Genre Documentary Presented by James May | Created by James May Narrated by James May | |
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Written by James May
Henry Dalton
Will Daws
Stuart Cabb Directed by Tom Whitter
Paul Buller
Alexander Dunlop
Graham Strong
Henry Dalton | ||
James May's Toy Stories is a television series presented by James May. The series was commissioned for BBC Two from Plum Pictures. The first episode, "Airfix", was shown on BBC Two at 8:00 pm on Tuesday 27 October 2009. In later years, three specials were made for the Christmas seasons, along with a follow-up to the sixth episode.
Contents
The premise of the 6-part show was to bring favourite toys of the past into the modern era, by using the toys in real life large scale enterprises. In each episode, he also explores the history of each toy. A few stars of the show include Airfix model planes, Plasticine modelling material, Meccano construction toys, Scalextric cars and Lego.
Background
May's interest in technology is known from his presentation of such programmes as James May's 20th Century and James May's Big Ideas. He credits much of the inventiveness of humans to the love of playing with toys and he has credited many technological developments to men playing in sheds. He has shown his passion for toys in programmes he has presented including James May's Top Toys and James May: My Sisters' Top Toys and he has discussed his desire for children to get away from games consoles and play with real toys preferably with their parents. May was quoted as saying:
Episode list
Many of the plans involved significant engineering problems, so the programme makers searched for architects, designers and engineers to help them. However, many more volunteers would be required as a labour force, so appeals for volunteers were distributed in local newspapers.
The ambitious - world record-breaking in many cases - projects included:
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.
James released a well-received book in conjunction with the series, through Conway Publishing (2009).