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24
Sept
The Harrogate paint store making All Creatures Great and Small bright and beautiful
When the new series of All Creatures Great and Small airs tomorrow (Thursday), its vintage look will largely be due to a Harrogate man with a passion for paint.
Based on the life of Yorkshire vet James Herriot, Channel 5 has recreated a 1940s-style North Yorkshire across the show’s previous five series.
To do so, the production team had to source exactly the right colour paints to bring post-war Britain back to life.
At the heart of that effort was Gary Hardcastle, who since 1999 has run Farball Coatings, a small paint shop tucked behind Harvey George on the Hookstone business park.
But despite its unassuming nature, Mr Hardcastle said that Channel 5 approached him to source paints for their show. He said:
They approached us from series 1 – I’ve been working with them on and off for about four years. I just had a phone call out of the blue saying, ‘We’re in the area filming, can we purchase our paint from you?’
They come January time until June, paint all the sets and then disappear.
The shop owner said that because his store opens at 7.30am, slightly earlier than other paint stores, he was the prime candidate, so that the production team could “pick it up early and have a full day painting”.
He added that because he’s an independent merchant, he can “buy what I want to sell what I want”, meaning he can source all the various paints that the production team requires. He added that most of the requested colours are greens and browns.
And it hasn’t been too bad for his business, either. Mr Hardcastle said:
I supply thousands of pounds worth of paint to them over the period of the six months. It could be around £5,000.
It’s boosted my business no end. When you get someone coming in in January, when it’s very quiet, and spending that much, it’s always a boost. On top of that, they might use me for other things. Some of them have bought stuff for their own personal use.
Mr Hardcastle was given a thank-you card from the production team.
Mr Hardcastle was left a thank-you card from the show, which he proudly displays on his front desk.
Although he was not invited to see the set, the shop owner had some interesting anecdotes.
He said:
I heard they filmed in St Wilfrid’s Church and wanted the background orange, so they painted it. They then had to paint it back white within half an hour or so, because obviously it’s a church.
When asked about whether he’s ever tuned in to see his paints on screen, he said:
I’ve not watched it! Only back in the day when it used to be a show in the 1980s.
The new series of All Creatures Great and Small will air tomorrow (Thursday, September 25) at 9pm on Channel 5.
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