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James May's Toy Stories

James May's Toy Stories is a UK documentary television series created and presented by James May, and produced by Plum Pictures for the BBC.[2][3][4] The programme focused on bringing some of the most notable toys conceived in the past into the modern era to a "new generation of children", by putting each toy into a complex, large-scale project involving the nature of the toy. The projects, often ambitious, required an extensive team of experts, and in some cases required a large group of volunteers to help achieve the project's goal.

The programme was originally commissioned for BBC Two as a six-episode series for 2009, between 27 October to 25 December, but later received four specials after the series concluded – one in June 2011 and three more for the Christmas broadcast schedules between 2012 and 2014.

The programmes are currently available on the Naked Science YouTube channel. [5]

Format

The focus of the documentary was on six notable toys during the original series of episodes, including their history, each of which were chosen to see if they could be possibly capable of achieving a remarkable goal in real-life on a grand scale. For each toy, the nature of its purpose fundamentally underlined the project's core task, whether it was to recreate something using similar methods with the toy, or attempting push the toy with a challenge not attempted before with it. May, who had presented documentaries on toys with James May's Top Toys and James May: My Sisters' Top Toys, chose the toys to be used on the programme, and fundamentally involved people in his new programme with whom he had worked with on other projects, including Tiff Needell and Oz Clarke. The basic premise of the programme, as May put forward was:

For too long now we have regarded the great toys as mere playthings. It's time to use them to bring people together and achieve greatness...[2]

The scale of the projects meant that the production team had to recruit specialists to provide technical assistance, including architects, designers and engineers,[6] while in others, large teams of volunteers were required to handle construction work - an example of this was the involvement of a project involving model trains, which required volunteers to help set up a vast line of track along with connecting power supplies to it, and then dismantle it afterwards - and so appeals were made in local papers for assistance by programme researchers. Some of the projects were so elaborate, that carefully planning had to be made to ensure that each ran smoothly and did not cause disruptions within the main area it was being conducted within.

Future of construction projects

Several of the projects that required considerable construction on the programme, were later held on by various groups:

Some of the projects undertaken by the programme - a life-size model of an Airfix Spitfire, complete with a model pilot based on May; a life-size Plasticine garden for the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show; and a life-size Meccano motorcycle used on the Isle of Man TT circuit.

However, a project that involved constructing a house from Lego could not be preserved. An attempt to sell it to the Legoland theme park in Windsor fell apart, after the cost of dismantling and reassembling was judged too expensive,[12] The house could not remain at its site at a vineyard because the space was needed for vines and there was no planning permission.[13] Further attempts were unable to prevent it from being dismantled on 22 September 2009; the bricks used in it were donated to charity.[14][13]

Episodes

Series 1 (2009)

Specials (2011–14)

Reception

Awards and nominations

The series was nominated in the Features category of the 2010 British Academy Television Awards, but lost out to the eventual winner, Masterchef: The Professionals.

Other media

James May released a book in conjunction with the series, through Conway Publishing (2009).[citation needed]

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b "BBC – BBC Two Programmes – James May's Toy Stories, Airfix". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
  2. ^ a b "BBC – Press Office - BBC Two presents James May's Toy Stories". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  3. ^ "BBC2 lands first fruit of James May's Plum deal". Broadcast. Retrieved 6 August 2009.(subscription required)
  4. ^ "Plum Pictures". Plum Picture. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
  5. ^ "Naked Science –". YouTube.
  6. ^ "BBC in need of structural engineers". Institution of Structural Engineers. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  7. ^ "Last Chance To View James May's Spitfire". Royal Air Force Museum. Archived from the original on 28 November 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
  8. ^ "James May's Airfix Spitfire: Back by popular demand!". Royal Air Force Museum. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
  9. ^ "Hall host to Plasticine vision of TV star James". Derby Telegraph. 11 July 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  10. ^ "James May's Plasticine Garden arrives at The Octagon Shopping Centre!". Octagon Shopping Centre. 6 February 2010. Archived from the original on 28 November 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  11. ^ "Last chance to see James May's Plasticine Garden at The Octagon Shopping Centre". East Staffordshire Borough Council. March 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  12. ^ "May's Lego house faces demolition". BBC News. 21 September 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2009.
  13. ^ a b "James May's Lego house knocked down". The Daily Telegraph. London. 23 September 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
  14. ^ "James May's Lego house demolished". BBC News. 23 September 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
  15. ^ a b "BARB Four Screen Dashboard". BARB. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  16. ^ Gray, Louise (7 August 2009). "James May's Plasticine garden wins special award at Chelsea Flower Show". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  17. ^ Kennett, Stephen (10 August 2009). "James May walks across Atkins' Meccano bridge in Liverpool". Building. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  18. ^ "James May builds Liverpool bridge out of Meccano". The Daily Telegraph. London. 10 August 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  19. ^ "Meccano bridge built for James May's TV series". University of Liverpool. 5 August 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  20. ^ "Longest Slot Car Track". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  21. ^ "Top Gear's May in Scalextric Record Bid". Sky News. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  22. ^ "James May attempts world record for Scalextric". The Daily Telegraph. London. 17 August 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  23. ^ "May to attempt Scalextric record". BBC News. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  24. ^ "Brooklands and James May Toy Stories". Scalextric. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2009.
  25. ^ "James May's Toy Stories on BBC 2 London at 6:45pm December 20th, 2009". digiguide.tv. 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  26. ^ "Vandals disrupt Top Gear presenter James May's model train record bid". The Telegraph. London. 25 August 2009.
  27. ^ DVD Sleeve.
  28. ^ "BBC Two - James May's Toy Stories, Series 1". bbc.co.uk. 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  29. ^ a b c "The Great Train Race". (Programme listing). BBC. Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  30. ^ "BBC Two - James May's Toy Stories, The Motorcycle Diary". (Official BBC Site). BBC. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  31. ^ Ruchi Srivastava (5 December 2013). "The story behind James May's Meccano Isle of Man motorbike". Motorbike Times. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  32. ^ "Top Gear's James May laps TT course on Meccano bike". BBC News. 30 August 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2014.

General references

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James May's Toy Stories.