.
So that's a huge challenge for our butcher.
Even clothes were rationed.
Dressmaker Gill will have to persuade her customers to make-do and mend, instead of selling them new dresses.
Looks a bit emptier.
A lot of it won't be selling stuff, so much as fixing what little they do have.
Blacksmith Simon's 1930s toyshop has been replaced with a practical hardware store.
It's quite sparsely stocked.
It looks as if it's just essential items.
If there's one family that are gonna find it a real shock that's the grocers, cos they've been king of this street up to now.
For three eras the Sergisons have thrived and made huge profits.
Today's mantra is sell, sell, sell.
But the war has changed everything.
(Sighing) Old Mother Hubbard - look at it.
For master salesman Karl shortages are a shock.
See what we've got on the shelves now? I bet you that's all we've got.
Daughter Saffie is equally aggrieved.
We've only got two oranges which is nothing.
I could eat them within an hour, two oranges.
I love oranges.
People are gonna be quite disappointed.
When we talk about shortages, before the war Britain was importing something like 55 million tons of food.
Within a month of the start of the war that had dropped by two thirds.
So basically there's sweet Fanny Adams in the fridge.
Britain was really an island under siege.
As well as distributing meagre rations, the shopkeepers will have to survive on them.
Two ounces of butter, cheese, margarine, lard and tea, four ounces of bacon, and just one egg per person per week.
- That will be our daily ration or weekly ration? - Weekly ration! It's not, is it? - We get that much cheese.
- We could eat that in five seconds.
- There's not a lot there.
- Not for a week.
- There's enough for a day.
- Eat frugally.
I'll moan when I'm hungry.
I don't like getting hungry.
I get upset when I'm hungry.
I think it's gonna be challenging cos there are lots of us and you guys have got hollow legs.
There's probably gonna be a few growly tummies around.
You have your own food, so you decide what you do with it.
No, you don't have your own food.
It's not for you to say, "Oh, that's my rasher of bacon, isn't it?" It's about Mum and I being able to use all of the rations for the family.
It's not all doom and gloom for Raif and the rest of the shopkeepers, as they have been given a communal vegetable garden and chickens to help supplement their rations.
The group of local customers who have shopped with them for the past three eras won't be as lucky.
They can only buy rationed goods at the shops for the next week.
Bit anxious about the size of it.
Looking through it there doesn't seem to be as much in as I thought there might be.
There's a war on, don't you know, so let's get inside.
This era will be the ultimate test of customer loyalty.
How many children in your family, Mr Blake? There's four boys and me.
I feel sorry for the people in the olden days.
During the war grocers and butchers became bureaucrats for the government and were expected to get to grips with a complex rationing system quickly.
We don't keep the books, they keep them.
Yes, and we're writing it on the envelopes, stop getting excited.
I hate paperwork with a passion.
At the butcher's Sharp and Son have got to break the news of how small the meat ration is.
What can we get and how much of it? You can get one and a half pounds of meat.
- Starvation diet, then.
- Yes, just got to see how we do.
And at the grocer's it's a similar story.
Is that two ounces each, then, for a week? For a week so do be sparing, my darling.
(Laughter) That's very shocking.
It was a real eye-opener cos the shelves were just bare.
It's like walking into a closed shop almost.
It looks so good.
I would love to have some more but obviously I can't.
I'm worried it's not going to last very long with two of us.
It's not just the customers who are disappointed with the realities of rationing.
It's a bit strange, there's nothing here.
People would have come in and seen this and would have gone, "Bugger, what am I gonna do tonight?" So it's quite disheartening really.
Even if we sold everything in the shop we'd only get about a hundred pounds, because there's so little prices and in all the other eras we got thousands of pounds.
I'm used to selling and I'm not selling now, I'm rationing.
And it's not the same.
It's horrible.
One of the things that wasn't rationed during the war was bread.
At the baker's, Caroline is back in charge, but she is restricted to making the National Loaf.
The wartime Ministry of Food ordered bakers to make a wholemeal loaf with added vitamin supplements to maximise Britain's nutrition.
But some elements of the recipe jar with modern tastes.
I felt really uncomfortable about putting seven and a half tablespoons of salt, and I live in fear of yet another salty loaf and a whole pile of complaints from people who are already going to be on the back foot because they're challenged by the shortages and the rationing, anyway.
Yuk, very salty.
Urghh! Urghh! Caroline's fears about the dough are borne out.
Salty! - Urrgh! It tastes like the sea! - Yeah.
I'll leave you to it.
The salt was added to help preserve the loaf, but that's no comfort for Caroline.
I'd just like to be able to make what I consider to be a good loaf of bread.
And here we are in the fourth era and we're still making what I perceive to be well, just inferior bread and as a baker that's just so frustrating.
