VOICEOVER (VO): It's the nation's favorite antiques experts...

Perfect.

Sold.

VO: ..behind the wheel of a classic car... Lovely day for it.

VO: ..and a goal - to scour Britain for antiques.

Every home should have one of these.

VO: The aim?

To make the biggest profit at auction.

But it's no mean feat.

Yes!

VO: There'll be worthy winners... 950... You're gonna make £1,000!

VO: ..and valiant losers.

No!

VO: Will it be the high road to glory... Make me a big profit.

VO: ..or the slow road to disaster?

Are we stuck?

IRITA & RAJ: Yay!

VO: This is the Antiques Road Trip.

VO: Yeah.

VO: Today, our pair are getting hot and potty about the lovely county of Lancashire.

What an absolutely glorious morning, Margie.

Yes, it's wonderful.

It's sitting in our camper van and enjoying time together.

Aww.

VO: And what a simply delightful team they make.

That's Tim Medhurst, behind the wheel - nice name, with Margie Cooper by his side and a 1970's Leyland camper for all their transport requisites.

MARGIE: We love our van, don't we?

TIM: We do.

It's a characterful van, isn't it?

Yeah, he is, he makes me laugh when I see him parked.

VO: And what's more, it hasn't broken down once.

Ha-ha!

Plus, did we mention the Sherpa once featured in a certain movie franchise?

Nearest we've come to being James Bond and a Bond girl.

MARGIE: (LAUGHS) MARGIE: Medhurst.

Tim Medhurst.

TIM: (CHUCKLES) VO: Lordy.

Tim, from Dorset, auctioneer and dealer is a shop-counter intelligence operator.

What's the price?

Five whole pounds.

But, as for dealer Margie, from Cheshire, well, they ought to call her Goldfingers.

MARGIE: This is very on trend at the moment.

VO: At the last auction, it was Margie's little low, low priced lot...

Selling them for £30.

VO: ..that really grabbed the headlines.

Need to buy more of those corkscrews.

TIM: 30 times profit.

MARGIE: Yeah!

VO: Very nice.

Tim started out with £200 and has thus far managed to increase that to £341.44.

While Margie, who began with the same sum, has a wee bit more - £356.90.

TIM: Between us, we've got about £700, haven't we?

We have.

So if you take 50 quid of that...

BOTH: (LAUGH) ..and leave you with 650.

VO: Only joking.

Ha-ha.

They first set out from Cumbria and then saw some of Scotland before the Lake District and a trip to the Isle of Man.

Today, it's all about Lancashire, with, eventually, a climatic finish expected in Rochdale.

But they are very excited about getting back to Blackpool, you know, famous for its tower, and all that.

Rock, beach... MARGIE: I can't see the tower anywhere so I've no idea.

Oh, there it... No, that's a pylon.

MARGIE: That's a pylon!

(LAUGHS) TIM: (LAUGHS) VO: Easily done.

They'll be there shortly, following in the steps of Gracie Fields, Jimi Hendrix, and all the rest... VO: ..where, amongst all the other star attractions, there are several antique shops to be explored.

TIM: Here we are, The Regent.

VO: Having dropped Margie off, he's got this one all to himself.

No, it's a shop, really.

It's a 100-year-old picture house.

TIM: I'm going to park here.

Get across there and do some shopping.

(GRUNTS WRENCHING GEAR STICK) VO: Here she blows!

Can't wait to get to the foyer.

Wow!

This is huge.

VO: Yeah, three floors.

They do still screen films as well.

TIM: What a shop to come to first!

This is a real cave of rummage.

There's so much to see, but you've got to stick with it, take every shelf at a time, and you will find a gem.

There's always something to find.

VO: Well, why not try the dress circle?

£341 to spend, remember?

TIM: I always like to have a good look through a nice box of photographs, because you never know what might just be in there.

And sometimes you do find the odd, odd, interesting thing... ..like this one here, look.

'Royal Air Force, 1942 to 1946', 'the Tiger Moth'.

Look at that photograph.

Tiger Moth up in the air there.

But I love this, because illustrated up here is the RAF wings and it's all been painted on there by hand, as well.

It's really sweet.

£6, it says on the back.

It's not bad, is it?

I think that framed up would be rather nice.

I might pop that one back.

I'll have a think about that.

VO: Okey dokey.

Anything in double digits, though?

TIM: She looks rather nice.

This is Parian ware.

Parian was porcelain that was made to sort of imitate marble.

So the original would have been in marble and then they made, sort of, porcelain examples in different scales.

So you could have this in your house, and it would look just like a marble one.

And this one is a bust of Clytie, or "Cleetie".

She was a mythical water nymph.

VO: As opposed to a real water nymph, of course.

TIM: She's absolutely beautiful, isn't she?

Look at that.

This would have been made in, I'd say, around the 1880s, that sort of time.

