National Treasure

As the 44th series of the Antiques Roadshow returns to our screens, Homes & Antiques goes behind the scenes to find out how the programme has altered in recent years and why it still holds a special place in our affections

- JANET GLEESON

At the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, Fiona Bruce has just finished a piece to camera involving an improbably large papier-mâché fig. Having presented the Antiques Roadshow for 14 years, she relishes such quirky objects. ‘I never thought something like this (the show, not the fig) would come my way, but it has been one of the best and most enjoyable things I’ve done. I love chatting to people, seeing what they’ve brought. Some people bring totally crazy things, and some people bring brilliant things. You never know what’s going to turn up,’ she says.

In the rapidly changing world of television, Antiques Roadshow is seen as something of a miraculous anomaly. Now in its 44th year, the programme still regularly attracts audiences in excess of five to six million. Robert Murphy, series editor, thinks that human interest, combined with the unexpected, are key to its longevity: ‘People love the sense of surprise; the sense that the next box that has come down from the attic could have that incredible, undiscovered masterpiece or a hidden gem. But if you were to strip the format back and analyse it, you realise you get another set of characters, another bit of drama, another mystery, every two or three minutes, so it’s hard to turn over.’