TV preview - Our Lives: The Great Cheese Chase
Every spring thousands of people converge on the Gloucestershire village of Brockworth.
This year, there’s a new competitor at the top of super-steep Cooper’s Hill – Inside Out West presenter Seb Choudhury. He has signed up to take part in the terrifying race where 25 people throw themselves down the hill in pursuit of a wheel of Double Gloucester. But as he prepares to take the plunge, he finds out more about the race, the cheese and the people who’ve battled to keep it true to its roots.
Seb says: “It’s one of the most terrifying challenges I’ve ever faced. Standing at the top of Cooper’s Hill, looking down and knowing I was going to throw myself down a cliff face, I wondered why I’d ever agreed to do this. But by then it was too late.”
As a local TV journalist, Seb has reported on the event in previous years, including in 2010 when the race was cancelled over safety fears. That led to fierce battles within Brockworth over the future of the cheese roll – with some wanting to transform it into a ticketed event and others passionate about keeping it free.
The cheese roll is still free to enter and very much a community affair, with the cheese made by hand by a local farmer and villagers pitching in to help organise it.
First aiders are on standby to attend to the inevitable fractures, sprains, dislocations and concussions as people hurl themselves headlong to the foot of the hill chasing the hefty cheese.
Will Seb make it down in one piece and will he get his hands on any cheese? Watch this space...
Our Lives: The Great Cheese Chase, BBC One, Monday, 7.30pm