This programme begins with footage of ballerinas selecting ballet shoes, emphasising that comfortable, well-fitting shoes are essential for an art form that puts so much strain on the feet. The scene moves to the workrooms of a company, Freed, which specialises in the manufacture of ballet shoes. Micky Charalambous demonstrates stage by stage the precise skills involved in his work as a ‘maker’. He receives the various parts previously cut by ‘clickers’ and assembled by machinists at the Freed factory in Leicester. The uppers are made in cotton-backed satin, the soles in leather. The ‘maker’ uses a method described as ‘turnshoe’, the traditional technique which at one time was used in the making of all ballet shoes – the shoes are made inside out and then turned. The upper and the block (made from layers of paper, card and hessian triangles pasted together with a glue made basically from flour and water) are placed over the sole which has been pinned to the last. The block is carefully pleated and stitched with wax thread to the sole. Now the shoe is turned the right way round and fitted with an insole. The block is shaped using a special tool and the platform, most important of all, is made at this stage. The shoes are placed in an oven overnight to allow the block to grow hard. Finally, each shoe (there is no specific right or left) is stamped with the particular ‘maker’s’ mark since some ballerinas request shoes made by a particular person. At this point the maker’s work is finished, although there are still more processes before the shoes are finally ready.