It's got a tiny little nibble there, but I saw when I was looking at the base, the price of £40, which, I think, as a decorative bit of Victorian Parian ware, £40 doesn't seem too much, but in an auction, we'd need to try and get the price down a little bit.

(WHISPERS) I found something.

I'm going to pop it back for the moment.

(STRAINS) Have a little look, see if we can find something else.

See if we can put a few things together and do a group deal.

VO: Well, in that case, Pauline would be the person to have a word with... ..perhaps arrange a double bill!

That's quite a nice jug.

Now, it's unusual to come across what's known as a harvest jug with a silver top.

You quite often find them with a silver rim, but to actually get a whole cover as well.

And I suppose the earliest harvest mugs and jugs were probably in the 18th century, and they were made and used basically to celebrate harvest.

And on this one, you can see all of the things you would expect with harvest - windmill.

There's a man there with his own harvest jug full of ale.

You can see it frothing over the top.

And there's the tree, look, probably an apple tree.

VO: Stoneware, salt-glazed, with a ticket price of £50.

TIM: But the best thing about this one is it's in lovely condition and it's a nicely engraved leopard.

And there's a lovely thumb piece here, almost in the shape of like a liar or a harp.

And then you open it up and there is the set of hallmarks, and it's dated to 1813.

Isn't that wonderful, to find one, that's a good Georgian piece?

I wonder if it was a good harvest in 1813, I might see if we can do a bit of negotiation on that one.

VO: Heeere we go!

(SIGHS) Got my jug... ..and I think I'm having the bust as well.

I like that.

Hello, Pauline.

PAULINE: Hello, Tim.

TIM: Hello.

Right, you've got £90 on these two... PAULINE: Yes.

..40 on the bust and 50 on the jug.

PAULINE: Right.

Is there some movement on that, do you think?

PAULINE: OK, so if we said we would do... PAULINE: ..40 on the jug... TIM: Yeah.

..and, erm, 35 on the Parian ware?

TIM: The bust - do you think we could squeeze it down another fiver to 30?

Do you think that would be manageable?

£70 for the two.

Because it's you, I'll say yes.

TIM: Thank you so much.

PAULINE: You're welcome.

TIM: Thank you, Pauline.

VO: Very kind.

VO: 271 left over.

TIM: Right!

Thank you very much indeed.

PAULINE: You're welcome.

TIM: Take care.

Thank you.

Bye bye.

VO: Now, I'll bet you'll never guess what the first film ever shown at The Regent was called?

Thought not!

The Call Of The Road.

It probably didn't feature a camper van.

Ha!

VO: But while Tim shuffles off, Margie's down on the Pleasure Beach... ..an amusement park which dates back as far as 1896, and Margie's here to find out about one of its most famous rides, in the company of Operations Manager, Andy Highgate.

ANDY: Today, I want to talk to you about the Ghost Train.

It's a dark ride, where you're sat in a little vehicle, and you go through various spooky scenes that hopefully should scare you.

Oh, really?

ANDY: Shall we go and take a closer look?

MARGIE: Oh, well, go on, then.

(LAUGHS) VO: I wonder how Margie feels about that exactly.

So, you can see it's quite a spooky place to be.

It is a spooky place to be.

Why do people pay to be frightened?

ANDY: I think they enjoy it.

It's part of the thrill!

VO: The two-minute ride on Blackpool's Ghost Train attracts over 300,000 people every year.

MARGIE: (SHIVERS) Oh, here we are!

Can't believe I'm here, Andy!

ANDY: Welcome to the Ghost Train, Margie!

MARGIE: Yeah, thank you very much.

Not my sort of thing this, you know.

Can you... Can you tell?

BOTH: (LAUGH) So this was originally called the Pretzel Ride when it first opened in 1930.

And this was an idea that was brought over from America.

So, pretzel ride actually refers to the shape of the track and it was a dark ride on one level, originally from Coney Island, outside New York, and pretzels didn't really mean anything to the UK audience, like it did in America at that time.

So Leonard Thomson, who was the park owner, had seen a play called 'The Ghost Train', and that was about people being stuck on a train, in the dark, and being scared and so the name was changed, initially, with not a lot else.

So it was just originally...a train going through a dark tunnel?

ANDY: That's correct, yeah.

VO: That all changed in 1936, when modernist architect, Joseph Emberton became involved, transforming the exterior into art deco and adding a second level.

He was joined by in-house artist, Tom Purvis, who created promotional images like these.

ANDY: He added lots of scary features, that you would now expect and take for granted, so all the bits where things jump out, the spookiness, the scare factor... And what that did was make the ride into a big success because when people are scared or thrilled, they tell people about it.

They come off the ride - there's reports of people running off the ride screaming, because they were so scared by the experience.

Still today, we are tinkering with it and we started using some more modern technology in here.

So there are reactive screens as you go past them.

MARGIE: Screens or screams?

ANDY: Well, both, hopefully.

BOTH: (LAUGH) MARGIE: Now, is it haunted?

