A radio host has actually spent five years randomly visiting locations throughout the UK in search of inspiring, unexpected, and entertaining tales.
A random postcode generator is used to open each episode of Polly Weston’s BBC Radio 4 series The Patch. She must enter a real postcode lottery to determine her destination.
She has no control over where she ends up, so it’s up to her to uncover interesting people, mysteries, and tales once she gets there.
The producer and presenter says, “It’s always really scary, especially if you’ve made no contact at all and then you just walk into a place.”
“There are times when you arrive somewhere and decide, OK, I’ll do this. It’s similar to diving off the high board in the pool.
“You enter and say, “‘Hello, my name is Polly, I work for the BBC, and although it may sound strange, I occasionally receive a random postcode, like this one. Thus, I am here.
And after that, they ask, “Right… what do you want to know?”
You respond, “I don’t know!”
Private planes
These forays into the unknown turn into explorations. As it turns out, if you look closely enough, stories are actually present everywhere. Additionally, the storylines are as diverse as the settings.
She has traveled to places like the City of London, a lonely area in the Scottish Highlands, and an enigmatic RAF post in Norfolk thus far.
The address of Farnborough, Hampshire’s sole private jet airfield was chosen by the postcode generator for the first episode of the new series, which premieres on Thursday.
Weston became interested in the world of private jet charter brokers as a result. “It has undoubtedly introduced me to a world that I was completely unaware of. And it’s really fascinating.
A World War Two museum and an open prison might be found in the Lincolnshire postcode of the second episode.
“On the day I was there, someone got arrested. When I went on that initial visit, he had been apprehended after five months on the run.
The third took her to a district in Dorset that is typically peaceful, but strangely, 13 cars were set on fire one night in May. What happened there?
Sometimes the plot of her patch is crystal clear right away. She typically begins at a good place to listen, which is typically a bar or a café.
I once visited a pet store. Even though it was a fluke, it ended up being a really smart wager because it wasn’t what you’d anticipate to be the community’s center.
“The first step is looking for the setting,” she explains. The characters are what ultimately hook you in. It happens all too frequently that you enter a space and think, “I’ve never been anywhere like this before.” You then decide to remain here, OK.
With her calm compassion and journalistic tenacity, the Bristol-based show producer consistently wins the hearts of the individuals she encounters and almost never fails to discover the truth.
She can end up far from where she began and there are frequently unexpected turns.
The unbelievable story of ultra-fast boats that were first constructed there and are still used by drug traffickers to elude authorities off the coast of Spain was hidden in a boatyard in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
She claims that she would have been unable to locate the story even after trying. There is no way that you could have made that up. The fact that you never know where real life will lead you is what makes it so amazing.
Additionally, it led her to a spotless but abandoned “ghost golf course” in Perthshire, where she spoke with a former media-averse member of the billionaire family who owns it.
It eventually led her to the previous commander of the US Space Force, who explained what the bizarre gigantic domes at the RAF base are for.
They provide enlightening perspectives into fascinating regions of our nation. However, the instances when Weston immerses us in daily life are the most memorable.
With her calm compassion and journalistic tenacity, the Bristol-based show producer consistently wins the hearts of the individuals she encounters and almost never fails to discover the truth.
She can end up far from where she began and there are frequently unexpected turns.
The unbelievable story of ultra-fast boats that were first constructed there and are still used by drug traffickers to elude authorities off the coast of Spain was hidden in a boatyard in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
She claims that she would have been unable to locate the story even after trying. There is no way that you could have made that up. The fact that you never know where real life will lead you is what makes it so amazing.
Additionally, it led her to a spotless but abandoned “ghost golf course” in Perthshire, where she spoke with a former media-averse member of the billionaire family who owns it.
It eventually led her to the previous commander of the US Space Force, who explained what the bizarre gigantic domes at the RAF base are for.
They provide enlightening perspectives into fascinating regions of our nation. However, the instances when Weston immerses us in daily life are the most memorable.
Maritime songs
We met Margaret and Trevor on an isolated peninsula in Lancashire. After Trevor suffered a stroke, they were compelled to leave their cherished neighborhood and neighborhood sea shanty club.
His original shanties could no longer be performed, and the majority had never been recorded until Weston caught the heartbreaking moment following his rehabilitation when he sang for the first time again.
She also learned about a slew of deaths in Aberdeen brought on by fraudulent prescription drugs while she was in the pet store. As the incident progressed, the attention was drawn more closely to Stuart, a dog owner who was employing them.
When you meet people you like or can relate to, Weston adds, “the ones that stick [with me] are the ones where something in their experience tells you something bigger about the world.”
“This is the reverse of walking in and asking, ‘Here’s the tale, who am I going to find to tell it?’ It is essentially saying, “Here is someone I want to spend time with, listen to, and learn from, and here is what their narrative is telling me about the world.
She’s been to a lot of strange places that aren’t frequently featured in the media. If they are, it’s likely because the reporters involved believe they already know the story.
What has she discovered about the nation, then?
Always surprise. “One thing is, we’re an island,” responds Weston. “You have no idea how frequently I find myself near water. I’m aware that’s not what you intended. Actually, no.
“The other thing is that I try not to assume too much about someplace right now. Because wherever you are, people and places will always surprise you.
She recalls “suddenly grasping the way that this country is divided in a way that I hadn’t [before]” while filming an early episode in south-west Wales.
Weston stops before speaking. “There is a propensity, in the way that we talk about the divisions in this nation, to talk about areas sometimes as though they don’t comprehend things in a manner, or that they’re misinformed, and that’s the reason that they hold the views that they do.
“And based on my own observations, the reverse is true. In reality, there are important reasons to understand why people view the world and how it works the way they do.
