UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 00.01HRS, TUESDAY 21St FEBRUARY 2012

**UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 00.01HRS, TUESDAY 21st FEBRUARY 2012**

THE DALES – SERIES 2

**UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 00.01HRS, TUESDAY 21st FEBRUARY 2012**

PAGE / CONTENT
2 / Series information
3-4 / Episode Synopses
5-6 / Interview with Ade Edmondson

THE DALES – SERIES 2

“Remote communities, isolated farms, lush green valleys and limestone pavements – this landscape challenges the people who live and work here – there’s nowhere else like it in Britain. But it’s the warm Yorkshire spirit of the people who live here that keeps the heart of the Dales beating”

Ade Edmondson

ITV1’s popular series The Dales is back for a brand new run in 2012. Ade Edmondson returns home to Yorkshire to bring us the stories behind another summer in the life of the Yorkshire Dales.

Spectacularly beautiful it may be but the Dales are also a challenging environment for the people who live and work in some of its remote communities. Ade spent many of his childhood summers in the Dales with his family, and in this series he returns to meet old friends and make new ones.

He revisits Dales farmers Clive and Amanda Owen and their five children as they face another eventful summer on their remote farm in Swaledale, and pops in on mother and son farmers Carol and Phil Mellin who have set up a sheepdog training enterprise on their farm near Keighley.

Ade also meets community choir the Buckden Singers and joins in their rehearsals as they prepare for their annual summer concert, he’s interviewed by Drystone Radio’s ten year old DJ Daisy Watkiss – perhaps the youngest DJ in the country - and also meets horse trainer Simon West as he experiences the highs and lows of running a small stable yard in Middleham.

During the course of the series Ade also sees the Dales from above – in a thrilling helicopter ride – and from below as he explores one of its many caves.

The series was commissioned for ITV1 by Diana Howie, Commissioning Editor, Factual, and Alison Sharman, Director of Daytime and Factual and it has been made by ITV Studios’ Leeds and Manchester based arm Shiver. It is series produced by Moray London, executive produced by Shiver’s Creative Director, Mark Robinson and presented by Ade Edmondson for ITV1 and ITV1HD.

The Dales is coming soon to ITV1 and ITV1HD

Episodes will be available on Ready To Air - www.readytoair.net

For further information/images please contact:

Jo Blanket Peter Gray

Press Contact Picture Publicity Manager Factual & Daytime

Tel: 020 7157 3011 Tel: 0207 157 3046

Email: Email:

THE DALES – EPISODE SYNOPSES

Episode One

In this opening episode, we join Ade as he starts his summer with a spectacular journey over the Dales in a helicopter. His first point of call is to return to Ravenseat Farm where sheep farmers Clive and Amanda Owen live along with their five young children. It’s the summer holidays and the children are taking advantage of the vastness of the farm and Amanda has some good news to share that will change life on the family farm. Ade spends the night in the Owens’s newly refurbished Shepherd’s Hut where Amanda uses the river as a place to cool the refreshments.

Ade says: “What a fantastic idea for a hotel - bottle of beer in the river, this has surely got to be the most picturesque mini bar in the world.”

We are introduced to community choir the Buckden Singers in Upper Wharfedale as they rehearse for the big event of the year - their annual summer concert. The choir started back in 2007 under the leadership of choir conductor Anne Vetch who moved to the Dales to have a slower pace of life. With its 45 members the choir consists of singers of all abilities who come together to share the love of song and the spirit of community.

We also meet for the first time Dales estate agent Brian Carlisle who runs the family business JR Hopper & Co, one of the biggest estate agents in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. In this first episode we follow him as he takes on a rather unusual sale in the Dales - a stunning 40ft waterfall called Catrigg Force in Ribblesdale.

Episode Two

In the second episode of the series we join Ade Edmondson as he once again showcases the Dales’ unique landscape, history and the lives of some of its residents.

This programme features a centenary celebration dinner at The Boar’s Head at Ripley Castle. The hotel, originally called the Star Inn is one of only 30 remaining hostelries in the country which appeared in the original Michelin guide, published in 1911. To mark the centenary, owners of Ripley Castle, Lady Emma and Sir Thomas Ingilby celebrate with a champagne reception as The Boar's Head hosts a 1911 themed five-course dinner for some special guests.

Meanwhile Ade manages to fulfil a childhood dream as he gets to ride on the footplate of a steam train on the Settle to Carlisle railway line. “I can’t tell you how excited I am, if you’re going on a steam train there’s really only one place to be and that’s on the footplate,” says Ade. His journey takes him over the stunning Ribblehead Viaduct, which is featured in the Harry Potter films, and through a one mile tunnel deep beneath the Yorkshire Dales.

“In this series I’ve been lucky enough to see the Dales from many vantage points but this has got to be one of the best, on a steam train on the Ribblehead Viaduct,” says Ade.

Over in Upper Wharfedale, choir conductor Anne Vetch leads the Buckden Singers as they prepare for the night of their annual summer concert. After a challenging rehearsal, will they make Anne proud on the night?

Episode Three

In the third episode, Ade Edmondson is back in the county of his birth, where he introduces us to more of the people who call the stunning Yorkshire Dales their home.