Caroline is right to be concerned, as during the war this wholemeal loaf was universally hated.
In fact people dubbed it "Hitler's Secret Weapon".
But what will their customers make of it? - I'd like some white bread, please.
- It's not white, it's brown.
- Oh, no.
Really? - Yes.
OK, I'll just have to make do with brown, then.
The salt level, we should tell you now, is relatively high.
- Would you like to try a sample? - I would.
It's not that bad.
It's not that bad.
- Our first sale of the day! - Twenty-past nine.
Oh, Lord! The National Loaf isn't exactly a big hit with customers but they're getting into the spirit of making do.
It's chewy and a bit salty but fine.
You have to give me the recipe.
On the streets of Shepton Mallet, blacksmith Simon and dressmaker Gill have teamed up to introduce their customers to a culture of make-do and mend.
I think it's hugely important we still continue to strive to be self-sufficient.
There could be a crisis just around the corner at any time.
They're collecting scrap and clothes that can be mended and recycled.
Is this something you want an edge put on? I can do that.
The blacksmiths were the first recyclers: Make-do and mend is second nature to us.
In wartime the government encouraged everyone to recycle their scrap metal for the war effort.
In Shepton Mallet they collected 18 tons to build a tank.
- Oh, wow.
Gorgeous.
- The bodice is really pretty.
In the '40s things weren't available.
You couldn't get fabric, you couldn't buy clothes off the peg, so the people with the skills to make things would have been indispensable, which is a great feeling.
Do you feel good that you've been able to recycle some of this? - Yeah.
- Is it better than just throwing it away? Yes, it's so much better.
Walk on.
Good boy.
To make their rations go as far as possible the shopkeepers have pooled their resources.
Ooh, they're nice.
Grocer's wife Debbie is taking on responsibility for putting together a communal meal every night.
I just want us all to be really close and to embrace what's coming ahead and I think we're kind of gonna get there.
(Laughter) I reckon this area will become quite a meeting place, because everybody's seemed to gravitate here today.
And everyone's coming in and saying, "It's cool".
Then they're sitting down and they're just staying longer.
War girls! - We're doing well.
- Yes.
(Yawns) CAROLINE: There's yummy bread and jam for breakfast.
Oh, what fun! Butchers Andrew and Michael have opened early as they want to catch the Shepton Mallet breakfast trade.
It's not bacon they're cooking but macon - made from sheep not pigs.
Macon is cured mutton.
We're turning a sheep into a pig to make bacon out of mutton.
That's where we've got macon.
Macon, murgers, mossages.
But it might be a tough sell.
- Mutton, they say, "as tough as mutton".
That - Tough as old boots! I'm confident that we can get people to try our macon.
As to whether they'll buy it will be another issue.
Go on, get your macon.
We're in a war, hard times, come on.
We can make sheep taste like pig, just as nice, best thing you can have for your breakfast.
Come on, mutton bacon, macon.
- Is it mutton? - It certainly is mutton.
Why aren't there many pigs? There isn't enough of anything so you've got to make the most of it.
- Everyone wants bacon - Right.
so what we're doing is making bacon out of anything we can get our hands on.
- There you go.
- Interesting.
See what it's like.
Thank you.
- That is gorgeous.
- It's very tasty.
That's all right, actually.
That really is all right.
Macon, it's an easy sell, to be honest, cos it tastes like bacon.
Everyone recognises the flavours in there.
You've got a slight mutton hue in the background, but it's not negative.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, is it not? The butchers have managed to satisfy their customers and at the grocer's Karl and Debbie have a scheme to do the same.
We were a bit sneaky in the last era and we've actually hid some food.
We knew there was war coming so we've decided to keep some stuff back that we knew wouldn't be under rationing rules.
So we could, one: Keep our customers happy, and two: Obviously keep the family's finances in good shape for the war.
Let's open the door, then.
Here's our stuff in here.
Yep.
Yes.
(Laughs) Sssh.
Yeah, excuse me, got things to sell.
If the Ministry of Food find out you're going to prison, not me, all right? See what we've got.
- Oh, wow.
- We've got sugar, spaghetti.
I think that's an amazing stash.
We're gonna keep it under the counter and when customers come in saying have we got this or that, we say, "No, but we have got this and it's pretty expensive.
" - I've got brown sugar.
- That's like gold dust.
We could sell that for almost ten quid a bag.
We know the likes of Mr Blake and Mrs Payne have got little kiddies.
They'll want ketchup and we've got ketchup.
- It's gotta be a good fiver a jar, though.
- Well, you don't wanna rob them blind.
No, cos they've got an account, you want them to spend their money here.
They will spend their money here, that's the idea of the plan.
