A new television series celebrating the breathtaking natural beauty and rich historical heritage of the Isle of Wight will air on Channel 5 later this week.
Isle of Wight: Jewel of the South is a 4-part series narrated by Alan Titchmarsh following the lives of residents whose families have lived here for generations.
Filmed across the summer, the series explores how the locals cope with the challenges of a busy tourist season.
Episode 1 – which will hit the small screen at 20:00 this coming Thursday (2nd March) – features Bembridge, where fishmongers Mike and Ruth Curtis, together with daughters Izzy and Jess, are preparing for a busy summer of customer orders.
Meanwhile, in Sandown, Christine Jackson is rallying her army of volunteers to help clean up the promenade for the forthcoming Sandown Regatta. A lifelong local, Christine keeps Sandown spick and span through community initiatives including litter picking and maintaining the flower beds. To raise money for fresh flowers, she decides to set up a stall at Regatta selling handmade goods.
Over in East Cowes, twins Philip and Nigel Brown look after the gardens at Osborne House – the Royal residence built for Queen Victoria. Like their father before them, the Browns are passionate about the horticultural heritage of the palace. But the summer heatwave has taken its toll and, with a hosepipe ban, the boys are forced to take desperate measures.
Also featured in Episode 1 is Dan Subhani and his wife Tracey, who run Sandown Airport. Together with 91-year-old volunteer Henry, they attend to hundreds of planes that land across the summer.
Local detectorist Justin Cavnor discovers a rare Roman coin from the time of Constantine the Great and holiday-homers, the Edwards family, explore Whitecliff Bay.
Isle of Wight: Jewel of the South is on Channel 5 at 20:00 on Thursday.
Just going to glorify the place to put up the price of property and thus cause more hardship for non property owners.
Lets hope so and maybe some of the indigenous scum will move elsewhere to buy a cheap house.
Will it show the drug, alcohol and anti social behaviour affected areas I wonder? Probably not. All we’ll see is a picture postcard view which will no doubt entice people to move here, or worse still, buy a second home here, making the housing situation even worse for those already here. Sound bitter? – you bet I am, after living and working here my entire life and never able to afford to buy a house.
You guys are total idiots. The Island is beautiful and should be celebrated.
Wouldn’t say Newport town centre was particularly beautiful!
Or Ryde, or Sandown.
But at least you can enjoy the summer of endless sunshine while mired in your misery. Get a mobile home and cheer up.
Thanks for that. Some of us can’t even afford to buy a mobile home. Kindly keep your advise to yourself.
Time to roll out the mantra ‘our beautiful island with our beautiful beaches’.
Normally I just encounter tribal miseries and cantankerous old men staggering around Ryde, the continuous odour of weed billowing from windows, endless dog poo and disgraceful gutter language.
The whole world has beautiful bits, even Coventry.
Grab your ocarina and watch the Jewel of the South. Live, laugh, love.
Sounds like heaven to me. Life’s rich tapestry. Loathe, loaf, and err … lunch.
Will the programme mention the exorbitant ferry fares, the repeated cancellation of said ferries for so many silly excuses. Will it also mention the numbers of people who are sent here by various mainland councils to “find work” when there aren’t any jobs, which means the Island is flooded with no-hoper who just scrounge off the community. I think not.