We Are England examines the changing face of England and explores the big issues people are talking about, in parts of the country often ignored. In the second week, we get unique access and meet the people whose jobs ensure we all have food on our table, our streets are clean, and our loved ones looked after, as we unpack the issues and current challenges faced by those who work the night shift.

The programmes have been made from hubs in Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol, London and Norwich. There will be 60 programmes per series (two series), with 120 programmes produced each year.

The film that viewers will see in this time-slot will vary depending on where they are in the county, as each hub is delivering a film based on the weekly theme, but one that is tailored to their region.

Leeds hub: One Night At The Fish Market
In this episode we follow night shift workers who face a race against time to get the freshly caught stock ready for sale at Grimsby fish market.

The team, largely made up of men, ensure the fish are weighed and graded in time for the daily auction. It’s physically exhausting work but necessary to ensure a steady supply of fish for chip shops and fish counters.

Grimsby is recognised as being one of the most important fish markets, not just in the UK but also in Europe, and this team is among a workforce of two million people in England who regularly work night shifts.

However, working in the small hours does come with a health warning and is thought to be linked to an increase risk of diabetes, heart disease, depression and insomnia.

Newcastle hub: One Night In Newcastle
In this programme we meet a group of Christian volunteers known as ‘Street Pastors’ who give up their time to patrol some of the liveliest streets in Britain.

The city of Newcastle may be renowned for its vibrant nightlife, but with cuts to the emergency services, an increase of pubs and clubs, plus a mental health crisis, the city is wrestling between its economic prosperity and the welfare of its residents and visitors.

In teams of three or four the Street Pastors work in conjunction with the police, St. John’s ambulance, taxi companies and local bars, to ensure everyone has a safe night out. They operate without fear or favour, offering help to anyone and everyone - first aid, flip flops, foil blankets, they’ve got it all for those in need.

In this film we follow the team as they survey the streets of Newcastle over the course of a weekend.

Birmingham hub: Night Nurses
In this episode we follow the nursing team at one of Birmingham’s busiest intensive care units, and catch a glimpse of the challenges they face every night.

This highly skilled and dedicated team at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital work around the clock to keep their critically ill patients alive, 365 days of the year. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the NHS has never been under more pressure. We follow three inspirational nurses, Neelam, Niamh and Charlene over the course of a night shift to find out what it’s really like to be an intensive care nurse.

We find out how they witness first-hand the realities of life and death. It’s these nurses who are with patients in their final moments and who must deliver the devastating news to those patients’ families when they don’t recover.

Nurse Associate Neelam followed in her parents’ footsteps when joining the NHS, and she recently won the prestigious Frontline Worker Of The Year Award.

Band-five nurse and new mum Niamh faces a daily battle as she tries to juggle nightshift working and having a baby at home. Niamh was inspired to become an intensive care nurse following the loss of her own father, who passed away after a month at Birmingham Good Hope intensive care unit when she was just 12 years old.

Fellow band-five nurse and mum Charlene is one of five sisters who are all nurses. She survives on very little sleep as she tries to balance, work, studying and having a young family.

Bristol hub: Down At The Docks
In this episode we go behind the scenes at Bristol Port Company, to meet the dock workers making sure huge cargo ships are unloaded safely and on time.

Bristol Port Company brings in cargo ships from around the world 365 days a year, carrying products ranging from food and wine to cars and aeroplane fuel. Spencer works as a crane operator, but he’s also an aspiring musician and is not often seen without his trusted ukulele.

We also meet Rich, a newly promoted supervisor getting to grips with the role; Dave, who is the assistant harbour master and oversees the coming and going of the ships; and Oksana, the car operative who drives brand new cars off the ships all night whilst her daughter is home sleeping.

London hub: Life Blood
This episode follows an NHS blood-donor carer so inspired by the daily sacrifice of others she decided to make the ultimate gift of life: donating one of her kidneys to a complete stranger.

During the pandemic, hospitals in England were kept supplied with blood by the smallest pool of donors in the 21st century – almost 40,000 fewer annual donors than before Covid-19.

Blood donor numbers have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels and now the NHS Blood and Transplant Service (NHSBT) is on its biggest blood drive ever, seeking to attract 100,000 new donors.

Sasha Cooke, 25, was an actor when film and theatre production stopped in the first lockdown. Without work, her career took an unexpected turn and she signed up to train as an NHS blood-donor carer.

Now, Sasha works full-time collecting donor blood at clinics across London. Witnessing the daily selflessness of others has led Sasha to make a big decision – she has volunteered to donate one of her kidneys to a complete stranger. We follow Sasha as she undergoes this process up to the moment her kidney is given to its recipient.

Sasha is also part of the cross-England NHSBT workers that include specialist technicians, transport drivers and scientists working at Europe’s largest blood processing centre at Filton, near Bristol. Working 24/7, the Filton team distributes up to a million blood donations a year across the country.  Among some patients, demand for blood is particularly high.

Sickle cell disorder has become the UK’s fastest growing genetic disorder, disproportionately affecting Black African and Black Caribbean communities. Abdul Samad Abdullah, 19, is a sickle cell patient who needs monthly red blood cell exchanges. An aspiring architectural designer from Milton Keynes, Abdul depends on the blood of strangers. He is one of the 15,000 people affected by sickle cell disorder in the UK.

We go behind the scenes of blood and organ donation in England, documenting the personal motivations and the science allowing donors to give the gift of life to complete strangers.

Norwich hub: Our Bin Lorry Life
In this programme we follow a team of loaders on the recycling round in Peterborough, who collect, sort and sell rubbish.

We meet Chrystal, a newbie and the only female, who is getting to grips with an intensely physical job, along with Richard is an old hand who knows the whole neighbourhood and sometimes despairs at what he finds in our bins.

Meanwhile Pete, their driver, is about to retire – adding to the staffing shortages faced across much of the industry.

The recycling the team collect on their rounds often goes to a multimillion-pound facility near Cambridge.

Fran, the Operations Manager, oversees 300 tonnes of recycling every day from 380,000 households. Her team regularly deals with surprises – sometimes shocking ones.

Once it’s processed, our recycling is packaged up and sold on to the next phase of its life. This film is about what it really takes to recycle our rubbish.