It's a cunning plan, as they say.
Can we get that covered up with something? Whilst the grocers are helping themselves, the bakers have a hard task ahead.
They need to open the British restaurant and feed the town.
NIGEL: "You'll be serving a group of 30 schoolchildren at 1 pm.
" Oh, God.
(Laughs) Where are we going to put 30 kids? The only slight problem with the stuff today is that mostly everything's to do with carrot.
For example, carrot fudge.
Boiled carrots served with some orange essence and that's it.
During the war it was believed that carrots helped the RAF see in the dark.
But this was a cunning ruse by the government to conceal from Germany the invention of radar.
And also get rid of a glut of carrots.
We've got this recipe now for Carrolade, which is just swede and carrot and then put in a muslin and just squeezed out.
- No.
No! - It smells repulsive.
Smell that.
We tell them afterwards.
- It's swede and carrot.
- (Coughs) For the main course, two slightly more familiar wartime classics: Spam fritters and corned beef hash.
I feel just like a school dinner lady.
(Laughs) I thought it was bad enough cooking for six of us all the time, but 30 people.
Definitely school dinners.
Oh, God! At the grocer's, customers are still getting used to the realities of rationing.
You wouldn't want to wait in queues all the time.
I wouldn't have time to wait in queues like this all the time.
- Eggs.
- Your weekly allowance each, you're allowed one each.
One egg? Oh, dear, what are we gonna do? - Cereals.
- Cereals? We have got these wheat flakes, but for special customers we've got some round the back.
Yes, do come this way.
Excuse me.
(Sings to himself) I can tempt you with a few of my goodies.
These can't be on account, they've gotta be We've got Shredded Wheat.
We've got cornflakes, cream crackers, Lyons Tea.
- Can we have some Shredded Wheat? - You certainly can.
Yes.
I'll put those there.
I'll tell you one thing, you can be the only customers in Shepton Mallet to get cane sugar during the war.
- In that case it's mine.
- It's gotta be a fiver.
- A fiver? - It's gotta be, hasn't it? So we've got these.
As you know, before the war these were around about two quid a pack.
But unfortunately it's wartime now, they've doubled.
They're four pound a pack.
- Goodness me.
- All right, we'll try it.
Ah, right.
Have you got a bag, Mrs Marsh? Special one there.
Don't let anybody see.
- We've been round the back.
- What's round the back? - They've got some special items round there.
- Sssh.
I think Karl looked after us rather well.
He said we were special customers which was really nice.
It was quite exciting being offered something perhaps other people wouldn't.
I like that.
I've managed to sell some already.
I've made over a tenner already, so that's a good start to the week.
So would you be interested in coming and have a look at my little goodies? I've got some really good things here.
- How much are the cream crackers? - Three quid a box.
- One of those.
Definitely.
- How much is the We're all whispering! Two quid for a tin of soup! Well, I'm the local spiv, as they say.
I'll get it for an emergency.
As shocking as they might be, Karl's prices are actually quite reasonable.
In wartime, luxuries such as melons could change hands for as much as two pounds - a whopping £68 in today's money.
One bag.
The black market, I've got no knowledge of it in real life, but that's what I would do if it was me and had the chance to make a few bob.
I know by the end of the week that tray will be empty.
Back at the British restaurant the school kids are arriving.
Can the bakers succeed in winning them over to wartime fare? First up is the Carrolade.
That is horrible.
Perhaps the corned beef will go down better.
- It looks like cow pat! - Yes! I'm not saying it's disgusting, it's just, I'm not used to it.
- Hm! - (Laughter) That was vile! The meal hasn't been a success and there are a lot of leftovers.
I wasn't excepting the reaction to be good, you know.
But they said the spam was horrible, the corned beef was horrible.
Well, to be honest, that's what everyone would eat, so if they don't like it, then, tough.
They wouldn't survive back then.
- My feet have never hurt so much ever.
- You're a right whinger! I know.
Such a whinge! But they hurt! There's no let up for Caroline and Nigel.
They have to now prepare the next day's National Loaf.
Debbie has also asked them to make bread rolls as she's got a special dinner of mutton burgers and rhubarb crumble planned for tonight's communal meal.
But Nigel has a problem with it.
Debbie wants to make burgers in a bun but what we have to do, bearing in mind the period, is use what we've got and we've got bread left over from the lunch today.
So we'll just have to use that.
Whilst the bakers are working hard, the Sergisons have discovered the communal veg patch.
Better than nothing.
During the war everyone was encouraged to Dig For Victory by growing their own food.
Land everywhere was taken over for growing - even the gardens at Buckingham Palace.
This vegetable garden is meant for all the shopkeepers but the Sergisons have a different plan.
This is really good as it's almost like free stock.