The programme features local Estate Agent Brian Carlisle, as he prepares to host an Open Day to try to sell beautiful Catrigg Force waterfall in Ribblesdale. This ‘little piece of Yorkshire’ comes with an asking price of £35,000. “No planning permission, no parking, but it has got running water,” laughs Ade. As the open day approaches, Brian is feeling confident: “I’ve no doubt we can sell this waterfall, we’ve sold it once and we can sell it again.” Will he be able to seal the deal?

We meet adventurous couple Jude Onions and her fiancé Johnny Latimer who fell in love deep underground while partaking in their shared passion of caving. In keeping with their love of the sport, the pair get their marriage blessed underground in Ingleborough Cave. Their guests don hard hats and wellies to witness Jude and Johnny’s union against the caves’ breathtaking backdrop.

Meanwhile, above ground, Ade meets a very talented ten year old, Daisy Watkiss. Daisy could be Britain’s youngest Radio DJ and is behind the controls at community radio station Drystone Radio. Each week Daisy hosts her own show, Crazy Daisy's Lazy Saturday and Ade makes his Drystone Radio debut as Daisy’s special guest. She wastes no time in quizzing him for advice about a career in show business. Daisy’s success on the airwaves has made her somewhat of a local celebrity. The programme follows her as she is guest of honour at the local Cowling Gala where she judges the pet competition.

For further episode synopses please contact

INTERVIEW WITH ADE EDMONDSON

You’ve just been seen on screen in Ade In Britain and now back for a second series with The Dales – are you on a mission to make us all fall in love with England again?

It's an accident - but I do seem to be doing a lot of programmes with the word 'Britain' in the title. I'm not overly patriotic, I just happen to think there's a lot more to Britain than meets the eye. Most of my adult life has been spent touring Britain with comedy shows, but I've mostly toured the big towns and cities. In 2008 I started touring with my band 'The Bad Shepherds', and, being a much smaller concern, and being a folk band, we were playing a lot of small towns and folk festivals and it was then I started to see a lot more of Britain. It was so refreshing to find that it's not just a typical High Street with all the same shops, it was also an eye-opener to find that there are lots of British people that are passionate about doing idiosyncratic things - keeping old customs and traditions alive, not in a 'museum curating' way, but because these customs and traditions are still relevant and still really good fun. Most of the feedback I've had has been people saying how pleased they were to find out that so many people were still doing such diverse things.

What do you think the appeal of The Dales is to viewers?

I think it’s just a completely different world compared to where a lot of us live. The appeal lies in the families we follow, their lifestyles, the scenery and the remoteness. It’s such a massive area and it's surprising the time it takes to get around it. I still haven't seen it all, and I even got lost a couple of times making this new series.

In this second series do we get to revisit any of the people we met in the first series and are there many new eccentric characters?

Yes we meet up with The Owens again - the sheep farmers who live in a very remote spot – they’re an outstanding family. I think a lot of us dream of living the simple life, and they seem to have won the 'simple life' lottery. They live a life that you feel could have been lived in pretty much the same way around 100 or 200 years ago and they seem unfettered by the modern world. Of course they've got machines and such, but it's a pretty rugged life, and yet it seems to bring them a lot of happiness - they're like the modern day Waltons! I've been up to see them a few times now and they're as lovely in real life as they are on the screen.

We also visit Phillip Mellin again, the young lad whose Dad had just died, he was helping his mum cope with the farm and was also starting a sheep dog training business. He's grown a lot in the last year, and his voice has dropped an octave, and he's still plugging away at it.

We do follow a new young lad, William Wildman who is only 15. He's unusual in that he spends all his free time raising prize winning sheep - he's already got a flock of 200! It's so fascinating to meet teenagers like him that aren't obsessed with consoles and the usual stuff that teens are in to. I also enjoyed following the Buckden Singers. They're a community choir and though they may not be the most gifted singers (although they do have a couple of brilliant voices) they make up for their lack of technical expertise with enthusiasm and a sense of fun. Buckden is quite a remote village and they have to make their own entertainment!

What were the highlights of this series for you?

I spent a night in a shepherd's hut that The Owen family rent out to walkers and it was fabulous. Amanda [Owen] even leaves a bottle of beer cooling in the stream for you - the best and most picturesque mini bar in the world! I was also lucky enough to go up in a helicopter in this series; we even managed to get lost in the remoteness of the Dales in that!

Would you say that The Dales are one of your favourite places in the UK?

I do like The Dales, I feel an affinity with them because they seem so familiar to me. I was born in Bradford, which is just on the border of The Dales, and we used to go into there a lot when I was a nipper - for days out and picnics and the like. It was where we used to go on all our school trips and as a teenager it became the place where me and my mates would go camping, hoping to get served in the pubs and meet girls... (not particularly successfully in either endeavour!).

But then I also like Dartmoor, The Malverns, The Peak District, The Lakes... why limit yourself to one area? I think what makes The Dales interesting as a TV programme is that it's a surprisingly remote, rural area that throws up some interesting people who are really up against it. It is shockingly photogenic too.

-ENDS-