Amersham garden shed to be TV set

Sep 30 2009 By Greg Burns

A SHED at the back of an Amersham garden is the set for a new ten-part television programme to be screened on The Country Channel this month.

Entitled 'Talking Threads', it is the brainchild of Jamie Malden, 52, a retired headmistress, who has used her new found free-time to set up Colouricious, a TV and video production company. Run from her home in Copperkins Lane, Mrs Malden had an inspiration for a programme dedicated to textile art and profiling some of the artists who have taught at Missenden Abbey.

Her vision was picked up by The Country Channel who spent the summer at her workshop filming Mrs Malden and her colleague Holly Pulsford interviewing the artists before they demonstrate their work.

The first half-hour episode will screen on Sky channel 171 on October 14.

Mrs Malden said: "I trained as an art teacher and have always been a creative person. After I stepped out of teaching I wanted a way to incorporate that into my life and came up with the idea for the television programme.

"I was a Blue Peter child. I absolutely loved the idea of making things and would always be collecting washing up bottles. Now I think I have finally found my calling.

"My aim for the programme is for it to make the audience fall in love with textile art and inspire people to tap into their own creativity. Everyone has it within them but some people need it drawn out of them.

"I created the TV series with the idea that it would be about spreading the joy of stitch. Many people associate textile art with their grandmother but that is not the case. I want to open their eyes."

Artists featured in the series are Angie Hughes, Linda Miller, Gilda Baron, Anne Griffiths, Jill Kennedy, Fay Maxwell, Myfanwy Hart, Di Wells, and Kim Thittichai.

The ten creative bods were all together at the studio on Tuesday (29/8) as they filmed the Christmas special of Talking Threads.

Mrs Malden hopes the programme will be a success and has ambitions for a second series and there are already plans to turn the first series into a DVD.

She said: "It has been great having the film crew here and we have all had a fantastic time. We hope to make another series but will need funding. Maybe a big corporation will come in and snap us up."

For more details visit www.takingthreads.co.uk.