Just fill up that basket, as much as you can get in it.
Okey-dokey.
We'll pull out more tomorrow if we sell 'em all.
It's like a massive profit, isn't it, Mum? We could probably charge £2.
95? Yeah, we should feed everyone and make some money.
I think selling it's only the right thing, you wouldn't give it away.
Dig For Victory, that's what they say and that's what we're doing.
It's been a triumphant afternoon in the garden, but Debbie has just found out that Nigel hasn't made her bread rolls.
Karl, I've just had a blazing row with that dickhead of a man.
- I just can't deal with him anymore.
- Who? - Who do you think? - Nigel? Yeah, but all I wanted was bloody baps.
How hard is it? They've made the bread, that's the hard bit.
Rolling the baps is easy.
Scousers and Geordies don't get on, but at the end of the day, regardless of whether we get on or not, we're going to live the period.
It's just a difference of opinion, that's all.
She's right and I'm No, she's wrong and I'm right.
All he needed to contribute for dinner tonight was to make baps.
I've made the crumble, I was making the burger mix.
The baked potatoes are in the oven.
I don't know how I can be nice all the time, when he's being an absolute tosspot and it's really made me cross.
Bit of a mountain out of a molehill, but we'll get through it.
But I don't feel comfortable now, that's the difficult part, I don't want any dinner.
I can smell burning, having said that.
Oh, God! Oh, hell.
Her crumble is burnt.
Oh, God! It's not funny, OK? It's not funny! There's nothing I can do about them.
I could smell the burning when I came in.
If you've got stuff in the oven they're gonna burn.
I'm not really happy to keep providing for everybody if I'm not going to get something back in return.
It's the final straw for Debbie, and Caroline is now in the firing line.
Caroline, hear me out.
If you were gonna give us that bread anyway then why couldn't you turn them into baps? - Does it matter what format bread takes? - Have you tried to eat a burger in sliced bread? To say what we're contributing is not to your specific requirements is crazy.
- It's just what I expected, that was all.
- But if we can't deliver that then really You could have delivered, you just chose not to.
I think to say that we chose not to makes it out to be a deliberate thing and that's unfair.
With the wartime spirit now in tatters, tonight's communal meal is cancelled.
It doesn't matter who was right and who was wrong, it wasn't about that.
It's about the fact that someone was upset and I don't want them to be upset anymore.
(Air-raid siren) It's an air aid.
Put that light out.
What are we supposed to do? Get in that little shelter? OK, people, I think we should kind of go.
Anybody here? Straight out! To the butcher's, on the side door, please.
Nigel is acting as air-aid warden, responsible for the safe evacuation of the High Street.
Caroline, come on.
Come on! It's a siren, go.
This is only a drill.
If this was the real thing they would only have 12 minutes to get to a shelter before the bombs started to fall.
Into the side door of Sharp's.
Most of the shopkeepers head for the cellar, but the butchers and the blacksmith have to get into their Morrison shelter- a small steel cage under the kitchen table.
Mind your head on the corner.
This is a bit cosy, innit? I forgot Chloe.
I forgot Chloe.
Chloe? Come on, good girl.
The bakers and grocers will have to spend the evening together after all.
- My heart was just pounding.
- The siren makes you move.
We could be under here for days.
Would you get in trouble for not going in the shelter? You just die, don't you? There's no trouble in that.
If the house was bombed and you weren't under here then you'd be the one that died.
What if this was covered in rubble? - How the hell would you get out? - You wouldn't, would you? It wasn't just the big cities of Britain that were bombed.
In Shepton Mallet the skies were alive with enemy bombers, and more than 200 bombs were dropped, attempting to destroy the nearby railway line.
People used to have to live on their wits and that made them, well, I don't know what it made them.
It must have made them very different people to how they started.
- Much harder than us lot.
- Oh, yes, much tougher.
It does kind of bring it home, this really did happen.
And just coming out of this, and seeing if your house and everything you had was still here.
That must have been the worst thing of all.
Or maybe if you'd lost somebody or somebody had been left behind and you were told you couldn't come back.
If you were left behind or I was left behind it'd be really upsetting.
Actually, I came out thinking Chloe was ahead of me and ridiculously, I don't know how it happened, but Chloe was behind me.
I was absolutely panic-stricken then that I nearly forgot you.
Blimey.
Sorry.
Things are back to normal after last night's air raid.
And even Caroline and Debbie have gained some perspective on their argument.
What happened yesterday, as much as you'd like it not to happen it did happen and you just have to deal with it and get on.
I've been over to see Caroline and we've had a good chat, and business as usual, really.
Everybody gets stressed and strung out.
And actually, you know, I could have been perhaps a bit more sympathetic, and you just have to put it to one side.
