It was the sound of wholesome 1980s Sunday-night TV: a plaintive "baaaa!", a piercing whistle, and "Come Bye!" ringing out across the lush hillside. At home, eight million people perched on their sofas and held their collective breath at the moment of high drama: would the sheep enter the pen?
And now the high-stakes cliffhangers return as sheepdog trialing is restored to its rightful place in the TV schedules. From Thursday, More 4 will be screening the traditional-sounding World Sheepdog Trials. The coverage – which will use HD cameras, GPS trackers and slow-motion replays – will be anything but.
Dogs will have accelerometers on their collars to measure how fast they are travelling (said to be in excess of 30mph), while the sheep's heart-rates will be monitored to predict whether they are getting jittery and likely to make a bolt for it. Keeping us abreast of proceedings will be former Match of the Day commentator Barry Davies. "We covered F1 for 12 years for ITV," explains Neil Duncanson of North One Television, which is producing the coverage and will be applying many of the same techniques to the trials.
For the 240 competitors, though, it will be business – and commitment – as usual. Carol Mellin will be representing England with her dog Maisie, who, at nine-and-a-half years old, is "in the twilight of her trialing". "I just love it, it's my passion," Mellin says. "We go to trials on a Sunday and Saturday – sometimes, if they're close enough, you can do two or three in a day."
But despite the special effects, this trial will be little different. It's in Cumbria. It will probably be drizzling. Even the exotic international element – some of the dogs are more used to herding reindeer than sheep – is unlikely to result in a competition so glamorous as to be unrecognisable.
