One of Staffordshire’s most well-known hotels is the star of a new national TV series being aired next week.
Film crews spent three months at The Moat House in Acton Trussell filming a The Motorway Hotel, a fly-on-the-wall style production about the venue and its relationship with the M6.
Despite being just a short drive away from one of Britain’s busiest motorways, the hotel is surrounded by countryside, which made for picturesque filming.
The observational documentary – produced by joint creative directors Tom Porter and Nick Godwin for BriteSpark Films – will give viewers the chance to see the ins and outs of running a family-owned hotel, which is part of The Lewis Partnership.
Operations Director Emily Lewis said: “We’re hoping the show will illustrate just how much work and attention goes into making the guest experience what it is, and all the people behind the scenes that make it happen.
“The reality is not everything goes as smoothly as planned behind the scenes, but every effort is made to ensure that our guests’ experience is nothing but the best when they stay with us. This is a chance to highlight exactly what happens and the care we give to our work.”
The hotel was approached by BriteSpark Films to appear in the series, with the show being filmed between February and April last year.
Emily, who recently took hold of the reins of the business, said it took a while to get used to being followed by cameras and having to do retakes but that the team soon began to see it as standard.
She added: “One of the hardest adaptations was remembering that the mundane conversations, tasks and planning that happened day to day were really interesting to the crew.
“The crew saw a daily storyline progressing over weeks and months, connecting the dots. Whereas, this is just what we do. Just like with any job, when you have an experienced team, many of the tasks required to make the day run smoothly are often small and sometimes boring.
“When the task is big and thrilling, it is usually because something has gone wrong. Which, of course, we try to avoid at all costs. So we had to be mindful to keep the crew in the loop so that they could capture the daily nuances throughout their time with us.”
The business, which celebrated its 35th anniversary last year, was born out of a 14th Century farmhouse and now has 41 rooms, a restaurant and bar, attracting visitors from across the UK.
A third of its 100-strong staff have worked there since the last millennium including sisters Stacey and Kirsty who run the reception and know every detail about their regular customers’ requirements and 78-year-old Moat House institution Ida, who washes the pots.
Many of the hotel’s regulars took part in filming, explaining what the hotel means to them.
Visitors in the TV show include Greg, a local motorway breakdown driver taking respite in between rescuing motorists; lorry spotter extraordinaire Dave, who combines a trip away for his wife’s birthday with a cheeky filming session at a nearby junction of the M6 and motorway maintenance man Lou, who visits in between long shifts completing vital repairs to the motorway’s bridges.
The show will be broadcast on Channel 5 at 7pm each night from Tuesday, 11 June until Friday, 14 June.
