Miners TV show selects familiesFamilies keen to feature in a new reality TV show, which will send them back to the last century, are taking part in a selection process.The Coal House series will follow three families as they experience life in a 1927 south Wales mining town, with the men sent to work at a pit.More than 150 families applied and these have been whittled down to 15 for the selection day on Saturday.Series producer Rachel Morgan said they were hoping for "a big social mix".Ms Morgan said the programme will send the men and boys over 14 down the Big Pit in Blaenavon which is a working mine museum.It was made a World Heritage Site in 2000 in recognition of the role it played in the industrial revolution.There they will have to work on a simulated coalface during the day, while the women would be "traditional housewives" in the tiny cottages.
The men and boys will be working at Big Pit during the show
This is going to be a test for the family unit and how strong and how weak they are as a family
Phillipa Davies, psychologist"We are taking them back and trapping them for three weeks in 1927 on a hillside in Blaenavon, in miners' cottages," she said."They will live and experience everything that life was like in 1927."Everything from toiletries to no running water, no electricity, no heating - they will just have the range that they will have to keep alight, keep fired up and that's their sole means of heat and cooking."Obviously when you put a whole big social mix together and take away their creature comforts, then it is going to be both difficult for individuals to cope and also difficult for families to cope."
Phillipa Davies, the programme's psychologist, said they were looking for a range of qualities from the families."This is going to be a test for the family unit and how strong and how weak they are as a family," she said."Obviously a lot of what they are going to have to do is going to be very practical - filling baths, dealing with animals' entrails and cooking them up because they used to eat every part of the animal in those days.
"On the other hand, the evenings - there'll be no ipods, no television, no radio, so they need to be quite imaginative and creative as well so we are looking for a really contrasting range of qualities."The series, which will be filmed in October and November, is being made for BBC Wales by Cardiff company Indus Films.
What an experiment!
My degree was Welsh Studies/Welsh History and so a lot of my studies were regarding Welsh cultural life. For the participants it will be such a privilege.The security apparatus down the pit hurt my back so badly after a few minutes that I barely struggled around. My father was a miner and so I really wanted to go, the girls have also been. A must for everyone.
I personally would not have a problem with the womens part of the experiment as I would enjoy the experience, the cooking, the cleaning and the family life- even the entrails I would do as part of an experiment!
As part of my degree I studied Anglo Welsh Poetry and my favourite poet is Idis Davies, he wrote the poem
The Bells of Rhymney link
Oh what will you give me
Say the sad bells of Rhymney
Is there hope for the future
Say the brown bells of Merthyr
Who made the mine owner
Say the black bells of Rhonda
And who killed the miner
Say the grim bells of Blaina
Throw the vandals in court
Say the bells of
All would be well if if if if
Cry the green bells of
Why so worried
Sisters why
Sang the silver bells
Of Wye
And what will you give me
Say the sad bells of Rhymney
Oh what will you give me
Say the sad bells of Rhymney
Is there hope for the future
Say the brown bells of Merthyr
Who made the mine owner
Say the black bells of Rhonda
And who killed the miner
Say the grim bells of Blaina
2 comments:
Wow! What an experiment! And what a great idea for the next Celebrity Big Brother... just throw them all down a mine shaft!
Now you have mentioned it.......why wait until the next CBB, throw this lot down.
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