A Life of Grime

Over a six month period in 2001 a BBC camera crew shadowed staff from Salford Environment Services in pursuit of some of the grimiest tasks in our city.

Since the original transmission of the series, Salford's participation in 'A Life of Grime' is shown again periodically on television stations throughout the world, and we're pleased to be able to share information about our participation in the series and about our city, with visitors to our website.

Photograph of members of the Life of Grime team

These pages provide more information on some of the city council employees that we featured in the programmes, plus details of the services portrayed.

"A Life of Grime featuring Salford showed a little-known side of Salford, and brought just a glimpse of some of a city’s most difficult jobs right into people's living rooms. What was evident in all these programmes was the dedication to duty and the skill of our staff, and I enjoyed seeing the unique character of Salford people shine through."
Councillor Maureen Lea, Salford City Council’s lead member for Environmental Services.

The first broadcast of the series on BBC1 achieved an average of six million viewers per episode and is regularly repeated on channels such as UK Horizons as well as BBC One.

Find out more about 'A Life of Grime' in Salford:

Meet the team - individual biographies of members of the team portrayed in the series that featured Salford
Series synopsis - across the eight films, there was a familiar range of environmental services such as food inspectors, pest controllers and refuse collectors
Grime contacts - If you are interested in any aspect of the A Life of Grime series featuring Salford, please select from these following contact options

Please note all information contained in these pages was relevant during the filming being carried out in the Summer of 2001.