Rumour and reality as village waits to make TV debut

Back then, he was at the centre of a storm surrounding a new TV show called The Village. Commissioned by Channel 4, the title may have sounded innocent enough, but when the residents of Grassington discovered Isaacs and his company Studio Lambert had chosen their cobbled streets as star of the series, many were left distinctly unimpressed.

The brief was to find 12 families, desperate to escape the rat race, who were willing to compete for a chance to win a house in the rural idyll. However, amid rumours the contestants would include a convicted criminal from Liverpool and an Asbo family from Birmingham, and Chinese whispers regarding the motivations of the crew, public meetings were called.

As one woman hinted at concerns a handful of villagers stood to profit financially from the filming, and another questioned the ethics of the auditioning process, Isaacs and his team discovered Grassington was far from the sleepy North Yorkshire tourist trap it might first appear.

"The initial response was only to be expected, but the rumours, which had absolutely no foundation, did fly," says Isaacs. "Some people definitely thought we were there to make life as uncomfortable as possible or paint the place in a bad light. It happens and whatever programme you do, they'll always be people unhappy about some aspects.

"I've been doing this long enough to take it on the chin and getting people on your side is just a part of the process."

Despite the vociferous objections, Isaacs did manage to convince enough of the Grassington residents to allow filming to begin this summer. The cameras only recently stopped rolling and, while the eventual winner won't be revealed until the programme is broadcast early in the New Year, he has he says only happy memories of his time there.

"People thought we were going to make some awful reality TV show," he says. "But I would never describe The Village as that. It wasn't filmed in real time and it doesn't involve any public voting.

"It was always intended to be more Castaway than Wife Swap. Essentially, it's a documentary of a social experiment."

With many rural areas like Grassington home to an increasingly ageing population and well-documented problems of rising house prices and second homes, the show was devised to turn an attempt to breathe new life into a community into compulsive television.

The decision on whether they succeeded or not will have to wait, but when the residents were invited to vote for their favourite couple or family they turned up in their droves.

"For the first six weeks, two families competed for a place in the finals," says Isaacs. "The voting was run by the Electoral Reform Commission to ensure the result was fair and honestly, the response was overwhelming.

"Each of them had to show they had something to bring to Grassington, whether that be a particular skill or passion for a community project. It was as much about what they could give back as what they could take from the place."

The final line-up was designed to represent modern Britain and while there was a single mother, a gay couple and various young families, there was not a criminal record in sight.

"It certainly seemed to generate a lot of enthusiasm," says Grassington parish councillor Michael Rooze, who had the unenviable task of chairing the first heated public meetings. "Some people were suspicious about how the place they call home was going to be represented and that's understandable, but the filming certainly seemed to go well. Now we have to wait to see what the long-term impact might be on Grassington."

Isaacs is sure any knock-on effects will be good ones.

"On the final day of filming there was not a dry eye in the house," he says. "A lot of people, who were initially sceptical, came up to say what a good job they thought we'd done and others said they felt the project had really galvanised the community.

"In a production like this there will always be room for complaints, but for me it was an incredibly positive experience.

"I might be out in LA at the moment, but you know what? I actually miss the place and I look forward to going back."