Make Me A Dealer will launch in the autumn pitting two amateur wannabe antique and collectable dealers to do the best deals.
A BBC statement said: “Throughout each show you will see and feel the competition between the contributors with video diaries - is their opponent doing better than them; how will they know how much to bid; will they make the profit or will their dreams be dashed?”
They will be given the chance to learn the tricks of the trade under the guidance of Martin but spend their own money on purchases. At the end of the show a winner is crowned ‘Dealer Of The Day’.
Earlier this year the BBC launched Flipping Profit, which features an established antiques expert, a wheeler-dealer trader and an inspiring ‘upcycler’ who have one day to compete for the best deals.
Daytime scheduling
In 2016 a government white paper criticised the BBC for some of its daytime scheduling and reliance on antiques and collectables shows such as Bargain Hunt.
In defence of its choices, Dan McGolpin, controller of daytime and early peak television at the BBC, published a blog in June 2016 and said: “Bargain Hunt came in as the 7th most watched daytime show of 2016 on all channels. OK, if you take any long-running series and analyse one period compared to another you can always find periods for which the numbers will go down - nothing goes up relentlessly and forever - but by any sensible measure, these are programmes that millions of viewers continue to enjoy.”
He said they are “first-class examples in their genres, imitated often but bettered rarely… The secret of their success is that they inform, educate and entertain better than many other series do and that’s why they have survived for so long on the nation’s favourite channel.”
