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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.

59 minutes

Last on

Wed 20 Sep 2023 20:00
±«Óãtv Two

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Clip

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:01

    Bad Sounds

    How Are You Gonna Lose

  • 00:04

    Imagine Dragons

    Natural

  • 00:07

    Florence + The Machine

    Shake It Out

  • 00:07

    Linkin Park

    Heavy

  • 00:37

    Feist

    I Feel It All

  • 00:45

    Zedd

    The Middle (feat. Marren Morris and Grey)

  • 00:47

    Paloma Faith

    30 Minute Love Affair

  • 00:49

    Clean Bandit

    Rockabye

  • 00:56

    Matt Simons

    We Can Do Better

Credits

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

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.