Without a shadow of a doubt my absolute number one (non-sporting) all time hero was, and is John Noakes. Blue Peter presenter like no other- he was brave, funny and in the late 1960’s there was nothing he couldn’t do with sticky backed plastic.

I was pondering my admiration for JN when I was on my way to meet Dominic Macdonald, who is also in the business of making heroes for the current younger generation of TV (and, as he reminds me, streaming) fans. He is the producer of ‘Football Fantastics’ the children’s TV show that he hopes will grip its audience as previous generations of children’s programming gripped theirs. Working for production company Strike (also creators of smash hit football based show ‘Jamie Johnson FC’), he and his team of 50 or so have been the daytime occupants of Bishop Monkton Village Hall for the last couple of months.

He kindly gave me some of his valuable time last week after filming had ‘wrapped’ for the day. He and his colleagues will be leaving Bishop Monkton this Friday, May 9th.

But before we get to talk about the show, some of the basics.

I ask him if, as a location, Bishop Monkton has fitted the bill.

“It has been wonderful and perfect for the concept of the programme, which follows the fortunes of a Saturday morning football club”, said Dominic. “We needed a big hall with extra rooms to the side and also excellent playing fields. The backdrop of a village hall with its iconic design completed the picture.”

He went on to describe the process of negotiating the deal. ’Both we and the Village Hall Management decided fairly early on that we wanted to make this work, which meant that the process was infused with a ‘can do’ attitude. It was made clear from the outset, for example, that the hall would only be available during the day and that evenings were definitely out of bounds. So we instructed the show designers from the off that the set had to be ‘truckable’. In other words items had to be on wheels so that they could be moved easily to the side at the end of the working day. All of that detail is easy to do providing you can plan in advance, which, thanks to the Village Hall team, we were able to do.” It was no surprise, but good to hear that Dominic and his team were impressed with the people with whom they had been negotiating.

One thing that Strike did underestimate was the amount of parking they would need and so further discussions were required once filming had started to resolve that issue- mainly via extra spaces at the Village Hall, but in the Mason’s Arms car park too.

What I personally hadn’t fully realised either was the geographical reach of the project. If you count the extra production facility, which was housed in the outbuildings of a house in the middle of the village, and that many of the Bed and Breakfast facilities in the area were all booked up, then the impact on the local economy will also, no doubt, have been healthy.

Part Two of this rather interesting interview was published on Friday May 9th. Read it here click