You know, cos there's a war on.
As the dust settles everyone is back to work.
(Clanging metal) Simon has reopened his forge to mend customers' salvage and is making good on his claim that blacksmiths were the first recyclers.
The amount of tools I've got to sharpen, to refurbish, to resurrect from the dead is unbelievable.
The tine's broken off.
I've got a cut nail here, which is actually carbon steel.
And if I can try and fire-weld that on there I can repair this and get it back to working order.
- Oh, that's nice.
- Yeah, it's quite flattering.
At the dressmaker's the people of Shepton Mallet are discovering the joys of make-do and mend.
OK, it's done.
A little nightdress made out of a valance sheet.
With the help of Gill, customers are seeing new possibilities in their old clothes.
Although it's too big for me now, what I thought was if I had it cut off where the pockets go to.
- Right.
Do you see what I mean? So slightly shorter.
And then, can you see at the back, if it could be more of a fitted shape? At the grocer's it's business as usual.
It's my little black book, madam (Whispers) for the black market.
But the Chamber of Commerce are back.
They've been talking to some of the Sergisons' customers and Juliet is appalled.
I'm not pleased about what I've heard about Karl and Debbie and the family.
The problem is Karl's an entrepreneur and what was applauded in peacetime, making a decent living, you know, pulling a few tricks here and there, in wartime it's frowned on.
It undermines society, it undermines the war effort, and what's more it's criminal activity.
- Hello, Juliet.
- Hello, Karl, Debbie.
Right, Karl and Debbie, I've been talking to some of your customers.
And quite honestly you haven't been playing the game.
I am shocked.
The reason rationing was introduced, it was about fair shares for everybody.
They didn't want it so just those who could afford it could have more.
Everybody had to feel that the sacrifice was being equally borne and, to be honest, I'm horrified to say I think you're abusing it.
What have you got to say? Erm, well, yes, we have been running a little bit of a black market, I must admit.
We haven't favoured others more than others.
If people have got the money then we've let them have the black market products.
That's looking after number one, that's not looking after the community.
I understand that, yeah.
In retrospect, I suppose you're right.
It's the salesman in me.
I can't help it.
It's serious, this, and I'm going to have to make you realise how serious it was.
Now this is a criminal activity and I have to tell you the Government came down very heavily.
What I am going to recommend is a fine.
That fine is going to be £100.
That translates into today's money nearly £4,500.
Now I hope that will bring it home to you just what you're doing in wartime.
- OK.
- Goodbye.
Thank you.
Goodbye.
(Door opens and closes) (Mouths) So we have nothing to It doesn't matter, Saffron.
It's not about making money, is it? It does, sort of.
- We haven't taken any money this week.
- It doesn't matter.
We'll be in debt for the next few years.
I really don't care.
Honestly.
I was looking after my family and I'm really strong about that.
My family is very important and they come first.
And if there's anything left for the rest of the country, I'm sure there will be - I'm only a small family, then it's fine.
So I've got no conscience of that whatsoever, honestly.
While Karl is unrepentant, it's left to the bakers to try and instil the wartime spirit in Shepton Mallet.
They need to cook for an hour and a half.
If they're too small they'll just disintegrate.
It's round two of the British restaurant.
They've got 15 people coming for lunch and two hours to prepare two wartime classics: Rabbit stew and braised sheep's tongue.
They smell terrible, actually, and also I've looked at what the instructions are, and it says by the time when they're cooked you have to start taking out all the bones and skin them.
There's not gonna be anything left.
Look at that.
To think I've never done anything like this before and I know somehow what I'm doing.
For dessert it's eggless date and raisin pudding.
Very stodgy, it was an era of stodge.
I think we've pulled it together and that's down to the children as well, because they straightaway know what's expected of them.
They got the veg going and we're there.
Jack's made the dumplings, it's absolutely brilliant.
To be honest with you, and we don't want the children knowing this because they'll only demand more from us.
But actually we're really, really pleased with the way the kids muck in.
Hopefully what you see today is a family working together.
The bakers think they've cracked it, but it's the diners who will decide whether the meal's a success.
Right! These local pensioners actually lived through World War Two and they'll know the genuine article.
Go and put that milk out on the table.
Actually, no, yes, on that table.
No, actually wait.
Wait.
- What about Henry? - Yes.
- Table one.
- That's table one? Yes.
For the rabbit stew, but we don't have any butter.
No, all right, dear.
Thank you.
We've got bread but no butter, because there's a war on.
Two rabbit stews.
There you go.
You see this well-oiled machine here? - Rabbit stew.
- Thank you.
We used to get rabbit during the war, and it was a treat if you managed to get rabbit.
I wouldn't like to tell you what we had in the war.
