Can you survive three weeks in Victorian East End?
'The Temperance Sweep' and a barefooted boy small enough to fit inside narrow passages (Photo by John Thomson/Getty Images) - Credit: Getty Images
Strong, determined people who think they could survive life on the Victorian breadline are being sought to live in the East End slums for a BBC recreation series.
Victorian 'Mush-Fakers' and ginger beer makers with their cart (Photo by John Thomson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) - Credit: Getty Images
Wall to Wall Media is casting to find a community for the landmark living history experiment which will tell the story of what life was really like for the Victorian poor and how their plight changed the nation for the better.
Local families and individuals of all ages who currently live in the East End and are interested in its heritage, along with those who have ancestors who lived here, are being asked to move into the film set – the location of which has still not been finalised – for three weeks next Easter.
The ‘new Victorians’ will be asked to live, work and make ends meet exactly as the Victorian poor would have done, finding work, mastering old trades and selling their wares so they can put food on the table and to pay the weekly rent.
Casting executive Mel Walden said: “It’s going to be about being cold, hungry, dirty, there isn’t a catering truck, they will have to find their own food, there will be people selling food. It’s about surviving those three weeks.
“Three weeks will feel like a long time, it will be tough, it will be a challenge to get though it, it’s for the hardy.
“It’s about how a community bonds and gets through things together.”
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She added: “We are looking at Britain before the birth of the welfare state and what the Victorians went through and how it shaped the NHS.”
Anyone who knows a trade like shoe making, carpentry, tailoring, furniture making, dress making will also be considered, along
with those whose family may have come over from Russia in the
late 19th century and settled in the East End. Children taking part must be over the age of 10.
Email casting@walltowall.co.uk, call 020 7241 9228 or see www.walltowall.co.uk to find out more.
