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Make Me a Dealer

Make Me a Dealer

BBC and Paul Martin have got together again for a new antique and collectables programme but how good is it?

FORMAT
Two wannabe dealers tour an antiques centre, where they select possible buys and Paul opines on their choices. This is the practice bit.

Then they are given an auction catalogue, and online access, to pick items to buy at an auction, each having a self chosen budget. As the budget is largely ignored this seems a redundant feature!

At the auction they have to buy 3 items for onward resale, and this is the first part of the programme that almost works. When buying, there is always a danger of overbidding on items just because they have been selected. It is always fun to watch contestants getting a bargain or getting carried away.

After the auction, and a chance for Paul to comment on the buys, the contestants have to sell their items (all filmed) to buyers, the film clips played back at the end reveal. Simply the contestant with the highest percentage profit is the winner, and they each get to keep the profits.

VERDICT
Formulaic. It is like someone assembling jigsaw pieces without a good idea of what the final picture will be. The ending is as flat as a pancake. Why do the contestants have to sell face to face? Whatever happened to online sales? Don't they know that antiques dealing is a trade with the requirement to register for tax? What about the costs of selling? What measures are in place to avoid sales to connected parties?

If this programme is meant to be the BBC's replacement for Flog It!, it misses the mark, delivering little of the excitement of that format and very little worthwhile information.