Half of it went in the swill bin.
Very nice, yes.
Lots of nice cabbage as well, yes.
I appreciated having that because I haven't had tongue cooked like that since then, actually.
- Thank you.
- We've had an absolutely lovely meal.
It put me back to my childhood when I was about 10 or 11 and it tasted exactly the same.
It was gorgeous.
You thought it was very authentic? Yes.
Oh, yes.
The whole thing has been authentic I feel anyway, having lived through it, that I'm reliving it again now.
It was lovely because I met up with a school friend that I hadn't seen for over 70 years, really nice.
What is now growing in here is a sense of community in Shepton.
People are sitting It is! People are spending longer in here than they need to.
There's no urgency to go.
Even if they're buying a loaf of bread, they're staying in and other people are coming in and chatting.
I think it's lovely.
Caroline is seeing the upside of the war, but after days of rationing Shepton Mallet is finding it tough.
Tired, hungry, totally stressed out.
Been waiting now for one hour 45 minutes just in a queue.
It's pretty painful.
I've found it rather anxiety-provoking.
Queuing up, waiting to get into a shop where you're hoping there's going to be some food.
- Do you have any rice? - No, I would really like rice.
Me too.
Is there anything else you have round the back that Just what you see on the shelves is all we've got.
Anything I can buy without a ration book? There's rabbit.
- Anything else? - Rabbit.
Rabbit, is that it? My problem is I've used up all my rations.
Well, I'm trying to feed four but it's a bit hard.
Customers queuing up and nowt to sell em.
There's nothing to sell.
- So you can't give me anything today? - I'm sorry, but we live in constrained times.
I feel like I could take this all home and in one go have a good meal.
And starve for the rest of the week.
I was hoping you could actually just extend my ration.
I honestly couldn't get anything anywhere else.
I'm gonna starve.
With the customers feeling the pinch, the High Street is about to experience even more upheaval.
- Hi, Tom.
- I come bearing news.
Clearly, Andrew, it's very likely that a man with your skills would be called to offer your services to the Catering Corps.
We would like you to leave the High Street.
Jolly good.
In World War Two men from 18 to 41 were conscripted into the services, which means grocer's son Harry is being sent off too.
Karl is joining him to give Debbie an authentic taste of what it was like to lose the men for a second time in a generation.
She'll step up to the mantle, she's brilliant at it.
But she does miss me, she does love me, and vice versa, I miss her and love her.
So it's gonna be quite sad really.
I always cope on my own, that's what I do.
But that's not the point.
I don't wanna cope on my own.
I want Karl to be here and Harry.
This adventure's not really turning out as an adventure in this era.
- See you later.
- Bye-bye.
Bakers were initially a protected trade so Nigel is staying put.
While Debbie may miss Karl, for butcher's boy Michael it's an opportunity to run the Sharp empire.
Dad's gone to war.
I'm not too bothered about that because I get to run the shop which will be really great.
But the Chamber of Commerce has a surprise for Michael.
Her name is Anne Davidson, a lady butcher from Scotland.
He might be a bit upset because he's never worked with a lady before, and always worked with his dad.
So he'll be a bit upset cos he's not in charge.
- Hello, I'm Anne, you must be Michael.
- I am.
Yes, I'm the new manager of the shop.
I know your dad's away to war.
- You're gonna be manager? - Yes.
- Right.
So that kind of means you're boss.
- Yes.
I can't have that.
My shop, and I'm afraid I'm gonna have to run it.
Well, I'm sorry, you'll just have to put up with me.
You're only 14, Michael, you can't do a shop on your own.
OK, Michael, I'll go and get my coat on and we'll get some customers in and start selling.
All right.
Oh, I'm not going to be able to take orders from a Scotch.
With the men at war women took over men's jobs, not just in factories and munitions plants but in shops too.
It would save the Ministry lots of money just to send her somewhere else.
Even now a lady butcher can cause quite a stir.
- I don't mean to be rude - Yes, I'm Anne.
but I'm not used to seeing a lady in the butcher's.
- Have you qualified and trained as a butcher? - Yes, I've qualified.
It comes as such a surprise to me to see a female butcher.
Not that I'm sexist or anything.
They look at you and they think you can't butcher.
Or look at you You've got to prove yourself.
All right, Michael, will you put this away for me, please? Have you got note of the price, Michael? We need to get tidied up now for more customers coming in.
He doesn't like me.
He doesn't like me.
He thought he was in charge, you see.
Have you got that paper, Michael, please? Don't like being told what to do at all.
No, no, no, that's just not going to happen very smoothly.
It's not just Michael who is feeling down.
Everyone on the High Street is finding wartime gruelling.
I never realised that they worked just so hard for nothing.