ANDY: (LAUGHS) MARGIE: Andy, tell me.

It's the million dollar question for here, isn't it?

Well, we do actually have our own resident ghost... MARGIE: Really?

..which is a ghost called Cloggy.

Sometimes the operators report hearing strange sounds, seeing things that they shouldn't, glimpses of shadows around the corner and so on.

Now, I don't believe in ghosts, but I still won't walk here, through here at night on my own.

VO: Well, thankfully, it's still broad daylight outside.

Time for Margie to take her seat on the original scary ride.

Tray table stowed... MARGIE: Oh!

Oh, my Lord!

Why did I agree?

This is not my idea of having a good time.

VO: What fun!

MARGIE: (SCREAMS) VO: I only wish I could be there alongside her.

MARGIE: For crying out loud.

(SCREAM SOUND EFFECTS) Goodness sake!

(LAUGHS) (CREATURES SCREAMING) Oh, no!

(LAUGHS) (CHUCKLES) Don't ask me to do it again, please.

VO: Do we think she liked it?

Ha-ha-ha!

MARGIE: (SIGHS) VO: But while Margie's been scaring herself silly, Tim's headed out along the Lancashire Lanes.

TIM: When you start your trip with somebody that you've never met before... ..you do wonder, you know, what it's going to be like, but I think we've got a good bond together.

We've had a great time, so far, and...

..I hope she's not bored with me yet.

VO: I think he might be missing his Margie.

VO: Let's hope he snaps out of it in Lytham St Annes, once the home of cheeky British film star, George Formby.

TIM: Oh, here we are.

Antiques.

Park it here.

VO: ..and now the place to find - Verdi Antiques.

I'm liking the look of that shop.

VO: ..named, presumably, after the great Italian opera maestro.

Tim's got £271 to spend in here.

So, toi, toi, toi!

That's so sweet.

Look at that little stool.

I think the painting on it is all original to around, say, the 1920s.

The stool might be slightly earlier, but look at that little scene on top there, Margaret, and a little pooch.

I really, really like it.

It has got some wear and tear on the paint, but I would imagine this was probably a gift to a Margaret, maybe, say...10th birthday.

Wouldn't that be wonderful?

VO: He's got such a vivid imagination.

I think that would appeal in an auction, because it's a usable, nice stool, but it's also got the charm factor, hasn't it?

And at £38, it seems rather reasonable.

But maybe one to think about.

I do like that, though.

VO: No deal just yet.

VO: Meanwhile, Margie's also now arrived in Lytham.

Not just for enjoying the fresh air though, but hot to shop at Lytham Antiques and Reclamation, where Gene's in charge.

MARGIE: (SIGHS) Hello.

GENE: Hi there!

How are you?

I'm very well.

What wonderful surroundings!

GENE: Thank you.

VO: Margie, of course, still has a mighty £356 available.

MARGIE: Cor, look at the size of that!

(LAUGHS) I can hardly pick it up!

That is so heavy.

It weighs a ton.

Oh, gosh!

I quite like it, though.

If you clean that up... and put it in your kitchen, it'd be a bit of fun, wouldn't it?

VO: Practical, too.

No spanners this time, though.

Pull-along donkey, perhaps?

Where are we?

(CHUCKLES) It's quite a good one.

A kids' push-along... 1950's.

Actually, I've never seen a donkey before.

They're always dogs, aren't they?

Shall I buy this?

If he's quite reasonable, and he's got his label, which is really good.

The Triang Maker, 1950.

Such a famous child's toy maker.

VO: Founded by the Lines family.

What do three lines make?

A triangle!

He's even got Tri-ang on his little... ..saddle cloth.

I'm going to ask the price... ..because, he's made out of some kind of rubbery composition, which means he's stood the test of time, unlike one that would be plush, you know.

If he's cheap, I'm going to buy you.

VO: She always says that.

Tim, of course, already has his eye on the little stool.

And David's the hard-working proprietor here, writing his memoirs.

That's a really, really nice barrel, that.

Look at it.

Lovely decoration.

Now, I would say that dates to the second half of the 19th century.

It's an old tobacco jar, and, obviously, we know now, smoking, not healthy, it's quite unfashionable, but it leaves quite an interesting piece of social history.

On the top here, the lid, you've got this very old-school 19th-century pipe with almost like luster decoration to it and then further down, the best bit about it, it's got somebody's name on here, and that would be the gentleman that would have owned it.

And another good thing about it is it's in wonderful condition for its age.

We're talking over 150 years old and it's in one piece.

So £43, that's pretty good, I think.

So, let's see what else is here?

It's another tobacco jar.

That one's lovely as well.

This reminds me of Minton and Majolica.

VO: Or George Jones, another Staffordshire maker.

TIM: And round here, you've got the word tobacco, goes all the way round and then again, you've got another removable lid, with crossed pipes up here.

And these are in the style of 18th century pipes.

Though, I'd say, this one is probably nearer the 1850.

