Cash in the Attic (UK)

This show has it's ups and downs and they are due to whoever is hosting. Alister Appleton was always the cute, quirky guy, who was like the long lost cousin coming over to help rumage. Then he left in search of bigger and better things! He was followed by a small parade of hosts who just didn't bring his spark to the show. Worse yet was that we also got an american version, which doesn't need anymore mention. Now in 2007 Alistair is doing promos for the show for the upcoming season, I actually saw an episode with him that I haven't watched before and it said 2006,so Alistair is back and now the auction houses of Britain might have a little life in them!!!moreless

I am an avid viewer of daytime TV and i have to say that Cash in the attic is one of the highlights of the day. Currently it is screening after Neighbours which is a tough act to follow but it holds its own. The show really depends on who the expert is and who is the host. Jonty Hearnden is by far the best and Paul hayes is just trying too hard to be Jonty. Jennie Bond is the worst thing ever to happen to Cash in the attic and i hope she is dropped as soon as possible. Entertaing viewing during a good daytime TV session. Enjoy!moreless

I've gotten in the habit of tuning into Cash in the Attic on BBC America during Saturday afternoons, while doing a few chores around the house. This show never fails to amaze and amuse. Things get especially funny when that little pill of a valuation expert, Jonty, solemnly assures some family that their early Victorian rosewood cabinet or whatnot is a prime example of a one of its kind masterpiece that is sure to bring 1000 at auction--or I, Jonty, am a total cretin. Then, it happens. Just call Jonty a cretin, when the family and team go to action and the table creeps in for a sell at 175. Grandpa, grandma, and granddaughters,whose ancestral belongings Jonty has rummaged through, stare him down like he's an agent of Satan.

Or there is version #2, the greedy family member, who has just found out, for example, that the glass collection he thought was worthless, and which his wife hates, is perhaps worth 200. Mr. Greed immediately decides that the junk he was about to toss out in the garbage must meet a "reserve bid" of 250 (50 higher than the estimate!) at auction before he'll let it sell. And, of course, it comes in at 220 and Mr. Greed has to take his junk back home with him.

Finally, there is version #3, the family so greedy for a vacation on some godawful cruise or to buy a hot tub, that they take their great granddad's war medals from World War I, along with his final precious belongings, passed down from generation to generation, and desperately seek to unload them for a couple of hundred British pounds.

What greedy, lustful people this show depicts! Selling their heritage for a week on a cruieliner, a new deck on the back of the house, or a tune up for their 30 year old Mercedes.moreless

I love this show and it gives wonderful insight to the world of antiques. I love to hear them speak of the history of object. This show is much better than the American version. Jonty Hearnden and Paul Hayes make this an enjoable show. All the presenters are very knowledgeable. The auctioneers are very ggod as well.

Cash In The Attic must be the most unrealistic show on daytime television. The basic premise is that people who need money for a particular holiday or home improvement, can raise it by clearing out their house and allowing an antiques expert to value anything they think may sell at auction.

Fair enough, you might think. But these families a) never need the money and b) always have an attic full of antiques. Never in the whole run of this show has the antiques expert shown up and said "Actually, everything you own is worthless tat." There always seems to be an ancient piece of Stag furniture, or a Stradivarius in the loft, or maybe even a Rembrandt hidden behind the settee.

On average, each haul brings between 500 and 1,000. Maybe they should go to some more downmarket homes, then it might be a real challenge!
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