The Official David Dickinson Website
Filming Prime Time Bargain Hunt

David Dickinson made such a huge success of presenting daytime Bargain Hunt that a special series for a prime time slot soon followed and the series commenced in August 2002. It was an instant hit with the evening audience and the viewing figures of over 8 million were staggering. The success of the new evening editions left David with a difficult dilemma, as the sheer volume of work, filming shows for both a daytime and prime time airing became too great, (He filmed 98 shows in 2002) David had to consider leaving daytime to focus his energy on the prime time shows. He admits it was a tough decision to take to leave daytime David says "There's only one of me, I'm going to have to sadly step down from daytime tv and concentrate on making the evening shows - There's only so many hours in the day and it isn't going to be physically possible to do both." So here we are witnessing David filming the evening shows. The schedule is less hectic instead of the two shows a day he might make for daytime he now has a leisurely three and half days of filming per episode, but as he points out 'you have to add to that travelling days and time in the studio for voice overs', we get the message that it's a lot harder work than it first appears!

We meet up with David for lunch in the hospitality area - a portacabin where everyone involved in the show gathers to get warm and take refreshments. Parked outside is the 'Duke mobile' something akin to a golf buggy that David and the experts use to get around the huge fair quickly, although it's remarked that David favours it as it keeps his shoes clean! Inside we find contestants chatting animatedly and nervously about their finds, and experts discussing the virtues of lager and smaller fairs. Phillip Serrell tells me that the temptation at a large fair such as Newark with such an array of goods and so many stalls , is to squander your selection time with the idea that, 'that one's a possible, we'll 'come back to that item later, and then of course there isn't the time to do that. At smaller fairs you have to spot the worthier items and snap them up'.
David is cutting a dash in an almost white italian designer coat and cream cashmere scarf, he certainly is an imposing figure, and there's no mistaking he's the star of the show, but he's happy to chow down with everyone and politely thanks the runner who brings him a fresh cup of coffee. We chat about all the many other exciting projects David is involved in outside of Bargain Hunt, and inbetween bites of sandwich he is asked to sign autographs.
The crew are discussing going back out into the cold and everyone who sees Max Hodgetts, the now legendary cameraman of the live shows, remarks that in deference to the weather he has left the trademark shorts at home and resorted to wearing long trousers! David delves in his coat pocket and shows us the hand warmer a crew member has given him. It's rare for David to carry anything in his pocket that might spoil the line of his garments and when set off around the fair with him we soon see that David has a more tried and tested means of his keeping his hands warm!

We join David and his Director (Liz Baker) with crew in tow, looking for interesting pieces of furniture to feature on the show. Then he remembers he still has ten prizes to find for the phone in competitions! (For photographs of David's search see next page).

Click Here for more exclusive photographs of David filming.

Special Thanks to Caroline Cleary and Mike Turner of DMG Fairs
who welcomed us to Newark and helped us navigate this huge event.

Copyright © 2003, Fiona Scruton