And the other side here, you've got holes where you would have put your pipes.

Now, it's priced at £48.

The other tobacco jar is priced at 43.

I wonder if there's something we could do on the two together.

VO: Not forgetting the wee stool!

Time to talk figures.

TIM: David.

DAVID: Hi, Tim.

TIM: Hiya.

Is there something you can do on the two tobacco boxes?

And you've got a little child's stool?

I'm sure we can come to some deal, Tim.

It comes to 130 for the three items.

How's about a straight tonne?

We do 100 for the three.

I hate to squeeze you more, David, but I'd love to pay £30 each.

TIM: Is that possible?

DAVID: (SIGHS) I tell you what, if you can meet me halfway, we'll do 95.

It's a deal, David.

Thank you.

VO: Nicely done.

And while he heads to the beach with 176 in his wallet, Margie's got her donkey standing by, and she's now discovered something a bit closer to her heart.

MARGIE: I've bought these before, and I always do quite well.

Little Chinese silver ornaments, really, probably about 1930's, but these are really quite nice and people like them and collect them.

Aren't they cute?

So...he's quite good, isn't he, with his sedan chair?

I think he's a definite.

That's quite a nice one, isn't it?

It's a bit strange.

He's got a dog pulling his cart!

VO: That's why they call it a dog cart.

MARGIE: And each one will probably sell at auction for about £40, £45... ..with a bit of luck.

So I need to be buying them for about £20, cuz sometimes when you put two things together, you don't...

It doesn't always mean you're going to get double the price.

VO: The voice of experience.

Over to Gene.

MARGIE: Right, Gene.

(CHUCKLES) GENE: Hi!

MARGIE: Gene...

I've had a jolly good old look around.

GENE: Good... MARGIE: (CHUCKLES) I've seen the donkey on...

The Triang donkey.

GENE: You can have that, today's price, 20 quid.

MARGIE: Done.

GENE: Good!

Right...and I've also seen those little Chinese silver ornaments, which I quite like.

GENE: Cute, aren't they?

MARGIE: They are cute.

So it's either one or two.

It depends on you.

GENE: Right?

OK. MARGIE: No pressure!

GENE: If you have them together, I'll do them for £20 a piece... GENE: ..which is a absolute... MARGIE: It is.

..bargain.

MARGIE: Done!

GENE: Good!

MARGIE: I'll have the pair.

GENE: Good.

MARGIE: £60?

GENE: That's the one.

VO: Thanks, Gene.

Quick, before he changes his mind!

MARGIE: Bye bye.

GENE: Bye now.

MARGIE: Come on.

You're coming with me!

VO: With £296 left over.

Time for our pair to press on to Preston.

Who writes this stuff?

TIM: It was alright going to Blackpool cuz we were following the tower... You do, yeah.

What do you follow to Preston?

Well, the signs, I think.

BOTH: (LAUGH) VO: Nighty night.

VO: Next day begins with business as usual in the Sherpa.

MARGIE: We're having a lovely time together, aren't we?

Yeah.

I don't think I've ever been on a road trip where my face aches with laughing so much.

VO: Tim's wallet needed a bit of a lie down yesterday as well, after he splashed out on two tobacco jars, a bust, a stool and a harvest jug...

I wonder if it was a good harvest in 1813?

VO: ..leaving him with £176 to spend today, while Margie bought just a couple of silver ornaments and a push-along donkey.

MARGIE: If he's cheap, I'm going to buy you.

VO: He was, which means she still has £296 in her wallet.

Oh, hang on!

(ENGINE STUTTERS) TIM: Rev it.

Rev it.

That's it, keep going.

Ready?

Three, two, one, go!

BOTH: (CHEER) VO: The Lancashire rally continues to one of the cradles of the Industrial Revolution.

VO: A football trendsetter, too, with Preston North End, established in 1880 and in a nearby former cotton mill, Margie's next shopping assignment.

A solo mission, having dropped her chum off earlier.

Wow!

(CHUCKLES) VO: Indeed...

There should be more than enough at the Preston Antique Centre.

This whole stand has similar... ..similar furniture.

And you must know a man called Robert Thompson, and he was very famous of putting a little mouse on all his furniture, and he was inspired by the arts and crafts movement.

But he had a chap called Whittaker who worked for him, so he did his apprenticeship with Thomson and then he left.

And you know what he did?

He put a little gnome on his!

A little diddy gnome, so he's known as the Gnome Man.

So everybody knows the Mouse Man, but not many people know about him.

But, I mean, this is probably worth about £3,000.

Personally, if it had been me carving a gnome, I think I would have put on a slightly larger one.

VO: And speaking of miniatures... MARGIE: There's so much to see here... ..but I've just come across this little fella.

It's a nutcracker.

Cast iron.

Normally you see them, they are smaller.

This is a big one.

So maybe it's been in a country house or something like that.

It's rather nicely patented there so you can actually date it, but it's really late Victorian, about 1890-1900.