It's been a really tiring day.
I was up at six this morning, we're still on the rations.
Breakfasts aren't very decent, lunches are not very decent.
We've run out of milk, so we're down to black tea.
Usually if I want something I can have it, and now if I want something I can't.
So it's a bit you know.
(Groans) It's vital that they keep their spirits up, so the Chamber of Commerce have organised a dance to boost morale, and Gill the dressmaker wants to look her best.
It's so I look like I'm wearing stockings.
Look, it works, doesn't it? Yeah Compared to how white my legs were before, it does work.
In wartime, beauty had to be improvised.
Don't do it wonky.
Make-do creativity was key.
That feels straight.
To be honest, the seams aren't too bad.
A used match could become an eyebrow pencil.
Beetroot lipstick.
Britain had nearly six years of stress and monotony in wartime - that's why dances became so popular as an escape.
Big band tune They do look amazing, though, don't they? They look amazing.
- Would you like this dance? - I'd love to! - It's great.
- Do you know what? I was doing the chicken head! - With a stranger no less! - Yeah.
To actually let your hair down like this and laugh, because actually there have been times we've cried rather than laughed and we've actually just been, you know, so, so happy.
- Brilliant.
- Chin-chin, old girl.
- And relaxed tonight, it's been fab, really fab.
- Yeah, it's been really amazing.
If we had more nights like this you would have happy people working in the shops every day.
- Don't push it now! - (Laughter) It's a real shame that something terrible like a war has to happen to bring people together and to bring out the community spirit.
It's a shame that we can't remember those bad times and keep that good community spirit when things are better.
- (Cock crows) - Come on, Chloe, open the box.
The next morning and it's an early start except for Michael the butcher's boy, who seems to have forgotten his duties.
- Is your shop open today, Michael? - I don't know.
- Morning.
- A bit late this morning? Aye.
No alarm clock, you see.
Oh, well, you'll need to get that sorted then, won't you? This won't do, coming in at this time in the morning.
It doesn't matter really on this day because Shepton Mallet is dead as a doornail.
That's not breast, Michael, that's flank.
- Well, it looked like breast.
- No, that's flank, Michael.
Shows you how much I don't know.
It'll make a stew.
You're only 14 so you'll not know everything about meat.
He's too cocky, thinks he knows everything.
He didn't even know that was a flank.
At the dressmaker's, customers are picking up their refashioned clothes.
Your coat has been remodelled and shortened.
Do you want to try it on? - Let's try it on.
- I hope you like it.
I also noticed the lining was a bit ripped so I repaired that for you as well under the arm.
It's showing them that make-do and mend can be achieved and can be really fun, and you can end up with some really cool stuff from nothing.
I'm really pleased with that.
I'll get so much more - Oh, doesn't it look nice at the back? - It looks lovely on you.
Downstairs, Simon is doing his bit.
- Right, this is very sharp now.
- Brilliant.
Thank you very much.
- I've put a real sharp edge on it.
- Oh, you have.
Being part of this experiment is really a fantastic opportunity for me to demonstrate my skills and how people like me, colleagues in the business, this sort of business, can be useful to people in the present day.
- Oh, my God.
- You've got a workable fork.
Brilliant.
So I can dig my potatoes up with these now.
The war is drawing to an end on the High Street.
Which means the men will soon return and reclaim their jobs.
For Michael that's a relief.
I'm ordered to go back home now, Michael.
Thank you very much.
- Thanks a lot.
See you.
Thanks for your work.
- Thank you, Michael.
Bye.
I'm not going to miss her.
At the grocer's Debbie's doing her final accounts.
22, 42, 51, 60 - 65, 72.
- (Sighs) - I haven't done anything.
- 75 I've done the totting up of everything and do you know what, for the fact that we only took £31-worth of under-the-counter goods, I really think, was it worth it, in the long run, you know? We've got a massive fine and I am gutted.
- How was the war? - Well, we won.
- (Debbie gasps and squeals) - Hello! (Karl laughs) - Oh, I've missed you, babe.
- I missed you too.
VE Day saw the biggest street party Britain had ever witnessed.
Today, just as they did in 1945, the people of Shepton Mallet are bringing dishes made from their rations to share with the shopkeepers.
- Oh, I say, what have we got here? - Lovely.
Ooh, look at these! - I used up all my rations of jam.
- Cheers.
Cheers, darling.
Give us a kiss.
Good morning! How are you? - Happy VE Day.
- Happy VE Day.
I've got some bread pudding! Oh, fantastic.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- How nice to see you.
- You look very dressed up.
- Thank you very much.
- Welcome back.
- Thank you very much.
- You survived! - This is lovely food.
- Superb.
I'm all ready for VE day.
Oh, we really must enjoy this.
