It all started with an email from one of the producers of The One Show. When we heard they wanted to film a mini-documentary about how we test stain removal products, the whole team was excited. The producer and I threw some ideas around and came up with the idea of getting art students to 'paint' the GHI testers with stains to show viewers exactly what we do.
From start to finish, with tens of takes, it took a day and a half to produce our four-minute segment. We were amazed by just how much work was involved on the part of the The One Show team.
On day one, the producer and his assistant came in and took some behind the scenes shots of how we test at the The Good Housekeeping Institute, from dishwashers to vacuums.
Day two is when the fun began! I was joined by four members of the GHI testing team, who all excitedly volunteered – until I told them it would involve a group of art students from London College of Contemporary Arts painting us all with a variety of stains, from curry to tomato sauce! We met the students and The One Show presenter, Dom Littlewood, bright and early to start filming.
Once done, Dom marched us back over to the Institute where each lab coat was treated with a different method of stain removal (Vanish, Dr Beckmann, De-Solv-It, just biological detergent and lastly, white spirit). They went on a 60C wash and then we thoroughly assessed which method came out on top, with the added help of a laundry expert.
The last bit of filming involved me doing an interview with Dom about household remedies - it was slightly nervewracking but Dom was lovely.
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Our film was shown last Tuesday night and the whole team made sure to tune in for. 'The whole thing was filmed out of sequence so it was fascinating to watch the finished article and see how it all came together,' said Katie Mortram, Junior Researcher.
If you didn’t catch us on The One Show, you can watch it now on the BBC iPlayer.
PS: Want to know which stain removal product won? Surprisingly, white spirit did the best. We would recommend rinsing treated garments in water before adding to the machine or else you may end up with them smelling of white spirit for some time!
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