It's not terribly dear, it's £35.

So I'm just wondering if there's a bit of mileage in it.

I'm going to carry on looking... ..but keep him in the back of my mind.

VO: He is a cracker.

Sue will be the person to parlay with.

Hi, Sue!

MARGIE: I'm just looking for a little bit of something that's just going to make a profit.

Well, that's unusual, isn't it?

That's a little brass candlestick, but what makes it stand out from other boring, brass candlesticks is that you've got this lovely decoration on the bottom, this agate sort of semi-precious stone.

It's a lovely stone agate, isn't it?

VO: Given that name by the ancient Greek philosopher Theophrastus.

MARGIE: It could be Scottish.

(SIGHS) I wonder if that could just sell on its own.

VO: The age-old question.

MARGIE: It's £55 which is too dear.

If I could buy that a bit cheaper...

I think that's very attractive.

Yeah, I'm going to take that down...and see.

Maybe we can do a deal.

VO: Gird your loins, girls!

Er, impossible.

MARGIE: Hi, Sue.

SUE: Hi!

MARGIE: I've been pottering around, and I've found these two items, which total...uh...£90.

Well, actually, I can do 40 on the candlestick.

MARGIE: Yeah?

SUE: That'd be the best on that.

MARGIE: So £75 you're saying.

SUE: Yeah.

I think I've got a chance with that.

SUE: (CHUCKLES) VO: The doggy nutcracker stays at £35.

SUE: Oh, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Wish me luck, Sue.

I do wish you luck.

A lot of luck.

MARGIE: Thanks very much.

SUE: Thanks a lot.

VO: And with that, she's off.

Booty on board...and with £221 still to spend.

Ta-ra!

VO: Meanwhile, elsewhere in Preston, Tim's taking a brief break from the shopping to find out about one of the founding fathers of British astronomy... in the company of Professor Derek Ward-Thompson.

Hello, you must be Derek.

Hello, Tim.

Welcome to Moor Park.

It has an astronomical observatory... TIM: Does it?

Wow!

..which is almost 100 years old, and I'm hoping I can show you that today.

TIM: Shall we go and have a look?

Follow me.

VO: Preston's observatory is named after Jeremiah Horrocks, the 17th-century astronomer whose many discoveries about the solar system were to have a profound influence on Sir Isaac Newton.

DEREK: In fact, Newton wanted to get hold of a copy of his papers... TIM: Wow!

..and his calculations.

So even Sir Isaac Newton held him in high esteem.

Wow!

What a clever man!

Now, his claim to fame is that he was the first person to both predict and observe a transit of Venus.

Wow!

DEREK: A transit of Venus is when Venus passes in front of the face of the sun and appears as a dark shadow against the bright disc of the sun.

Very, very complicated mathematics but he actually predicted there was a transit that was due, and...he actually observed it.

And we have here a couple of pictures, one of a painting of how he was believed to have carried out the observations by pointing his telescope through a gap in the curtains and projecting an image of the sun onto a screen.

And we also have here a copy of the drawing that he made on that day, of the sun.

And you can see those small, dark circles are the silhouette of Venus as it moves across the face of the sun.

He was the first person to actually realize that Venus transits come in pairs, and then, there isn't another one for about another 100 years.

Amazing.

VO: Horrocks was quite a prodigy.

The son of a Toxteth watchmaker, he attended Cambridge university at the age of just 13.

What was his time like at Cambridge?

He was a very poor student.

He was what's known as a commoner, and he acted essentially as a valet to one of the wealthier students.

But that, of course, gave him access to all of the great libraries.

After he left Cambridge, he came back to the northwest and, in his spare time, he was a part-time lay preacher and part of the reason why he didn't get a chance to observe the transit earlier was he was, actually, helping out at Evensong at the local church, as it was a Sunday.

VO: The only other astronomer to observe that event in 1639 was William Crabtree, another Lancashire man whom Horrocks corresponded with.

It was his calculations which allowed Horrocks to estimate the size of Venus and the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

The next transit won't be until the year 2117, but the good news for Tim is he's going to get a close-up look at some sunspots instead with amateur astronomer, Graham MacLaughlin.

GRAHAM: The safest way to observe the sun is what we're doing here with white light.

We're projecting the solar image onto the projection screen, and we'll be able to see the sunspots.

So the magnetic storms, because they're cooler, they appear black.

Do you see there you've got a row of sunspots.

TIM: Yes, yeah.

To give you an idea of size, those spots, each individual one of those is probably about, maybe even bigger than, the Earth.

It's so exciting.

It's just incredible.

GRAHAM: Yeah, so you've seen it how Jeremiah Horrocks would've seen it, almost 400 years ago.

VO: Amazing!

Such an influential figure!

And now, what about Planet Margie, and what's on her to-do list?

MARGIE: I'm on my way to my last shop.

I'm meeting up with...Tim.

I think we like each other a lot, so I think we're hiding the rivalry just a tad.

