Mattresses
Gregg Wallace is in Leeds at an enormous mattress factory that produces 600 bouncy beds every day. Meanwhile, Cherry Healey learns whether there are benefits to be had from taking an afternoon nap.
Gregg Wallace is in Leeds, at an enormous mattress factory where they produce 600 bouncy beds every day. He follows the production of pocket-sprung mattresses from the arrival of hard steel right through to soft bedding heading out of dispatch. Along the way he learns how lengths of metal are stretched into thin wire and coiled into springs which are placed into individual pockets. And how the mattresses are designed to wick sweat away from our bodies with the help of natural fibres like hemp and wool.
Meanwhile, Cherry Healey is learning whether there are benefits to be had from taking an afternoon nap. She meets up with a sleep scientist who tells her that we should be making time for a snooze rather than reaching for a cup of coffee. To prove his point, he runs an experiment which demonstrates that reaction times can be improved by a short sleep. 20 minutes is the optimum nap time - any longer risks falling in to a deep sleep which is difficult to wake from. And she is visiting a sheep farm where she sees how wool is shorn and discovers its amazing anti-bacterial and fire-retardant properties, which make it perfect for lining a mattress.
Historian Ruth Goodman is investigating the origins of the modern mattress. She lies down on a straw stuffed sack which the lower classes would have slept on in the middle ages and learns how steel transformed our bedtime habits, first with the 'innerspring' and then with the more comfortable 'pocket spring' technology. And she learns how a famous Scandinavian inspired home store is responsible for our enduring love affair with the duvet.
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No time for sleeping on the job
Duration: 01:03
Music Played
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Bad Sounds
How Are You Gonna Lose
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Imagine Dragons
Natural
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Florence + The Machine
Shake It Out
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Linkin Park
Heavy
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Feist
I Feel It All
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Zedd
The Middle (feat. Marren Morris and Grey)
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Paloma Faith
30 Minute Love Affair
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Clean Bandit
Rockabye
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Matt Simons
We Can Do Better
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Gregg Wallace |
Presenter | Cherry Healey |
Presenter | Ruth Goodman |
Production Manager | Samara Friend |
Editor | Matthew Reinders |
Executive Producer | Amanda Lyon |
Executive Producer | Sanjay Singhal |
Series Producer | Michael Rees |
Production Company | Voltage TV |
Director | Steve Bonser |
Editor | John Payazidis |
Broadcasts
- Tue 20 Aug 2019 20:00
- Sun 25 Aug 2019 19:00
- Mon 2 Sep 2019 08:00
- Sun 6 Dec 2020 18:00
- Wed 18 Aug 2021 20:00麻豆官网首页入口 Two except Wales & Wales HD
- Sun 22 Aug 2021 19:30麻豆官网首页入口 Two Wales HD & Wales only
- Wed 20 Sep 2023 20:00
Learn more about the history of the factory and how it has evolved with an interactive from The Open University.
The fascinating stories behind the production of some of our favourite products.