Wayne Sleep and Monica Loughman audition more than 500 hopefuls, then spend five months turning 18 women and men, dress sizes 12-24, into a ballet company capable of performing a 25-minute Swan Lake at Bradford’s St George’s Hall. The dancers, all juggling day jobs and evening classes, rehearse under Loughman’s strict Russian technique while Sleep choreographs a version built for larger bodies. Cameras follow the company through shin splints, confidence crises and costume fittings as the February curtain looms.
Olivia Colman narrates the three hour-long episodes, produced by Rare Day for Channel 4, which aired weekly from 6 February 2014. The English National Ballet, Tamara Rojo and Matthew Bourne appear as guest mentors, offering masterclasses and public endorsement. The score is adapted by David Plumpton, and the final staging is watched by 1,500 people, including critics who had previously dismissed the project as novelty television.
Fox later bought the format, re-imagining it as scripted comedy-drama The Big Leap in 2021, but the original series remains the only British documentary to place non-professional, visibly larger dancers inside a full classical production.
Production Details
Channel 4 / 1 Season / 3 Episodes / 2014
Main Cast