"Well, I don't care if you win!"

"No, well, I don't care if you win."

Of course we flipping do.

(LAUGHS) You've got to be in it to win, haven't you?

VO: That's the spirit!

I'm sure that Tim feels much the same.

The next test of their antiquing shops is in Chorley, noted for its very tasty cakes.

And there's our camper now.

You can tell by the squeaky brakes.

This is Bygone Times, a huge former textile mill.

Margie has £221 still in hand.

I could do with one of those flags, so that I don't get lost.

(LAUGHS) VO: Exactly!

MARGIE: I'm not 100% sure... ..but I think that this is a leather horse... ..that was from Liberty's, because there was a Yugoslavian chap who came to England... ..and he was called Omersa, and he made suitcases for Liberty's... ..and, with the leftover bits, he started to make animals, and I think that's one of them.

And...the name Omersa would be on its ears, but there's one problem.

(LAUGHS) Have you noticed?

His ears have gone.

But... there's no mention of the fact that it could be from Liberty's... ..and it's gone from £45... ..right down to £28.

So I think it might be worth having a little...go at it.

VO: Not the biggest risk ever taken.

So let's put it back... ..and I'll have a think.

VO: Ah!

Look who's here!

TIM: Margie!

She's here already again!

She'll have all the bargains.

(SHOUTS OUT) Margie!

VO: Tim's got £176 to spend with Jackie, the woman to do business with.

TIM: That's quite interesting.

It's, sort of, made like an enameled sign.

It's enameled.

But I wonder if it was, sort of, like a splashback over a sink, something like that.

Certainly got good age, probably 1930, something like that.

And what I do like is that you can see the echoing of potentially Victorian tiles on it.

That design in the middle it looks like, you know, something like a Minton pottery tile.

I think that's quite nice.

I quite like the red and white as well.

And it actually would fit into a modern home.

It's priced at £48.50, which as enamel advertising signs go, is pretty cheap.

But is somebody going to buy that because it's not purely advertising?

VO: There's an awful lot of pondering going on in here.

I think it's a good decorator's piece... ..and it's in nice nick as well.

One to think on.

VO: Meanwhile, Margie's definitely having that horse.

Jackie, this is my last buy.

I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing.

It's cheap and cheerful.

It's £28.

I'm not going to argue.

Look, the money's in my little hot hand.

VO: £193 left over.

So, thank you very much indeed.

JACKIE: You're very welcome.

MARGIE: I enjoyed my visit.

JACKIE: Thank you.

MARGIE: Bye.

VO: Whoa!

Careful with the traffic.

TIM: (CALLS OUT) Margie, where are you?

Oh, this is uncomfortable.

TIM: Margie?

Oh!

MARGIE: You're going no further.

TIM: Come on!

MARGIE: I've got my sign.

MARGIE: Back off!

TIM: Come on, get out of my way.

MARGIE: What?

What?

What?

MARGIE: Hey, excuse me, I am a lollipop lady, and you should do what I say.

TIM: My bottom hurts.

Alright, well, have it your way, then.

TIM: Bye, Margie.

MARGIE: See you!

VO: Come on, Tim.

What's it to be?

TIM: That one's quite sweet.

VO: A little white, metal brooch.

When you're looking in a cabinet full of things, sometimes the smallest thing can grab your attention.

And isn't this little owl brooch absolutely charming?

It's a little owl sitting in what I'd imagine is, sort of, the moon.

And it looks to me like it might be silver.

It's unmarked, and the owl looks like it's gold plated as well, with little green eyes.

Date-wise, I would say it's probably early 20th century, so Edwardian period.

What's so mind-boggling, sometimes, is that you can get an antique center that is as vast as this, I mean, it's basically the size of an airplane hangar, full of stuff and cabinets, and it's the tiniest thing that you find that you end up buying.

And I'm absolutely taken with this brooch, and, at £15, it seems rather reasonable to me.

So I'm just going to go and buy it.

VO: We're almost done.

TIM: Hello, Jackie.

JACKIE: Hello.

I have been looking through your many, many cabinets and found this rather pretty owl brooch.

OK.

It's priced at £15, so I'm going to give you the money.

Lovely.

VO: £161 left over.

JACKIE: Thank you very much.

TIM: Thank you.

JACKIE: Hope you enjoy it.

Bye!

TIM: Thank you.

Bye.

VO: I think that may well depend on the auction.

TIM: (SIGHS) MARGIE: You OK?

(LAUGHS) TIM: All shopping done, Margie.

MARGIE: Yeah!

Are you happy?

MARGIE: Er, am I ever happy?

TIM: (LAUGHS) VO: Bye bye, Chorley!

TIM: Onwards and upwards.

Beep-beep.

VO: The auction comes next.

TIM: Margie, that was our second to last buying trip.

Penultimate is the word.

TIM: Oh, sorry.

I don't really want this trip to end, you know?

Aww.

But if you win, I'll be...