The Chamber of Commerce are back to find out what the customers made of their wartime experience.
Is there anything about this wartime high street that you would like your kids to inherit? One thing that came out of the war which was, "We're all in this together, let's not be greedy, let's all help each other.
" You managed a week.
Would you like to manage two months or a year? - We could do it.
- It wouldn't be much fun, but we could do it.
We got used to putting less butter on things, but we got used to it.
As I stood there in the queue I realised that we customers had never met each other before and I was talking to people who lived in Shepton that I'd never met or spoken to before, and it was all sort of bringing us together.
People went without, yet are still talking about what a wonderful community spirit it was.
Now, OK, to build a community spirit at the same time as you're hungry, I mean, how powerful was the feeling here? That's right.
People were talking about queuing.
And imagine queuing, you might queue for several hours and still not got what you wanted.
But people talked about getting to know people in their queues, and about wanting to come back into Shepton Mallet.
They found it a more sociable place, and felt they got to know each other in a way they hadn't before.
Well, the grocers have caused controversy this week.
They can't help it, they're salespeople.
They wanna make a profit.
And I take my hat off to them there, but they didn't really understand A: The era they were in and how tough it was and B: What people would have thought of them.
If there was plenty of black market trading going on would you feel left out that you hadn't? Good heavens, no.
I'd be appalled.
I'd have shopped anybody if I'd known about it.
- You would? - Without hesitation, even if I knew them.
Because otherwise if you go on like that the system will fall apart.
Siobhan actually said she bought some stuff on the black market.
I was totally affronted.
Why wasn't I offered it? Because I had the money.
I could have bought that stuff.
The High Street really did come together as a community and they were all going without.
To then suddenly find out that they had sacrificed while others were cheating has caused a fair bit of anger.
He was profiteering, he was selling goods off the rations to turn a quick buck, and he did it in wartime and that's not on.
The bakers have had a fantastic week.
- Yes, this has really been their era.
- I think they've been exemplary.
I think they are just really terrific people who actually share and care, and that's what you would have needed in this era.
I don't think they've had to try that hard, I think that's them.
- Enjoy.
- Wow, thank you, sir.
Not a problem.
Good man.
You can't fault these people.
They've really taken us to their hearts and I actually feel the same about them.
We're just a complete community now and it just means so much.
I don't know what we're gonna do when these shopkeepers go back.
It's brought this place, this town alive.
GREGG: Gill's lovely.
What do you make of the dressmaker? She's made the most fantastic contribution to the war effort.
She's trying to show the people of Shepton Mallet that they don't have to buy anything, that they've got a lot of stuff in their wardrobes that they can make over and make nice.
Simon has really enjoyed this era because he's found himself very useful in the community and that's what he wanted to be right from the start.
He's shown people that there is another way, you don't have to buy cheap things, you can actually buy something and have it repaired and keep it going and make-do and mend.
They've shown people that, you know, things don't have to be disposable, there is an afterlife for them.
But Simon's days on the High Street are drawing to an end.
After the war, as Britain increasingly embraced mass-produced disposable goods, demand for blacksmiths disappeared.
I'll miss this forge absolutely immensely.
This to me This is me, this is what I do.
This is my environment and it's fantastic, absolutely fantastic.
I will miss it really, really, with a sad and heavy heart.
It's time for Simon to say goodbye to the High Street and he's made them a farewell gift.
So I've taken all sorts of bits and pieces to produce a frame from the scrap that the townspeople of Shepton Mallet gave me this week.
We were the world's first recyclers and we're bloody good at it.
(Laughter) (Applause) So this is my present to the town.
(Excited cries) Excellent! It's quite heavy, pass it on.
Very heavy.
CHILD: Can we go? PIANO: It's A Long Way To Tipperary To Tipperary It's a long way to go It's sad to see my craft disappear from the High Street, but at the same time I'm hoping that by doing this project I'm gonna give it a new lease of life.
Others aren't so sad to see the back of the war.
I didn't like World War Two mainly because we had nothing to sell and that's what I'm about.
That's what I do.
I'm a showman.
I sell food, I sell products, and I had absolutely sweet Fanny Adams to sell.
For everybody that has entered into the spirit of it, it's made the community and the shopkeepers just so much closer.
We are a real team now, all of us.
(Cheering) What an absolutely amazing week.
Devlins, your commitment to this high street has been unbelievable.
That, I think, is probably the spirit that got Britain really through tough times.
Well done.
Grocers! Oh, the controversy! Bad boys and girls.
Not the spirit that got us through the Blitz at all.
We got caught, we've been done.
That's life.
But we'll carry on, the business will keep going.
And er watch this space.
In my dreams I see you For there is no one else but you To make me feel this way