The BBC show is part of the hugely popular Inside the Factory series hosted by presenters Gregg Wallace, Cherry Healey and Ruth Goodman.
The new episode was shown last night (22 December).
Wallace rocked up at Woodmansterne’s Watford site during the height of summer, with the greetings card publisher and printer gearing up for Christmas.
He was welcomed by managing director Seth Woodmansterne, the third generation to run the family-owned business, as a lorry load of board was delivered ready for production.
Wallace was then walked through the various processes involved from the creation of the original artwork, pre-media, platemaking, printing, foiling and finishing.
He also learned about the sustainability aspects such as ethical paper sourcing, and Woodmansterne’s aims to become plastic free.
In typical style, he was fascinated with all the stats about technology, volumes, speeds, weights and pressures – and not least the fact that Woodmansterne produces around 35 million cards a year.
Wallace was particularly taken with the cutting power of Woodmansterne’s Polar 115 guillotine, declaring that he would “love a go” working the “big and meaty” and faintly terrifying device.
After the multiple layers of safety features were explained he was allowed to cut a stack under the watchful eye of guillotine maestro David De Cruz.
Wallace learning the ropes from David De Cruz
The action then shifted to Woodmansterne’s Milton Keynes distribution depot – which is poised to expand into larger premises more than double the current size – where Wallace tried his hand at the fiddly process of adding embellishments, and could not resist banding his own hand with a batch of cards.
Woodmansterne said he was delighted that the programme had captured “the work and wonder that goes into making Christmas cards”.
Wallace concluded: “What struck me is the incredible precision that goes into making every part of these cards… This factory turns a sheet of paper that will bring a little bit of joy to millions of us. Happy Holidays!”
The programme is available for replay on the BBC iPlayer.