I'll shake your hand.

I'll tell you now.

And if you win, then I'll delete your number off my phone.

VO: Time for some shut-eye.

VO: It's auction viewing day at Grade I-listed, Turton Tower, a manor house from the late Middle Ages.

Nice gables!

And a lovely late '70s camper van.

TIM: Well, here we are, Margie.

MARGIE: Hey, look at this!

TIM: Wow!

Do you like my house?

I wanted you to see my new house.

Welcome to my new abode!

VO: He wishes.

Thank you, chauffeur.

(CHUCKLES) VO: After rummaging all over Lancashire, our experts have arrived on the Greater Manchester border at Turton.

While their purchases have been dispatched towards MW Darwin and Sons of Bedale, North Yorkshire.

Selling in the room and on the phone, auctioneer Michael Darwin is in charge.

Margie parted with £163 for her five auction lots.

MICHAEL: The little silver sedan, chair and cart.

Unusual thing.

It's in good condition.

There's been a bit of interest.

I think it might surprise us.

VO: Tim spent £180 for his five lots.

MICHAEL: The little oak stool with a terrier on it and the name Margaret.

It's a lovely little thing.

There's been a few people looking at it, but we need someone called Margaret with a terrier to buy it.

VO: Crikey!

I see his point.

TIM: Well, here we are, Margie.

MARGIE: # Here we are # TIM: What a setting!

Isn't this lovely?

MARGIE: The peace and calm of a garden.

How lovely!

MARGIE: Right, are we off?

TIM: Shall we just go for it?

MARGIE: Shall we go for it?

TIM: OK. Come on, Margie.

VO: Tablets at the ready.

Starting with the aforementioned wee stool.

We just need Maggies and doggies, eh?

TIM: So this is my little Margie stool.

Well, it's Margaret... ..but I bought it thinking of you, Margie.

Oh, ho-ho!

£20 for a good little stool.

MICHAEL: Tenner?

TIM: Oh, come on!

MICHAEL: £10 the stool.

£10 bid.

£12 anywhere?

At £10 only bid.

At £10 only bid.

12?

Are you bidding?

12, 15, 18... You won't see one... a stool called Margaret again.

MARGIE: He's right.

MICHAEL: £15.

I'm selling, then, at 15.

All done at 15... (GAVEL) VO: Whoops!

Time for some positive thinking, eh?

Look, we're in a lovely garden.

Let's not get worried.

Let's not get...be downhearted.

TIM: Oh, dear.

MARGIE: (CHUCKLES) VO: Margie's turn.

Her little leather horse.

MARGIE: Now, then this was a spec buy.

TIM: (GIGGLES) Well, good luck.

MARGIE: Let's see if it gallops away.

£30 for it.

£30.

£20.

The prancing horse.

£20.

Tenner?

Oh, no!

£10 bid.

12 anywhere?

TIM: Margie!

At £10 only bid.

At £10 only bid.

12, 15, 18... TIM: There's some traction.

MICHAEL: ..20, 22... Back to £20 bid.

Two anywhere?

I'm selling then at 20.

You're all done at 20?

(GAVEL) VO: More brave faces, everyone.

Well, that's a cracking start.

Hasn't even left the starting block.

BOTH: (LAUGH) It's not left the gates.

VO: Water nymphs next.

Tim's busty buy.

Beautifully modeled, isn't it?

MARGIE: Very nice.

TIM: Nice quality.

How much for that one?

£30 for it.

Good quality thing, £30.

£20?

MARGIE: Oh, for goodness' sake!

MICHAEL: Tenner?

Oh for goodness... £10?

£10 bid.

12 bid.

15, 18, 22, 25... At £25 bid.

Eight anywhere?

I'm selling, then, at 25.

All done.

(GAVEL) VO: Well, it's the least worst loss yet.

TIM: Oh!

£25, Margie!

Isn't it good that we're in this lovely garden?

TIM: (TITTERS) VO: That's the idea!

Candlestick time now with added agate.

TIM: Oh, hello!

Have you come to watch the auction?

MARGIE: (LAUGHS) TIM: Come here.

Come here.

What do you think of this?

Do you think Margie's going to lose money?

£20 for it.

MICHAEL: £20.

TIM: Bargain.

£10 bid, 12 anywhere?

12 bid.

15, 18, 20, 22... TIM: Oh... MICHAEL: 25?

At 22 with you.

..here we go.

It's started... MICHAEL: At £22 bid... TIM: ..and it's stopped.

MICHAEL: At £22 bid.

Five anywhere?

Going at 22... (GAVEL) VO: Well, at least they're in this one together.

TIM: That was an absolute bargain.

TIM: £22?

MARGIE: Argh!

VO: Tim's little owl brooch, now.

Surely a profit beckons?

Would £30 have been too much?

I think that's probably what you'll get for it.

I paid 15.

So it was cheap, wasn't it?

You led me into that, didn't you?

£20?

20.

