Inside the Factory: Christmas Gingerbread Special brings festive cheer to BBC One as Paddy McGuinness and Cherry Healey unwrap the delicious secrets behind Britain’s beloved gingerbread biscuits. At the Original Biscuit Bakers factory in Market Drayton, Shropshire, the pair dive into the joyful chaos of producing 100,000 gingerbread biscuits each week, including Santa and reindeer designs, while rolling up their sleeves for hands-on participation, laughter, and inevitable mishaps.
This Christmas special represents Inside the Factory’s evolution into genuinely festive documentary entertainment, combining industrial production techniques with cultural history, social commentary, and genuine human interest. The special goes beyond factory mechanics to explore Christmas traditions, scientific principles, and the human expertise required to create iconic festive treats that appear on British tables throughout the season.
The Format: Exploring Industrial Magic and Cultural Heritage
Inside the Factory, now presented by Paddy McGuinness and Cherry Healey (following original host Gregg Wallace’s 2024 departure), represents a distinctive documentary format exploring how everyday consumer products are manufactured at industrial scale.
Each episode combines multiple strands:
Factory Floor Exploration: The main presenters visit actual production facilities where products are manufactured, observing machinery, workers, and production processes firsthand. They participate actively in production—attempting the tasks performed by factory workers, experiencing the pressure and pace of commercial production, and gaining genuine appreciation for worker expertise.
Historical and Cultural Context: Ruth Goodman, the acclaimed historian specializing in social and domestic history, provides historical perspective on how products came to be manufactured as they are today. Goodman’s segments contextualize contemporary production within broader cultural, economic, and historical frameworks.
Thematic Extensions: Additional segments explore tangential topics connecting to the main product. In the gingerbread special, these might include wrapping presents using mathematics, creating indoor snow at ski centers, and exploring Christmas traditions in space.
This multi-strand approach ensures the hour-long program provides educational content, entertaining action sequences, historical context, and genuine human interest—appealing to family audiences seeking substantive entertainment alongside festive cheer.
Original Biscuit Bakers: Market Drayton’s Heritage Factory
Original Biscuit Bakers, located in Market Drayton, Shropshire, represents British food manufacturing heritage. The company, part of Image on Food, was founded in 1987 by Tim and Sarah Hopcroft as an extension of their successful bakery business, The Bread Bin.
Production Scale and Expertise: The factory produces over 150 tonnes of gingerbread annually, including more than 600,000 Christmas novelty biscuits during the festive season. Weekly production of 100,000 gingerbread biscuits demonstrates the scale of operation and the precision required to maintain quality at such volume.
Hand-Decoration Craftsmanship: Beyond mechanized production, Original Biscuit Bakers employs more than 60 local workers, many of whom hand-decorate biscuits using ‘Christmas Red’ sugar paste—a skill requiring genuine artistry and practice to execute consistently across hundreds of thousands of units. This human element distinguishes the product from mass-manufactured alternatives, creating employment and maintaining traditional craft skills within Market Drayton community.
Heritage Recognition: The company’s 40-year heritage and multiple award recognitions—including the prestigious Billington’s Gingerbread brand—establish Original Biscuit Bakers as a genuine British food institution. In recent years, the company has received royal recognition, with His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester visiting the factory to observe the production process.
Community Commitment: Original Biscuit Bakers pledges to contribute a percentage of profits to local projects and organizations within Market Drayton, demonstrating commitment to community investment alongside commercial success.
The Presenters: Documentary Expertise and Genuine Enthusiasm
Paddy McGuinness brings comedic energy and genuine curiosity to factory exploration. Known for Top Gear, Take Me Out, and various entertainment ventures, McGuinness combines entertainment credibility with apparent authentic interest in production processes and worker experiences.
Cherry Healey, the accomplished television presenter known for Gogglebox, Pregnancy Panda, and various factual entertainment ventures, brings warmth, accessibility, and genuine engagement to proceedings. Healey’s capacity to connect with diverse audiences and her apparent genuine interest in learning factory processes makes her ideal for the format.
Ruth Goodman, the historian and social observer, provides essential context and cultural depth. Born October 5, 1963, Goodman specializes in British social history and early modern period studies, bringing academic rigor to entertainment programming. Her participation in Historic Farm series (Victorian Farm, Wartime Farm, etc.) and Inside the Factory since 2015 establishes her as a regular and trusted educational voice within BBC factual entertainment.
The Extended Gingerbread Special: Beyond the Factory
The special transcends traditional factory documentary through thematic extensions connecting to Christmas celebration:
Cherry and Mathematics Expert Bobby Seagull: Cherry explores “how to wrap presents using maths” with Bobby Seagull, suggesting engagement with the mathematical principles underlying efficient wrapping techniques—potentially examining optimal paper cutting, geometric principles, or resource efficiency.
Creating Indoor Snow at Ski Centres: The special features a segment on creating snow indoors at ski centers, exploring the technical, scientific, and environmental factors required to manufacture skiing conditions within enclosed facilities.
Christmas in Space: Historian Ruth Goodman joins astronaut Helen Sharman to explore Christmas traditions in space, examining how astronauts celebrate Christmas aboard spacecraft and space stations. This segment connects contemporary space exploration with cultural traditions, raising fascinating questions about how Christmas is observed in unique environments.
These extensions demonstrate the special’s commitment to educational entertainment that enriches understanding of both industrial production and contemporary culture.
Production Details: Voltage TV and BBC Specialist Factual
Inside the Factory: Christmas Gingerbread Special is produced by Voltage TV (a BBC Studios-owned label), a production company specializing in high-quality factual entertainment.
Production Structure:
- Format: 1 x 60-minute special episode
- Commissioning: Jack Bootle (Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual)
- Executive Producers: Lucy Carter, Michael Rees, Sanjay Singhal (Voltage TV)
- Commissioning Editor: Denise Mather (BBC)
This production structure reflects BBC investment in specialist factual entertainment—a category emphasizing educational content, authentic documentary values, and genuine cultural and historical exploration alongside entertainment value.
Broadcast and Viewing Details
Inside the Factory: Christmas Gingerbread Special will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer during the Christmas 2025 period, with specific broadcast date and time to be announced by BBC scheduling.
Following its initial broadcast, the special will remain available on BBC iPlayer for on-demand streaming, allowing viewers to explore the gingerbread production process at their convenience throughout the festive season and beyond.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Inside the Factory: Christmas Gingerbread Special air?
The special will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer during Christmas 2025, with exact dates and times announced by BBC scheduling.
Where is the gingerbread factory located?
The factory is Original Biscuit Bakers in Market Drayton, Shropshire, a heritage biscuit manufacturer founded in 1987.
How many gingerbread biscuits does the factory produce weekly?
The factory produces 100,000 gingerbread biscuits each week, including Santa and reindeer designs.
How many workers does Original Biscuit Bakers employ?
The factory employs more than 60 local workers, many involved in hand-decorating biscuits with Christmas Red sugar paste.
Who are the presenters?
Paddy McGuinness and Cherry Healey explore the factory floor, with historian Ruth Goodman providing historical context.
What are the extended segments in the special?
Additional segments include Cherry exploring present wrapping with mathematics, creating indoor snow at ski centers, and Ruth Goodman with astronaut Helen Sharman exploring Christmas in space.
How long has Original Biscuit Bakers been in operation?
The company was founded in 1987, making it approaching its 40-year milestone in gingerbread production.
Can I stream after broadcast?
Yes, the special will be available on BBC iPlayer for on-demand viewing following initial broadcast.
