Member Article

Durham entrepreneur to film creative television show in the North East

A new TV show filmed here in the North East that stars a presenter from the region is set to get a prime-time national airing in January.

Durham-born Sara Davies will be the presenter for the new crafting show called ‘Be Creative’ that will air on Made Television in Tyne & Wear, Teesside & Yorkshire, Cardiff, Bristol and Leeds in the New Year.

The deal is for an initial series covering six half hour programmes that will be shown for consecutive weeks from Thursday 8th January at 6pm. The launch episodes will cover a variety of popular crafts including stamping, sewing, sugar craft, knitting, candle making and jewelry.

The show was originally commissioned and intended for broadcast in Tyne & Wear only but demand from other regions for the programme has led to it being rolled out to additional areas across the UK that will see the show reach millions of homes.

Award-winning craft entrepreneur Sara, who founded Durham-based Crafter’s Companion, is no stranger to presenting as she regularly features on TV shopping channels across the world, demonstrating a range of craft tools and skills to crafting enthusiasts.

Each Be Creative show will cater for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels with Sara bringing in a relevant guest expert for each show.

Sara recently fought off stiff competition from six high flying creative professionals from across the UK to pick-up the Creative Industries Entrepreneur of the Year award at the prestigious Great British Entrepreneur Awards.

As well as running Crafter’s Companion, 30-year-old Sara was the founding board chair at the Craft Hobby Association UK. She is also an angel investor with Gabriel Investors and a business mentor through Entrepreneurs’ Forum and UKTI.

Her company Crafter’s Companion specialises in the manufacture and distribution of crafting tools along with its own brand goods. Its products are sold online via its website, via TV shopping channels across the world and through independent retail shops in the UK and Europe.

Station manager for Made in Tyne and Wear, Tony Hazell, said: “We’re extremely excited about adding the ‘Be Creative’ show to our programme offering.

“Made TV is very much about promoting the people, businesses, experience and talent of the local area.

“Sara’s new show will showcase a wide range of crafting techniques from across the region, which we hope will inspire and entertain our viewers.”

Sara said: “I am absolutely delighted to have been chosen for this TV show given it covers not only one of my greatest passions, but that it has been filmed right here in the region where I was born-and-bred. The fact that it’s going national for launch is a huge bonus too.

“Crafting covers so many areas and over the last few years, we have seen a real boom in the UK in terms of people adopting craft as a hobby. With this in mind, I think Be Creative has a great opportunity to reach new and existing crafters across the UK at just the right time.

“We have a stellar line-up of experts for the first six episodes so hopefully viewers will get great value in terms of education and entertainment from the show. Ultimately, if it gets more people crafting, then I will be more than happy.”