£20 bid.

Straight in profit.

£20 only bid.

22 bid.

25?

At 22... TIM: That's cheap at 22.

MICHAEL: I'm selling at 22.

You've made a profit.

22?

You all out... (GAVEL) VO: The tide has turned.

It'll be easy street from now on.

Look at that, Margie, a little profit for my brooch.

Hooray!

Here's...

I'm very pleased for you.

Thank you.

VO: Margie's silver ornaments should surely also do well.

TIM: And they fit into that novelty market, which is so popular, isn't it?

Yeah.

A £40 bid.

Two anywhere?

MICHAEL: At £40, only bid.

TIM: Well done, Margie.

MICHAEL: At £40 bid, 42, 45.

MARGIE: Oh, no, come on.

Oh, it's going on.

45 with me.

Eight anywhere?

48, £50 bid.

MARGIE: (MUTTERS) MICHAEL: At £50 with me.

Well done, Margie.

MICHAEL: I'm selling, then, at 50.

You all done at 50... (GAVEL) VO: Now they both have a profit to be proud of.

TIM: £10 is £10.

Wouldn't leave a £10 note on the floor, would you, Margie?

Very true.

VO: Tim's Victorian jars are next.

What do we think?

I've never seen one before, so I thought it was worth a punt.

Yeah.

So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

MICHAEL: How much for them?

£30 for them.

£30, tobacco jars, £20.

£20 bid.

Two anywhere?

22, bid, five anywhere?

MICHAEL: At 22, five, 28, 30... MARGIE: Ah!

MICHAEL: ..32, 35, 38.

There's two of them - that's less than £20 each.

I'm selling, then, at 38.

You all done at 38?

(GAVEL) VO: It's not really been his day, has it?

MARGIE: Oh, well!

TIM: Less than £20 each.

TIM: (GROANS) MARGIE: I know.

That's painful, Margie.

VO: More novelty!

Practical, too.

Margie's doggy nutcracker.

MARGIE: I think he looks really good, because sometimes these things don't crack the nuts, do they?

(LAUGHS) He looks as though he's going to crack nuts - big time.

MICHAEL: £20?

£20?

Tenner, then?

MARGIE: Oh, God!

MICHAEL: £10 bid.

12 anywhere?

12 bid, 15, 18, 20, two?

£22 lady's bid.

At £22 bid.

Five.

He's back.

I'm selling, then, at 25.

All done.

(GAVEL) VO: Don't look at me.

I just crack nuts.

MARGIE: Oh, well!

TIM: Oh, Margie!

You ever wish you'd never started?

(LAUGHS) VO: Tim's last lot.

His handsome harvest jug.

TIM: A Georgian would have had that sitting on their little oak table, with foaming ale in it, or cider, after the harvest, celebrating a good harvest.

I'm going to write a poem in a minute.

£40.

Let's start me for it.

TIM: It's got to be worth that.

MICHAEL: £40... £20 bid.

Two... 25, 28, 32, 35.

TIM: That's it... Keep going.

MARGIE: There you go.

MICHAEL: 40, two, 45?

MARGIE: There you go.

MICHAEL: ..48, 50... Five... TIM: Yes!

Come on.

MICHAEL: At 55 with you, 60..?

TIM: Keep going, it's worth more than that.

At £55 bid.

I'm selling, then, at 55... (GAVEL) VO: Well done, Tim.

He ends on a high.

TIM: It's a profit, Margie.

MARGIE: It is!

TIM: (SIGHS) MARGIE: Very pleased for you.

TIM: Thank you.

VO: Finally, Margie's seaside mascot.

Looks confident, doesn't he?

It's still in such wonderful condition.

I know that's what did draw me to it, and I'd just been to Blackpool.

Oh, yes, well, that fits in.

So, I think I'd got donkeys on the brain.

MICHAEL: I've got bids on here of £20.

TIM: Hey!

MARGIE: (LAUGHS) MICHAEL: At 22, 25, 28... Oh, Margie!

Well done.

It's going up.

40, 42, 45, 48... 50, 55, 60, 65.

MICHAEL: At £60... Oh, he's got me out of trouble.

Selling, then, at 60.

All done at 60... (GAVEL) VO: The Derby winner.

They just needed more donkeys.

I knew it was the right thing to do... Well done.

Go with your gut.

Go with what you love.

And that is donkeys.

VO: Quite.

Tim began with £341.44, and, after auction costs, made a loss.

And so he now has £288.54.

While Margie, who started out with £356.90, made, also after costs, a slightly smaller loss, which means, with £339.04, she's increased her lead.

TIM: We're on to our last buying trip.

MARGIE: Aww, I'm going to miss this camper van.

Oh, I thought you were going to say you would miss me.

Of course I'm going to miss you.

Who wouldn't miss you?

Right, then, Margie.

Are you ready?

I'm ready.

(HORN HONKS) TIM: Let's go buy more antiques.

subtitling@stv.tv