Gregg Wallace is back with his trademark redundant hairnet for a seventh series of Inside the Factory (BBC Two, 25 April, 8pm). In the latest episode, he visited Heck’s facility in Yorkshire, which makes 26.5 million vegan sausages a year.

Kudos to Wallace. Despite having been to practically every factory in Britain, his bouncy enthusiasm for everything he observes remains undiminished.

The tour began in a shipping container, where Heck vertically farms much of the ingredients for its meat-free bangers. “Mind-blowing,” he gushed as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey soared. The lights within, Wallace noted, were “not unlike a 1970s disco”.

Later he was all smiles watching ingredients – including seeds, mushrooms and “fabulous” citrus fibre – go into the big machines. He questioned a “sausage scientist” on the sausage’s skin. “I can not actually see that skin going on,” he gasped.

As ever with the programme, there were some barely relevant segments – which this week seemingly fell under the loose banner of non-meat, sustainability and stuff.

Historian Ruth Goodman took a deep dive into scurvy, as an expert graphically described the symptoms: bleeding shins, teeth dropping out and so on. Meanwhile, Cherry Healey investigated seaweed as superfood, mushrooms as packaging and tofu.

Of course, food production really is quite amazing. But good on Wallace for the ceaseless energy with which he brings its wonder to a primetime audience.

Topics